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Wait. What?!

Shitcontrol

Because people who care don't have secrets!

What does Shitcontrol mean?

If you really care, then you have no secrets from your government. So: why not just make your bathroom visits public? Every single step: urine volume, joy of smell, the tune you are whistling while flushing – all live. Because hey, if you have nothing to hide, why should anyone not know what you’re doing while sitting on the toilet?

This is exactly the punchline of Chatcontrol: the concept is basically the same logic, just dressed up a bit more technically. The idea of scanning private chat messages, even encrypted ones, is about as if the state were begging you to report every single bathroom visit – with photo and GPS location. You might almost feel sorry for a state that pretends it needs every single detail in order to stay on top of a problem.

Why Chatcontrol is questionable:

  • Presumption of guilt instead of targeted investigations: If all citizens are monitored, everyone automatically becomes a potential suspect. That’s not a sign of strength, but rather of a state that doesn’t believe it can go after real offenders without putting the entire population under general suspicion.
  • Lack of effectiveness: Criminal networks are creative. They will find new ways around – be it through new encryption, their own channels, the darknet, anonymous services. Anyone who believes surveillance alone can eradicate criminal structures has little understanding of technical and social realities.
  • Endangerment of fundamental rights and privacy: Encrypted communication, the privacy of conversations – all of this is at stake. Scanning private chats opens the door wide to abuse, false alarms, and wrongful accusations.
  • A bitter aftertaste remains: For innocent people who end up targeted – through algorithmic errors, false hashes, loss of context. For vulnerable individuals who fear being stigmatized or surveilled for even the smallest remarks.
  • The state appears powerless rather than competent: If everything has to be monitored in order to fight child abuse or CSAM (Child Sexual Abuse Material), it seems as if the police, judiciary, and security services on their own don’t know how to track down perpetrators. That doesn’t look like an act of strength, but more like an excuse for lacking tools, staff, or strategy.
  • Once you start scanning private messages on a large scale, you’ve essentially lost – at least in terms of public acceptance. It’s an intrusion that cannot easily be undone.
  • There is the danger of “function creep” – today CSAM, tomorrow “extremist content” or “disinformation” or whatever else happens to be politically convenient.
  • The use of such technologies will damage public trust – not only in the state, but also among individuals. Privacy is a cornerstone of social trust.

Who is opposing Chatcontrol:

Conclusion: Chatcontrol is not an expression of responsibility and strength, but of desperation and panic. A system that insists on seeing every message signals that it doesn’t know how to track down criminals in a targeted and professional way without sacrificing the freedoms of the many. And that is dangerous – for all of us.

Do want want to join in and post on Shitcontrol? Send a message to mail@shitcontrol.eu.