this post was submitted on 05 Dec 2024

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491

The EU proposal to scan all your WhatsApp chats is back on the agenda (www.techradar.com)

submitted 7 months ago by schizoidman@lemm.ee to c/technology@lemmy.world

87 comments fedilink hide all child comments

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/22814154

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[–] daggermoon@lemmy.world 14 points 7 months ago (3 children)

You shouldn't be using whatsapp anyway.

[–] Valmond@lemmy.world 30 points 7 months ago

First they came for whatsapp. I didn't say anything because I don't use whattsapp.

[–] Petter1@lemm.ee 12 points 7 months ago (2 children)

It would concern all messaging apps, which is beyond stupid. Lol, even nato uses the matrix protocol.

[–] randombullet@programming.dev 4 points 7 months ago

Lots of defense uses XMPP as well

[–] jagged_circle@feddit.nl 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

No, this would only affect the ones run by corporations with a presence in the EU

[–] Petter1@lemm.ee 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Oh, I thought that was clear by context..

I definitely would sideload the secure versions, if I was affected, which got more easy thanks to EU, lol

[–] jagged_circle@feddit.nl 3 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

Again, no sideloading needed. You're misunderstanding the executive.

They enforce this by freezing bank accounts and issuing fines to corporations, not by internet censorship.

So any company that doesn't have money flowing through the EU is unaffected. And any company that does have money flowing through the EU has a choice to either pull out of the EU or to fuck over their users.

[–] Petter1@lemm.ee 1 points 7 months ago (2 children)

I’m sure, that they would ask apple and google to remove all messaging apps from organisations with no EU money flow?

Or do you not think so too?

[–] EngineerGaming@feddit.nl 2 points 7 months ago

I don't see how this would be a problem either except on Apple. Blocking the sites offering the apk/deb/exe/etc - good luck, doubt their censorship skills are that good given that they're unlikely to want a ton of collateral damage like more authoritarian places.

[–] jagged_circle@feddit.nl 2 points 7 months ago

I dont think that would be legal, no.

[+] Free_Opinions@feddit.uk -13 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (3 children)

And instead use what? Signal? And then chat with the zero other people who use it?

Telling europeans to not use whatsapp is like telling people not to use the power grid. It's more popular here than iMessages are in the US.

[–] Lazycog@sopuli.xyz 12 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

I'm European using signal, I frequent in two countries very often (not neighbouring countries) and for the past two years I've noticed more and more people using signal.

Ditched whatsapp half a year ago and haven't had problems. Some friends use both signal and whatsapp.

Not saying many in whole Europe use signal but it certainly is not only popular in US.

Edit: but not saying using signal will change anything if this bill passes. No matter what popular app we use we are going to have no privacy at all if this thing passes...

[–] woelkchen@lemmy.world 3 points 7 months ago (3 children)

WhatsApp uses the same encryption as Signal and chat screening won't be exclusive to WhatsApp anyway, so whatever WhatsApp will need to implement to comply, Signal will have to follow.

[–] Zetta@mander.xyz 2 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

Signal is open source, so no it will always be available without chat control. https://github.com/signalapp

[–] woelkchen@lemmy.world 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Good luck setting up your own server and convincing everybody else to use that.

Signal is not federated. It relies on a central server, meaning for all intends and purposes Signal controls the entire chain.

[–] Zetta@mander.xyz 1 points 7 months ago (2 children)

End to end encrypted, I think chat control is all about client-side scanning so the app being open source is a big deal and would prevent client-side scanning because even if they build in client-side scanning, it's open source and people can remove it.

[–] EngineerGaming@feddit.nl 1 points 7 months ago

Signal is pretty control freak-y, so would not be surprised if they can somehow prohibit third-party modifications entirely. That would be out-of-character for them, though, so doubt they would actually go through with this.

Still, if that went through, I'd discount all the centralized solutions.

[–] woelkchen@lemmy.world 1 points 7 months ago

Just have the server link a hidden device, boom, all chats decrypted.

[–] jagged_circle@feddit.nl 1 points 7 months ago

Only if they do business in the EU..

[–] Lazycog@sopuli.xyz 1 points 7 months ago

Very true. It wont matter what pops up in the appstore after either.

[–] daggermoon@lemmy.world -5 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Why do you assume I'm American? I am, but you would have no way of knowing that. I could be Croatian for all you know.

[–] HC4L@lemmy.world 6 points 7 months ago

Nobody assumed that, but you still haven't answered the question..

[–] Free_Opinions@feddit.uk 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I haven't made any assumptions about where you're from. I'm only arguing against the blanket statement of telling everyone to stop using whatsapp.

[–] daggermoon@lemmy.world 0 points 7 months ago

Sorry but if you want private messaging Signal is your only option. I'm sorry you all have to deal with it but now is a good time to bully friends and family into switching to Signal.