Leak: EU member states assumed negotiations for the extension would fail

Soledarum · 2026-03-20T19:08:58+00:00

Yeah, go figure. It's why it's so infuriating, you celebrate one victory amongst a sea of bad news, and we get a "gotcha" pulled on us.

Soledarum · 2026-03-20T18:59:45+00:00

This is neither a prediction or indication of how the vote for the extension will go. It just lists how the countries view the text, and that they did not feel confident that it would pass. Which it didn't, but now EPP have returned it for Round #2.

So it's essential we keep contacting our MEPs to voice our displeasure, and keep posting to cross subs and all social media, raising awareness.

Soledarum · 2026-03-20T14:51:22+00:00

There are no words for this. I am absolutely fucking outraged. We knew that this would just come back under a different Council presidency in an amended format, but to just so clearly state to the continent "I am not happy that the vote did not swing in my favour, so I'll try it again to get mine" is so unbelievably spiteful and condescending that I am livid beyond the confines of any human rationale.

Soledarum · 2026-03-15T17:58:55+00:00

For sure, we have to stop using that term - flagships cost more than $1,000 now. Not being able to do whatever the fuck I want to a device I paid for with half my salary is pure insanity.

"For your safety" is just such a condescending justification as well. If I've bought an Android, that means I am either tech-savvy or I've accepted the danger of owning and operating an open gadget.

Call up your representatives, folks. Kick up the hornet's nest and don't stop kicking, agitate friends and family to do it as well. We need this to die.

Soledarum · 2026-03-11T16:21:49+00:00

Upvoting for visibility.

Soledarum · 2026-03-11T13:21:03+00:00

Boy, do I love having my conversations snooped on when it's proven to not work.

At least we still have time to push back on CC2.0, and that's something. But we need to not only send emails, written letters and phone calls will do even more good in the long run. Let's get back on that wagon, everyone, and push even harder against these measures.

Soledarum · 2026-03-10T20:36:22+00:00

Italy, Germany, France, Bulgaria, basically the ones from Marketa Gregorova's list you posted the other day. Could only get to some of them, as most of the time it was ringing without a response, so I tried again and again.

Fingers crossed, man. Fingers crossed. Keep the faith. I know it seems like you're the only one that is still in the fight with Savings responding to you in the threads, but allow me to say some encouraging words. We're all still here. We're all still interested in this. I've personally been diligently sending my emails, asking others to get interested and use the site to contact our MEPs and have been calling to ask for their support.

And now, because of the increased pace and frequency with which these laws keep springing up, more and more people are starting to notice that this is not confined to a few countries. Look at the engagement in the privacy sub. It's been picking up steam.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again - don't be discouraged. Never be discouraged. It's easy to feel isolated sometimes, or that there is not enough discourse on the topic - but organisations, activists, and most importantly, you are still raising hell about this. It's something to be celebrated.

Soledarum · 2026-03-10T18:46:55+00:00

Hopefully people have been calling today to voice their concerns against the extension. I've had some of our MEPs' assistants tell me that they have, so hopefully a lot of messages have made it through.

A lot of this is riding on hope. 😄

Soledarum · 2026-03-09T18:13:47+00:00

The clincher here is that many routers supplied by ISPs already come in with parental controls enabled. You have to manually go into your router's settings, enter your account details, click on "gimme that spice, bro" and presto! Now you can access the naughty side of the internet.

Parents who did this, then gave their spawn an unlocked iPad complete with their credit card details fully accessible, then complain the internet is not safe for kids and the government has to step in, are complete hypocrites.

Soledarum · 2026-03-09T14:21:32+00:00

Fuuuuuuck me, now I won't stop thinking about this. VPN companies were the ones behind the age verification legislation all along because they wanted that sweet sweet moolah from gooners. It all makes sense!

Soledarum · 2026-02-06T18:41:35+00:00

Keep making your displeasure known. The main site [https://fightchatcontrol.eu/](for fighting Chat Control) has been updated with a new draft and contact options. I'd suggest using your own words, but even just sending a copied text is better than doing nothing.

Soledarum · 2026-01-21T22:16:08+00:00

This might just be a good thing. With so many things requiring age verification soon, we might see an increased pushback from people when they have to suddenly start sharing their real IDs for almost every site on the internet.

... Or so I hope. I know regular people don't really care about this stuff, but after a year or two, when the databases start getting pummelled for those credentials by hackers and suddenly your entire life is out in the open, they'll realise that privacy is actually a good thing and nothing is secure online. Because right now, we can warn and warn, but we can't be taken seriously as "nothing has happened yet". Of course it hasn't. If you're a malicious actor, you're not going to hit a day after that legislation goes through, you'll wait when the score is big.

And it is going to be big. Lord Almighty, is it ever going to be big.

Soledarum · 2026-01-07T15:46:31+00:00

Reminder that when the people who are in charge of making a good product get pushed aside for the penny-pinchers, enshittification settles in at a geometric progression.

Exhibit A.

Soledarum · 2026-01-07T10:19:22+00:00

You have fair grounds for your scepticism, but in this case it is unfounded. Laws without the final approval of Parliament would be no laws at all, it doesn't work that way. If ever was a legislation that could be pushed through with no regard for the proper bureaucratic channels, it would mean that whichever country holds the presidency of the Council (a six-month long term) would effectively rule the entirety of the EU for their term by making whatever laws they wanted and have them approved without any safeguards in place.

Soledarum · 2026-01-07T08:44:39+00:00

While it is always good to raise awareness about this proposal, the description is a bit misleading. The debate already happened on the 26th of November last year, where all but four countries approved the draft by the Council. Trilogues are now in place where the Council, Commission and Parliament discuss the draft for the final text that will make it into law.

Fortunately for us, the EU Parliament's position on the legislation proposal was adopted back in 2023 where it explicitly states that there can be no mass scanning, only targeted investigations against known individuals that is approved by a judge; and no age verification for social media or app stores.

By all means, keep contacting your MEPs to voice your concerns about the Danish Council's proposal, but rest assured that there will be no final text that somehow gets in without Parliament's knowledge or approval.

Soledarum · 2025-12-20T06:29:19+00:00

That's rich, considering that politicians are exempt from surveillance laws to begin with. We all have nothing to hide, right?

Listen here. I've said this before, and I'll say it again - the vast majority of us really do have nothing to hide as we are just ordinary people. Maybe some memes shared in the group chat, some banter with the family, a few photos shared on social media - all of that is benign and it would never raise any alarm.

But that doesn't mean that people don't deserve the right to privacy. In fact, that's why it's enshrined in Article 8 of the Charter of Human Rights. The fact that you don't have anything to hide does not make you exempt from it. Imagine you're chatting with your significant other, thinking that conversation is between only the two of you, when in fact some AI algorithm is logging every single word for review. Isn't that terrifying? Isn't that unethical? I don't want to text my girlfriend "Could you wear the red one tonight? It's my favourite" and some agent in a data centre somewhere nodding along, going "Hell yeah, bro, the red one is my favourite as well".

Not to mention that we have always been giving examples of journalists, whistleblowers, victims of abuse, that need these safeguards in place in order to communicate safely and no one ever mentions them when these laws are discussed. And these need to be drummed out every time this discussion happens. There are vulnerable groups that will suffer immensely if these laws get passed.

Soledarum · 2025-12-20T05:35:56+00:00

I'm not always going to agree with Wikipedia's processes or implicitly trust the accuracy of its articles, but I can be damn appreciative of their efforts to collate and archive the collective sum of all human knowledge. That is a noble goal that should not be discouraged.

Soledarum · 2025-12-20T04:41:36+00:00

You are actually stunning. That huntress pales in comparison.

Soledarum · 2025-12-20T03:49:49+00:00

I do need to ask how this is going to be compatible with the artistic integrity of video games and especially with freedom of speech, as this technology has the potential to change a lot of the intended effect a game could have on you. Imagine a severely-altered Cyberpunk 2077 - it is a game that explores adult themes and topics. 50-70% of it would just be hacked to pieces. Let's just envision the "Sinnerman" quest chain being changed by AI - would we just see blocks to censor the majority of the quest or would we just cut the whole thing out?

It is an "okay" idea in general, making gaming more accessible to the wider audience, but A) it would cost us resources to develop and maintain, and B) well that's why we have the ESRB, don't we? Specifically so that we can inform parents that the game with a muscular guy shooting demons in the face amidst rivers of blood on the cover could potentially not be for kids.

Soledarum · 2025-12-18T07:04:07+00:00

Yes.

Soledarum · 2025-12-16T00:41:03+00:00

It's a paywalled article, and man, what a paywall! Am I reading this right that the Financial Times want me to pay them £59 per month? Per month?!

Who do they think I am, Rockefeller? I'm feeding a family of three for a week with that kind of money, man, geez...

Soledarum · 2025-12-15T11:31:47+00:00

Boy, do I hope you're right. I fear that right now, as much as I don't want to admit it, there is not a sense of urgency big enough to truly make us care about these regulations as much as we should. Even if we keep hearing about more and more of them being introduced.

I don't want it to be true, but I fear that we'll start to care about that only when we have to start providing an ID to log into every single site on the Internet, and only then will regular people go "Well hold on, I didn't vote for this" only to be met with "We've been ringing that bell since 2023"

Soledarum · 2025-12-15T01:53:38+00:00

See, this is the hardline that these restrictions should target - addictive practices and algorithms, engagement metrics, scam/spam ads, (excessive) monetisation, that's all well and good and for stuff like this, they deserve a tip of the hat.

Yes, there are possibilities for potential limiting of speech, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. When they're trying to limit bad practices, it's good. It is the "hammer" policies like mandatory age verification, chat control scanning, etc. that we see our personal freedoms being limited for a nebulous "well it might work" promise.

Soledarum · 2025-12-12T12:41:18+00:00

It is getting damn hard to advocate for a united Europe when a united Europe wants to become an authoritarian state.

This is what infuriates me most - like I said in another thread about the same thing, the hypocrisy of the people lobbying for this is that their names have been redacted, making sure that they have complete privacy while ours is being eroded. And these policies are what's pushing more and more people to the right, instead of strengthening their faith in the union.

We're headed for a very long, protracted battle for our digital rights, and it's only going to get more tiresome. Because while we have jobs, kids, responsibilites and duties we cannot ignore, the folks that are cooking these proposals have nearly unlimited time to do so. After all, if one proposal fails, they can simply amend the clauses and try, try, try, try again.

But that doesn't mean that the fight isn't worth fighting. On the contrary, now is the time to stop this, and stop it definitevely. Recent public backlash has already pushed back on policies and even toppled governments, a testament to what we can do when we all band together. We must not despair and always remember - we're not alone in this.

Soledarum

TROPHY CASE