I have been closely following the debate around "Chat Control" in the EU and similar anti-encryption regulations worldwide. I’ve noticed that while the technical experts are worried, the general public still doesn't quite grasp what life after privacy actually feels like.
I believe fiction can sometimes communicate these stakes better than a technical whitepaper ever could. I wrote this short story to explore the logical conclusion of these laws.
bisekrankas•2w ago
What has had me most baffled about all of this is that none of my friends and collegues even know what Chat Control is.
The only national news reporting about it here has been _after_ it has been passed or rejected, and even then it has been skewed with headlines such as "Online pirates cheers as chat control is rejected". And this is from supposedly neutral news outlets. It is like they dont want any attention drawn to this.
giga_private•2w ago
Exactly. We have to make this topic much more mainstream. That is the only solution I see.
bisekrankas•2w ago
Agreed, however I have found it is very hard to get through by going the long explanation route of the issue, when I have attempted it has ended up in the regular "nothing to hide, protect children good" handwavy counterpoints.
I think some very simple message is needed to reach people who aren't concerned, or don't understand how dangerous the implications of this is.
I made the mistake of starting to explain what end to end encryption is and why it is important and they quickly lost interest.
giga_private•2w ago
I completely agree with you. I have the exact same experience when trying to talk about this with more "normie" people.
That is why I wrote this short story, which I believe can make a more people think about privacy.
The problem is reaching the right people outside of the bubble where we already care about these issues.
vjulian•2w ago
What bothers me most is not the governance and those who drive the horrible system. What bothers me most are the people down below. I used to dismiss them as stupid, but now I think, deep down, most people don’t actually want freedom. They see it as scary and prefer that their lives are tightly managed.
giga_private•2w ago
Maybe. But I would say in many cases its also the lack of knowledge by the people. They are not really aware (or are ignorant) of what lack of freedom can cause.
I think the solution is to make talking about this topic more "mainstream".
giga_private•2w ago
I believe fiction can sometimes communicate these stakes better than a technical whitepaper ever could. I wrote this short story to explore the logical conclusion of these laws.
bisekrankas•2w ago
The only national news reporting about it here has been _after_ it has been passed or rejected, and even then it has been skewed with headlines such as "Online pirates cheers as chat control is rejected". And this is from supposedly neutral news outlets. It is like they dont want any attention drawn to this.
giga_private•2w ago
bisekrankas•2w ago
I think some very simple message is needed to reach people who aren't concerned, or don't understand how dangerous the implications of this is.
I made the mistake of starting to explain what end to end encryption is and why it is important and they quickly lost interest.
giga_private•2w ago
That is why I wrote this short story, which I believe can make a more people think about privacy.
The problem is reaching the right people outside of the bubble where we already care about these issues.