A Majority of European Lawmakers Voted Against Letting Big Tech Read Our Messages. They’re Going to Anyway
A Majority of European Lawmakers Voted Against Letting Big Tech Read Our Messages. They’re Going to Anyway
欧洲议会多数议员投票反对，但科技巨头仍将获准扫描用户私信
The European Parliament has voted to extend legislation allowing tech companies to voluntarily scan users’ private messages for child sexual abuse material, despite a majority of lawmakers voting against the proposal. 欧洲议会已投票通过延长一项立法，允许科技公司自愿扫描用户的私人信息以筛查儿童性虐待材料，尽管多数议员对该提案投了反对票。
The ruling reinstates permissions for firms including Meta, Google, and Microsoft to scan private text, email, and social media messages through a bill nicknamed “Chat Control” by critics. End-to-end encrypted chats, such as those on WhatsApp and Signal, remain exempt. 该裁决恢复了包括 Meta、谷歌和微软在内的公司扫描私人短信、电子邮件和社交媒体信息的权限。该法案被批评者戏称为“聊天监控”（Chat Control）。端到端加密的聊天内容（如 WhatsApp 和 Signal 上的信息）目前仍不在扫描范围内。
“It will mean that private companies may deny your right to have confidential digital conversations,” Simeon de Brouwer, policy adviser at the Brussels-based advocacy group European Digital Rights, tells WIRED. “They could, if they want to, read every message you write, every email you send, every picture you share.” “这意味着私营公司可能会剥夺你进行机密数字对话的权利，”总部位于布鲁塞尔的倡导组织“欧洲数字权利”（European Digital Rights）的政策顾问西蒙·德·布劳威尔（Simeon de Brouwer）告诉《连线》（WIRED）杂志。“如果他们愿意，他们可以阅读你写的每一条信息、发送的每一封邮件、分享的每一张图片。”
The European People’s Party, the largest political group in European Parliament, has been battling to bring back tech firms’ legal basis to scan messages since a prior law expired in April. Members say firms’ voluntary detection activities have helped identify and rescue victims of online child sexual abuse, and disallowing them leaves children unprotected. They have been rushing to reinstate the legislation before parliament disperses for its summer break at the end of the month. 欧洲议会最大的政治团体——欧洲人民党（European People’s Party）自四月份相关法律到期以来，一直致力于恢复科技公司扫描信息的法律依据。议员们表示，企业的自愿检测活动有助于识别和营救网络儿童性虐待受害者，禁止这些活动会让儿童失去保护。他们一直在争分夺秒，试图在议会月底休会前恢复该立法。
“We cannot go to the summer recess knowing that our children are not protected,” party vice-chair Tomas Tobé told lawmakers earlier in the week. “我们不能在明知儿童未受保护的情况下进入暑期休会，”该党副主席托马斯·托贝（Tomas Tobé）在本周早些时候对议员们表示。
But the implications for privacy means the legislation has faced fierce opposition from other parties and civil rights activists. The EPP resorted to a procedural maneuver to force fresh votes on this legislation this week after talks collapsed in March. This “urgent procedure” skips preliminary committee debates where amendments would often be introduced and stipulates that the regulation passes unless an absolute majority of 361 MEPs vote against it. 但由于该法案对隐私的影响，它遭到了其他党派和民权活动人士的强烈反对。在三月份谈判破裂后，欧洲人民党采取了程序性手段，强行在本周对该法案进行重新投票。这一“紧急程序”跳过了通常会引入修正案的初步委员会辩论，并规定除非有 361 名欧洲议会议员（绝对多数）投反对票，否则该法规即告通过。
While more members of the European Parliament voted against the regulation on Thursday than voted for it, they fell short of that majority by 47 votes. Tech companies will now retain that right to scan messages for child sexual abuse detection until 2028, or until permanent legislation—in discussion and already dubbed “Chat Control” by critics—replaces it. 尽管周四投票反对该法规的欧洲议会议员人数多于赞成人数，但仍比所需的绝对多数票少了 47 票。因此，科技公司将保留扫描信息以检测儿童性虐待内容的权利，直至 2028 年，或者直到正在讨论中、已被批评者称为“聊天监控”的永久性立法出台并取代它为止。
Civil rights activist and former MEP Patrick Breyer called the ruling a “farce” which “damages democracy.” 民权活动家、前欧洲议会议员帕特里克·布雷耶（Patrick Breyer）称这一裁决是一场“闹剧”，并称其“损害了民主”。
“Our children are the real losers in this undemocratic process,” according to a blog post by Breyer. “Trying to protect children with suspicionless mass surveillance is like frantically mopping the floor while the faucet is still running. Blanket chat control is just as unacceptable as indiscriminately opening everyone’s physical mail.” “在这个不民主的过程中，我们的孩子才是真正的输家，”布雷耶在一篇博客文章中写道。“试图通过无差别的群体监控来保护儿童，就像在水龙头没关的情况下疯狂拖地一样。全面监控聊天内容，就像无差别拆阅每个人的实体信件一样，是不可接受的。”