Germany slams brakes on EU's Chat Control device-scanning snoopfest (www.theregister.com)

Germany’s ruling coalition has publicly committed to blocking the EU’s controversial “Chat Control” Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) Regulation, a move that makes the law unlikely to pass because Germany’s 83.5M population is pivotal for the EU’s qualified-majority voting rule. The draft regulation would have compelled messaging providers (including end‑to‑end encrypted services) to deploy AI-powered filters and client-side scanning to detect CSAM, and could have forced age verification and other invasive measures. With Germany’s opposition ahead of an October vote, the proposal faces a probable defeat despite support from several other states. The decision is a major win for privacy and for providers of E2EE services: technical experts and groups including Signal, Tuta Mail, and EDRi argued that mass scanning — whether pre- or post-encryption — inherently breaks E2EE, adds catastrophic attack surface and national‑security risks, and risks data leaks and loss of anonymity for vulnerable users. Companies warned they would leave the EU rather than implement backdoors; civil-rights advocates pointed to threats to free expression and whistleblower safety. The European Parliament has an alternative text that removes client‑side scanning, but Germany’s stance signals strong resistance to legislating encryption‑eroding surveillance, shaping both legal outcomes and industry decisions across Europe.