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Re:End of "Chat Control": EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveilla... by miroljub on Thursday March 26, 2026 @09:05AM (#47529954)
The EU is becoming more and more fascist in every regard.

With every new proposal, every vote, they are closer to the totalitarian regime. Proposals can be declined a million times, but the EU regime is always finding sneakier and more manipulative ways to push again and again. And once it passes, it can become only worse in the next iterations.

I can already see a coordinated attack on any freedoms and rights from the governing regimes in member states and their endless propaganda.

At this point, the EU can't be fixed. It has to be abandoned completely, both as an idea and as an implementation. EU requirements were wrong, architecture was worse, and the implementation was the worst.

We should all just leave it and maybe try again in a few generations with entirely new premises.

Re:End of "Chat Control": EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveilla... by bilekas on Thursday March 26, 2026 @09:21AM (#47530143)
> We should all just leave it and maybe try again in a few generations with entirely new premises.

Nice try troll. Given your views and username might it be a stretch to assume you align more with the eastern side of governance ?

> At this point, the EU can't be fixed. It has to be abandoned completely, both as an idea and as an implementation. EU requirements were wrong, architecture was worse, and the implementation was the worst.

Dying to see your citations for these.

Re:End of "Chat Control": EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveilla... by boxed on Thursday March 26, 2026 @09:56AM (#47530520)
"What did the Romans ever do for US?" :P
Re:End of "Chat Control": EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveilla... by camgunz on Thursday March 26, 2026 @09:11AM (#47530021)
They literally just voted it down. Twice in 2 days. Also compared to whom?
Re:End of "Chat Control": EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveilla... by miroljub on Thursday March 26, 2026 @10:10AM (#47530695)
> They literally just voted it down. Twice in 2 days.

And they will try again tomorrow. Until it passes.

> Also compared to whom?

Why compare? The fact that there are worse regimes than the EU doesn't make the EU even a single bit better. Lesser evil is still evil. Let us strive for good.

Re:End of "Chat Control": EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveilla... by vrganj on Thursday March 26, 2026 @10:45AM (#47531107)
"They" being the member states. The EU is the institution preventing them from implementing it, not enabling them.

You're inverting roles here.

Just look at the UK and how crazy they've gone now that the EU can't shoot their ideas down anymore.

Re:End of "Chat Control": EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveilla... by rsynnott on Thursday March 26, 2026 @09:11AM (#47530026)
> With every new proposal, every vote, they are closer to the totalitarian regime. Proposals can be declined a million times, but the EU regime is always finding sneakier and more manipulative ways to push again and again.

... I mean this is how all parliamentary systems work. It's more _visible_ in the EU than in others, I think, because the council/commission are more willing to put forward things that they don't really think the parliament will go for (in many parliamentary systems, realistically the executive will be reluctant to put forward stuff where they think they'll lose the vote in parliament).

But there's not really a huge difference; it would just be _quieter_ in most parliamentary systems, and you wouldn't really hear anything about it until the executive had their votes in place, brought it forward, and passed it. I actually kind of prefer the EU system, in that it tends to happen more out in the open, which allows for public comment. And public comment and pressure is a huge deal for this sort of thing; most parliamentarians, on things they don't understand, will vote whatever way their party is voting. But if it becomes clear that their constituents care about it, they may actually have to think about it, and that's half the battle.

Re:End of "Chat Control": EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveilla... by mariusor on Thursday March 26, 2026 @12:03PM (#47532181)
"fascism" has a pretty well defined meaning, which is not whatever the EU would become if something like chat control ever passes. Towards totalitarianism, sure, but again not all totalitarianism is fascism. I wish people would stop using le mot du jour as a replacement for everything in an subconscious need to increase others' engagement.
Re:End of "Chat Control": EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveilla... by sveme on Thursday March 26, 2026 @09:13AM (#47530054)
So in summary: because the law was avoided today, the EU needs to be abolished? Weird take.

You can see it the other way around, without the EU, Denmark and others would have already implemented ChatControl in their country. This is driven by member states (Denmark), not the parliament, after all.

Re:End of "Chat Control": EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveilla... by miki123211 on Thursday March 26, 2026 @11:29AM (#47531725)
There are advantages to "government by evolution", as opposed to "government by monoculture"

With the former approach, every country is allowed to try different things, some amazing, some dumb, and learn from the amazing and dumb things that others have done.

In the latter, there's only one governing body, and whatever that body said, goes. There's no science or statistics, just sides shouting their arguments at each other, calling people names.

Both the EU and the US used to heavily lean towards the former approach, but they're slowly but inexorably moving towards the latter.

Re:End of "Chat Control": EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveilla... by miroljub on Thursday March 26, 2026 @09:52AM (#47530473)
> So in summary: because the law was avoided today, the EU needs to be abolished? Weird take.

There are many reasons to abolish the EU, but the topic here is chat control.

> You can see it the other way around, without the EU, Denmark and others would have already implemented ChatControl in their country. This is driven by member states (Denmark), not the parliament, after all.

Would they? We don't know. Would the government of Denmark be ready to commit political suicide by insisting again and again on something so unpopular?

The whole premise of the EU is to allow various unelected interest groups to push unpopular regulation to the EU member states without any consequences.

Re:End of "Chat Control": EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveilla... by anonymars on Thursday March 26, 2026 @10:07AM (#47530662)
Isn't the UK a perfect control group? Didn't the EU push back on similar legislation, until Brexit?

> insisting again and again on something so unpopular?

Didn't the UK do exactly this?

Re:End of "Chat Control": EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveilla... by dyauspitr on Thursday March 26, 2026 @12:00PM (#47532142)
What a joke. Compared to US, implementing chat control is like a pin prick compared to the scale of MAGA fascism. The EU is probably the best example of functional government anywhere in the world right now.
Re:End of "Chat Control": EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveilla... by wolvoleo on Friday March 27, 2026 @08:58PM (#47550408)
That's sad but true :(
[dead]
Re:End of "Chat Control": EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveilla... by cess11 on Thursday March 26, 2026 @11:27AM (#47531704)
The only people named Miroljub I've met were serbian, perhaps this person is too.
Re:End of "Chat Control": EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveilla... by miroljub on Thursday March 26, 2026 @12:15PM (#47532344)
> The only people named Miroljub I've met were serbian,

If you invoke ad hominem, I have full right to play Godwin, so here it goes.

The only people eager to investigate someone's origins and discredit them based on them were Nazis [1].

You did your investigation now. Does my assumed origin make your argument sounder?

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahnenpass

> perhaps this person is too.

No, I'm a Jew. And you are an antisemite who uses Nazi methods.

Re:End of "Chat Control": EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveilla... by ecshafer on Thursday March 26, 2026 @09:12AM (#47530034)
The EU is fundamentally flawed. There are no checks and balances, and its only democratic if you squint and look at it the right way. People need to directly elect the MPs, directly elect some kind of president. They have no accountability, no checks and balances.
Re:End of "Chat Control": EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveilla... by freehorse on Thursday March 26, 2026 @10:05AM (#47530623)
I agree there is a strong democratic deficit in the current EU governance structure, but I disagree with a proposal such as

> directly elect some kind of president

We do not need a president with over-powers, and electing directly one does not solve anything for democracy, as the recent history in countries like the US and France shows. The point of directly electing a president is giving that role more power. The current structure in the EU is not so much president-centric either executive or legislative wise, but more like comission-centric, which is what imo has the biggest problem in terms of democracy in the EU.

Re:End of "Chat Control": EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveilla... by wolvoleo on Friday March 27, 2026 @09:02PM (#47550424)
Yes please. Not make an all powerful president whose election is more about the person than about their politics.

The current US is a perfect example why this is such a bad idea.

I support a president that's more of a figurehead though like in Ireland. More like an elected head of state for ribbon cutting but not really a strong political force. More like a negotiator than a dictator.

I guess the US' dogma of the winner takes all makes this palatable for them. But I don't see it leading anywhere but destruction especially in a forever-polarised zero-sum two party system.

Re:End of "Chat Control": EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveilla... by bilekas on Thursday March 26, 2026 @09:18AM (#47530097)
> People need to directly elect the MP

They do.

> directly elect some kind of president

I get the impression you're coming at it from a US perspective, and it's not that, and doesn't intend to be for now. The president is elected by majority of the MP's who have been elected by the people of their respective countries. Almost like the US electorial system, except it's done internally because people generally only vote for their own best interests and not that of the entirety.

Perfect, no, it can be slow and a lot of red tape, but what system isn't flawed.

Re:End of "Chat Control": EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveilla... by sveme on Thursday March 26, 2026 @09:16AM (#47530071)
The commission is checked by the parliament is checked by the council is checked by the commission. Most other national organizations only have one check - Germany, for example, only has the Bundesrat as a check of the Bundestag.
Re:End of "Chat Control": EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveilla... by gpderetta on Thursday March 26, 2026 @09:18AM (#47530085)
People directly elects MEPs. And the Parliament literally right now just put a check on the Council.

Many EU nations are not presidential, and personally I prefer parliamentary republics than presidential ones.

Re:End of "Chat Control": EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveilla... by Kim_Bruning on Thursday March 26, 2026 @09:55AM (#47530510)
Checks and balances means some folks should NOT be directly elected. if everyone is <directly elected>, then you have <directly elected> checked and balanced by <directly elected>. Which is to say, not at all. :-P
Re:End of "Chat Control": EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveilla... by em-bee on Thursday March 26, 2026 @12:14PM (#47532328)
one if the problems is that most elections are only for one person, so only the majority (the person with the most votes) wins.

give everyone half a dozen votes or more, and and you'll get a more representative sample.

for example instead of electing a president, elect a while leadership team. independent of party affiliation. (i'd get rid of parties completely while we are at it, every candidate should be independent (the expanded version of that gets even rid of candidates, every adult can potentially be elected, but that is a more complex system that needs more elaboration))

Re:End of "Chat Control": EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveilla... by naasking on Thursday March 26, 2026 @10:05AM (#47530631)
You could have a system where everyone is directly elected while keeping checks and balances, if voting were restricted, eg. maybe everyone can vote for a president/prime minister, but only non-teachers can vote for an education minister, and only non-finance people can vote for something like the Fed chief, etc. The point being the checks and balances now happen because other groups keep your group in check by voting.
Re:End of "Chat Control": EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveilla... by Kim_Bruning on Thursday March 26, 2026 @10:10AM (#47530692)
Absolutely! That does keep some of the checks. You can do better than that though!

It's like on the Apollo missions where some parts were made by two completely different manufacturers and worked completely differently.

Hybrid political systems are best. Of course if we like democracy (and most people do), then that should be the most common kind of component. But I'd still like to have some different paradigms mixed into the system. And that's exactly what most modern constitutions do, for better or for worse.

Re:End of "Chat Control": EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveilla... by miki123211 on Thursday March 26, 2026 @11:32AM (#47531779)
I'd personally go for a two-chamber system (like congress/senate or commons/lords), with one chamber being elected and the other being chosen by sortition.

Maybe also a 3rd chamber, where the weight of your vote was proportional to IQ (much more palatable in EU than US).

Re:End of "Chat Control": EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveilla... by vrganj on Thursday March 26, 2026 @12:45PM (#47532734)
This sounds like the opposite of what should be happening? Like an anti-technocracy aiming for an electorate as little informed as possible?

Why exclude teachers from picking the education minister? If we're restricting votes, shouldn't they be the only ones doing so instead?

Re:End of "Chat Control": EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveilla... by rsynnott on Thursday March 26, 2026 @09:17AM (#47530080)
> People need to directly elect the MPs

...

We do? What did you think the European Parliament elections every four years were for?

> directly elect some kind of president.

Why? Nowhere in Western Europe except very arguably France (France, as always, has to be a bit weird about everything, and has a hybrid system) has a directly elected executive. True executive presidential systems are only really a thing in the Americas and Africa (plus Russia, these days).

Like, in terms of big countries with a true executive presidency, you’re basically looking at the US, Russia and Brazil. I’m, er, not sure we should be modeling ourselves on those paragons of democracy.

> They have no accountability, no checks and balances.

The parliament has the same accountability and checks and balances as any national parliament, more or less (more than some, as the ECJ is more effective and independent than many national supreme courts).

Re:End of "Chat Control": EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveilla... by gpderetta on Thursday March 26, 2026 @09:18AM (#47530098)
> We do? What did you think the European Parliament elections every four years were for?

Probably it is not taught as part of the curriculum in Russia.

Re:End of "Chat Control": EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveilla... by rsynnott on Thursday March 26, 2026 @09:35AM (#47530291)
Ah, looks like they're American, based on their profile.
Re:End of "Chat Control": EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveilla... by Ylpertnodi on Thursday March 26, 2026 @11:49AM (#47531975)
From an EU perspective, there's not much difference between russia, and the US at the moment.
Re:End of "Chat Control": EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveilla... by em-bee on Thursday March 26, 2026 @12:25PM (#47532485)
i always found it odd that the most powerful person in many european countries, the prime minister, is not directly elected. but the problem is not really there. the problem in my opinion is the concentration of power in one person. and the influence of political parties to decide who gets to be a candidate.

imagine system where we directly elect the whole cabinet. only people with electoral approval should get to be ministers. and the prime ministers or presidents job is to only manage that group.

Re:End of "Chat Control": EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveilla... by rsynnott on Thursday March 26, 2026 @12:37PM (#47532634)
> the problem in my opinion is the concentration of power in one person.

Generally, a prime minister is less powerful than an executive president, often much less powerful.

> and the prime ministers or presidents job is to only manage that group.

On the face of it, that is the PM's primary role in a parliamentary democracy. Now, the complication is that, in many parliamentary systems, the PM has significant power over the ministers (either via the ability to directly appoint them, or via being the head of the ruling party/coalition/or various other means). But generally, the PM is less powerful in nearly all systems than, say, the US president; in particular the finance minister is often a separate semi-independent power within the cabinet.

Re:End of "Chat Control": EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveilla... by cbg0 on Thursday March 26, 2026 @09:17AM (#47530079)
> The EU is fundamentally flawed. There are no checks and balances

You're missing a [citation needed] on that.

Re:End of "Chat Control": EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveilla... by marginalia_nu on Thursday March 26, 2026 @10:13AM (#47530736)
Non-elected representatives from my country keep pushing for chat control via the council. How do I, as a citizen, hold them accountable?
Re:End of "Chat Control": EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveilla... by munksbeer on Thursday March 26, 2026 @11:28AM (#47531715)
> Non-elected representatives from my country keep pushing for chat control via the council. How do I, as a citizen, hold them accountable?

How is that an EU problem? Without the EU, like here in the UK, we had non-elected lobbyists pressuring our elected government to implement age checks, message scanning, etc. And it is still continuing.

You're fighting the wrong fight by blaming the EU for this.

Re:End of "Chat Control": EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveilla... by marginalia_nu on Thursday March 26, 2026 @11:41AM (#47531874)
This is a highly solvable problem, one that is solved by not overloading the national elections with to different concerns.

EU has checks and balances that were intended for a trade union, not a nascent superstate. If we don't implement proper checks and balances in a real fucking hurry, we'll wake up one morning and realize the EU has turned into another Soviet union, and by then it'll be far too late to do anything about it.

Re:End of "Chat Control": EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveilla... by triceratops on Thursday March 26, 2026 @10:43AM (#47531067)
Ask your government why they're sending those representatives. As a citizen you vote for your government, right?
Re:End of "Chat Control": EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveilla... by marginalia_nu on Thursday March 26, 2026 @10:46AM (#47531114)
How badly would you say the council or commission have to mess things up before they saw any voter-initiated repercussions what so ever with a system of accountability that requires voters to consider punishing the council or comission more important than their own national elections?

If accountability is to work, it has to be more than an abstract theoretical possibility.

Re:End of "Chat Control": EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveilla... by triceratops on Thursday March 26, 2026 @11:13AM (#47531525)
It isn't abstract. Your government sends representatives to represent its platform and priorities. If you don't agree with the reps you need to elect a different government.
Re:End of "Chat Control": EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveilla... by marginalia_nu on Thursday March 26, 2026 @11:15AM (#47531557)
It's a abstract because you will never ever see a situation where voters neglect national elections to adjust the EU council or commission. Maybe it's what needs to happen, but the way thing are arranged it just won't.
Re:End of "Chat Control": EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveilla... by triceratops on Thursday March 26, 2026 @01:11PM (#47533025)
Why "neglect"? You're voting for a government that does the things you want.
Re:End of "Chat Control": EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveilla... by iknowstuff on Thursday March 26, 2026 @10:35AM (#47530983)
Vote against the ruling party in your smaller national election
Re:End of "Chat Control": EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveilla... by marginalia_nu on Thursday March 26, 2026 @10:43AM (#47531069)
That's a system of accountability in name but not in practice.

Even if there was an option in the national elections that didn't want this stuff, convincing a majority of voters to disregard national politics for an election cycle to have an imperceptibly small impact on the council members is such an unlikely outcome the council or comission would de facto be committing genocides before voters would be mobilized, and even then it's unlikely they'd face any repercussions.

Re:End of "Chat Control": EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveilla... by iknowstuff on Friday March 27, 2026 @01:10PM (#47545430)
I’m sympathetic to wanting a directly elected upper house instead of the council but it’ll be a hard fight to win.

The Parliament should also be empowered to initiate legislation.

Re:End of "Chat Control": EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveilla... by salawat on Thursday March 26, 2026 @10:53AM (#47531222)
It isn't popular, but they have a name and address right? Not talking violence, but the number one way of dealing with these sorts is to usually talk things out. If you're really concerned about, get a group of similarly minded people and make it unambiguously evident that this person is championing something a lot of people are not behind. It becomes much harder to ignore or wave off something when people start making themselves known on your doorstep.

And no, this isn't dog whistling violence. It is simply applying signal. The only other message I can think of is engaging an investigative journalist/PI and starting to figure out who is lobbying the person, and start pressuring them.

Re:End of "Chat Control": EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveilla... by izacus on Thursday March 26, 2026 @10:27AM (#47530886)
The article you're commenting on is reporting how directly elected representatives defeated the motion.

Why do you keep lying?

Re:End of "Chat Control": EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveilla... by marginalia_nu on Thursday March 26, 2026 @10:32AM (#47530941)
That's the parliament. What about the council and the commission? Am I not allowed to hold them accountable? Does my power as a citizen only extend to a fourth of the balance of power?

They keep getting away with these attrition tactics with regards to implementing near Stasi levels communication surveillance. What about the day they're pushing to give the council unlimited powers, or to abolish voting rights, or to purge jews?

Re:End of "Chat Control": EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveilla... by patmorgan23 on Thursday March 26, 2026 @10:42AM (#47531060)
The council is made up of heads of state, so no more undemocratic than your own countries executive, and the commission is selected by the Council and approved by the EU parliament.
Re:End of "Chat Control": EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveilla... by marginalia_nu on Thursday March 26, 2026 @11:20AM (#47531617)
Russia and China has elections too, they are a necessary but not sufficient criteria for democracy. Just because there are elections doesn't mean the people can actually hold the government accountable.
Re:End of "Chat Control": EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveilla... by izacus on Saturday March 28, 2026 @07:33AM (#47553619)
Every. Single. Democracy. in this world uses a variation of system like EU so please stop bloviating about Russia and China.

Again, why do you keep lying about it?

Re:End of "Chat Control": EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveilla... by izacus on Thursday March 26, 2026 @11:14AM (#47531536)
The parliament holds them accountable like it just did in the article you're comme nting on.

Again, why are you aggressively lying here? Why are you misrepresenting workings of EU despite them following every single democracy out there?

Re:End of "Chat Control": EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveilla... by vrganj on Thursday March 26, 2026 @12:49PM (#47532786)
The Council and Commission are representatives of your democratically elected national government. You as a citizen of your country get to pick said government.

If the EU were to not exist, your representatives in the Council/Commission (e.g. your national government) would be more powerful because they wouldn't be checked by the Parliament, not less.

Your problem is with your government, they just successfully deflected it to the EU in your mind.

Re:End of "Chat Control": EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveilla... by andai on Thursday March 26, 2026 @11:31AM (#47531761)
We already don't have free speech. There's nothing protecting it (and many laws already to the contrary.) There aren't really any such constitutional protections from what I can tell.

Once laws are passed they aren't revoked. So it's just a matter of political climate. Just wait for people to get a little more negative, a little more paranoid (which has historically been "helped along" in various ways)-- a law only needs to pass once, and then we're stuck with some stupid bullshit forever.

It doesn't really seem like how you'd want to design it.

Re:End of "Chat Control": EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveilla... by hermanzegerman on Thursday March 26, 2026 @02:45PM (#47534159)
Obviously you can revoke Laws.

And not being able to deny the Holocaust doesn't mean you don't have free speech

Re:End of "Chat Control": EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveilla... by tomhow on Thursday March 26, 2026 @01:22PM (#47533169)
We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47529682 and marked it off topic.