There is a new legislative proposal in the European Union, often referred to as "Chat Control" (CSAM Regulation). The stated goal is noble: to detect and prevent illegal content. However, the proposed method—forcing apps to scan every private message sent by every citizen—crosses a line that should never be crossed in a free society.
At Huddle, our stance is simple: We cannot comply, and we will not comply.
The "Digital Mailman" Argument
Imagine a law that required the postal service to steam-open every single letter, read the contents, check the photos inside against a police database, and then reseal it before delivery—just in case you might be a criminal.
Most people would agree this is a gross violation of privacy. It presumes guilt instead of innocence. Yet, this is exactly what "Client-Side Scanning" proposes for your digital life.
You cannot have encryption that works for "good guys" but opens for "police." A backdoor is a backdoor. If we build a loophole for the EU government, hackers, authoritarian regimes, and stalkers will eventually find it too.
Why Mass Surveillance Fails
The argument for Chat Control is that it helps catch criminals. But history shows that mass surveillance of innocent populations is ineffective and dangerous.
- False Positives: Automated scanners make mistakes. Innocent holiday photos of your children in the bath could be flagged, putting you on a police list without you knowing.
- The Criminals Won't Stop: Criminals don't follow laws. If Huddle scans messages, criminals will simply move to self-hosted servers or open-source tools that the government can't control.
- The Victims are Regular People: The only people affected by this law will be law-abiding citizens—couples sharing intimate moments, journalists protecting sources, and businesses protecting trade secrets.
Huddle's Technical Reality
Even if we wanted to comply (which we don't), our architecture makes it impossible.
Huddle is built on Zero-Knowledge Encryption. As demonstrated in our Encryption Lab, your data is encrypted on your device before it ever touches our servers. We do not have the keys. We see mathematical noise, not photos.
To comply with Chat Control, we would have to rewrite our app to introduce "Client-Side Scanning"—software that spies on you before the encryption happens. We refuse to write that code.
Our Promise to You
If a law is passed that forces us to break our encryption or scan your private data, we will shut down Huddle in that jurisdiction rather than compromise your security.
We believe privacy is a human right, not a feature.
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