https://www.spiked-online.com/2026/10/26/the-eu-is-turning-into-a-mass-surveillance-state/
The use of AI is particularly concerning. According to a 2023 European Parliament study on this exact topic, AI ‘would result in high error rates and a very large number of false positives’. Basically, it wouldn’t so much catch criminals as it would flag innocent suspects. For state authorities to use AI to look over your texts as you draft them is almost the definition of modern technocratic totalitarianism. Add to this the security risks of creating a route around encryption, and the state-surveillance system could become a playground for cybercriminals.
Such developments from Brussels should no longer surprise us. This is the same institution that, in 2022, gave us the Digital Services Act (DSA). The DSA threatens some of the world’s largest social-media platforms with hefty fines – up to six per cent of global revenue – if they fail to remove so-called hate speech and disinformation from their platforms. EU-endorsed ‘trusted flaggers’ ensure that these companies toe the line. All this was implemented in the name of ‘safety’, preventing foreign interference and ‘disinformation’. Yet the DSA’s draconian overreach makes it one of the greatest threats to freedom of expression and information in the world today. Chat Control 2.0 would be a further step down this worrying path, adding mass surveillance to the DSA’s existing speech control. It is a recipe for authoritarianism, not democracy.
HebrideanUltraTerfHecate
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2026-10-26 17:11:46 UTC
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"content": "https://www.spiked-online.com/2026/10/26/the-eu-is-turning-into-a-mass-surveillance-state/\n\nThe use of AI is particularly concerning. According to a 2023 European Parliament study on this exact topic, AI ‘would result in high error rates and a very large number of false positives’. Basically, it wouldn’t so much catch criminals as it would flag innocent suspects. For state authorities to use AI to look over your texts as you draft them is almost the definition of modern technocratic totalitarianism. Add to this the security risks of creating a route around encryption, and the state-surveillance system could become a playground for cybercriminals.\n\nSuch developments from Brussels should no longer surprise us. This is the same institution that, in 2022, gave us the Digital Services Act (DSA). The DSA threatens some of the world’s largest social-media platforms with hefty fines – up to six per cent of global revenue – if they fail to remove so-called hate speech and disinformation from their platforms. EU-endorsed ‘trusted flaggers’ ensure that these companies toe the line. All this was implemented in the name of ‘safety’, preventing foreign interference and ‘disinformation’. Yet the DSA’s draconian overreach makes it one of the greatest threats to freedom of expression and information in the world today. Chat Control 2.0 would be a further step down this worrying path, adding mass surveillance to the DSA’s existing speech control. It is a recipe for authoritarianism, not democracy.",
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