In this episode of the Tallinn University Student Podcast, we explore the tension between digital safety and personal privacy in the age of mass surveillance.

We dive into the controversial Chat Control 2.0 proposal, a system designed to detect illegal content on messaging platforms. While intended to protect children, it raises serious questions about privacy, encryption, and government oversight.

Joining the conversation is Professor Walter Rech, who helps unpack the ethical, legal, and societal implications of client-side scanning and online surveillance.

We ask:

• Should protecting children come before protecting privacy?

• Can technology alone solve complex social problems?

• At what point does safeguarding citizens become controlling them?

Whether you are concerned about online safety, personal freedom, or the future of digital communication in Europe, this episode makes you rethink what “private” really means in the digital age.

We hope you enjoy our episode, and thank you for listening!

This episode is made by Tuna Hilmioğlu, Mina Kurt, Laura Reinberg, Aapo Rötkönen, and Kristjan Sarv.

Further research:

Akter, F., Godfrey, S., Kropczynski, J., Lipford, H. R., & Wisniewski, P. (2022). From parental control to joint family oversight: Can parents and teens manage mobile online safety and privacy as equals? arXiv. https://arxiv.org/abs/2204.07749

R. Anderson. Chat Control or Child Protection? Cambridge 2022. Available online: https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2210.08958

Chung, K. (2004, May). Development of an Integrated Chat Monitoring and Web Filtering Parental Control for Child Online Supervision

European Pirate Party. (2024, April 15). Chatcontrol: EU ministers want to exempt themselves. European Pirate Party.

A. Reimann, J. Voltri (2025) Experts: European Union’s ‘chat control’ plan a blow to free speech. (ERR news)

Fecke, M., Fehr, A., Schlütz, D., & Zillich, A. F. (2022). The ethics of gatekeeping: How guarding access influences digital child and youth research. Media and Communication, 10(1), 361–370. https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.v10i1.4756

Hooda, A., Labunets, A., Kohno, T., & Fernandes, E. (2024). Experimental analyses of the physical surveillance risks in client-side content scanning. In Network and Distributed System Security (NDSS) Symposium 2024.

Jain, S., Crețu, A. M., Cully, A., & de Montjoye, Y. A. (2023). Deep perceptual hashing algorithms with hidden dual purpose: when client-side scanning does facial recognition. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2306.11924

Klosowski, T. (2025, September 29). Chat Control Is Back on the Menu in the EU, and It Still Must Be Stopped. Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Leiser, M. R., & Murray, A. D. (2025). Rethinking safety-by-design and techno-solutionism for the regulation of child sexual abuse material. Technology and Regulation (TechReg), 2025, 137–171.

E. Lindberg. A Swedish perspective on Chat Control 2.0: A socio-legal study of how Chat Control is perceived in a Swedish context. Lund 2025.

Mass surveillance: Ecthr and CJEU case-law - joint factsheet. European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights. (2025, April 2).

Milaj, J. (2017). Surveillance with non-purpose built technology: Challenges for the protection of the right to privacy in the European Union. [Thesis fully internal (DIV), University of Groningen]. University of Groningen.

Parti, K., & Szabó, J. (2024). The legal challenges of realistic and AI-driven child sexual abuse material: Regulatory and enforcement perspectives in Europe. Laws, 13(6), 67. MDPI+1

D. Zammit. Scanning Liberty Away: The EU Proposal for Private Message Surveillance and Its Implications for Democracy.