Today, EDRi and 81 organisations have sent an open letter to EU governments to once again urge them to say no to the CSA Regulation until it fully protects online rights, freedoms, and security.

EU countries are preparing to agree their position on the draft EU Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) Regulation, commonly known as “chat control”. This proposed law is unprecedented: it could force companies to scan everyone’s private digital communications, on behalf of governments, all of the time.

The Council of EU Member States are close to finalising their position on the controversial CSA Regulation. Yet the latest slew of Council amendments – just like the European Commission’s original – endorse measures which amount to mass surveillance and which would fundamentally undermine end-to-end encryption.

Legal experts advising EU governments have warned that in its current form, the CSA Regulation would likely violate the rights of hundreds of millions of people in Europe, without any suspicion that they have done something wrong. It could also force everyone to undergo ID checks in order to access the internet, threatening digital exclusion for those without the ‘right’ documents. 

Regardless of the broad concerns raised about the CSA Regulation, EU governments have so far failed to make essential changes to protect human rights, including privacy, free expression and the presumption of innocence.

This public call builds on the widely supported academic and tech position of nearly 500 scientists and researchers on the EU’s proposed Child Sexual Abuse Regulation, who have warned that the proposal is technically dangerous and poses a severe threat to encryption. 

Please note that this letter was originally published on 13 September 2023 with 81 signatories. As new signatories are added on a rolling basis, it will be updated periodically to reflect the new count as well as the additional organisations that have signed on. As of 14 September 2023, the new total is 87 signatories.