EU Postpones Chat Control Vote (www.techradar.com)

The EU has postponed a planned Oct. 14 vote on the controversial Child Sexual Abuse Regulation (CSAR), nicknamed “Chat Control,” after Germany publicly joined opponents on Oct. 7. The Danish draft of the bill would force messaging services operating in Europe to scan all URLs, images and videos shared by users for child sexual abuse material (CSAM) — including content in end-to-end encrypted services — effectively requiring client-side scanning on users’ devices. The proposal has drawn strong political resistance and widespread industry pushback, so the vote failed to reach a majority and has been deferred rather than killed outright. Technically and politically, the stakes are high: critics say client-side scanning undermines how encryption works (scrambling content so only sender and recipient can read it) because it either requires breaking encryption or embedding scanning code on devices — something security experts liken to installing malware. Over 500 cryptographers and 40+ privacy-focused companies warn the approach creates surveillance risks, accuracy problems, and exploitable security backdoors that harm digital sovereignty and trust in EU services. Negotiations will continue (EU interior ministers meet Dec. 6–7), so while the delay is a win for encryption advocates, the proposal is likely to return to deliberations.