The End of Digital Privacy? How Client-Side Scanning Can Change Everything

Brax Technologies team Blog
1

The-end-of-digital-privacy-cover
The-end-of-digital-privacy-cover1166×678 44.2 KB

Introduction

We’re standing at a digital crossroads that will determine the future of privacy forever. The EU is considering legislation that could mandate client-side scanning technology as early as mid-2025, fundamentally changing how we communicate online. This isn’t just about Europe—it’s about a surveillance infrastructure that’s already being built into every device you own.

The Crisis Unfolding

The European Union’s proposed Chat Control legislation represents more than just another privacy law. It’s the legal framework that will normalize a surveillance technology that has been quietly creeping into our devices for years. While politicians frame this as protection “for the children,” the reality is far more concerning.

The legislation demands that platforms scan all content before encryption, effectively ending private digital communication. Companies face penalties of up to 6% of their global revenue in the EU (and 10% under the UK’s similar Online Safety Act) if they don’t comply. No major tech company can afford to ignore these stakes.

The UK Online Safety Act, which began enforcement in March 2024, already demonstrates how this works in practice. According to the UK Government’s official explainer, platforms must implement systems to detect and remove illegal content, with Ofcom wielding enforcement powers that include fines up to £18 million or 10% of global revenue.

As of October 2025, the EU Justice and Home Affairs Council has postponed votes on Chat Control due to opposition from German lawmakers and other member states, according to GovInfoSecurity. However, the Danish presidency plans to reintroduce the legislation before year-end, with countries like France and Ireland supporting the measure while Germany, the Netherlands, and Poland oppose it.

Understanding Client-Side Scanning

Client-side scanning fundamentally changes where surveillance happens. Instead of scanning content on company servers (which has been happening for years), this technology scans everything directly on your device—your phone, computer, tablet, or car.

The technical reality is straightforward: your device analyzes every photo, video, message, and screen capture before it gets encrypted and sent anywhere. This happens through AI-powered computer vision that can read text, analyze images, and understand context.

According to the Internet Society’s technical analysis, here’s what makes this different from traditional server-side scanning:

  • Pre-encryption analysis: Content is examined before it’s protected by encryption
  • Device-level enforcement: Your own device becomes the surveillance tool
  • Continuous monitoring: Everything you create or view can be analyzed in real-time
  • No escape through encryption: Even end-to-end encrypted platforms like Signal become transparent

Research from CRIN (Child Rights International Network) shows that current CSAM detection systems, despite claims of high accuracy, still produce significant false positives. Even with Thorn’s CSAM Classifier achieving a 99.9% precision rate, a platform processing 1 billion daily messages would generate 1 million false positives requiring human review every single day.

The Infrastructure Is Already Here

The most concerning aspect of this crisis isn’t the proposed legislation—it’s that the surveillance infrastructure is already built into your devices.

Apple’s Foundation: Since 2021, Apple has maintained media analysisd, an AI tool that analyzes images and creates text-based descriptions of your content. While Apple publicly suspended their Neural Hash project after backlash, the underlying computer vision technology remains active on every iOS device. According to Apple’s official documentation, their Communication Safety features analyze content on-device without sending information off the device.

Microsoft’s Advancement: Windows Recall takes screenshots of your computer activity every few seconds, then uses AI to analyze and create searchable text descriptions of everything you do. According to Microsoft’s support documentation, this system captures screenshots and uses OCR to extract text, storing data locally and encrypted. However, privacy advocates have raised concerns about the extensive user data being captured.

Google’s Implementation: Google’s Safety Core provides on-device content classification, completing the surveillance trinity across all major operating systems. As reported by The Hacker News, SafetyCore provides infrastructure for classifying content as spam, scam, or malware, though Google maintains it only operates when requested by apps through user-enabled features.

The pattern is clear: every major operating system except Linux now includes client-side scanning infrastructure. The only missing piece is the legal framework to activate reporting capabilities.

Beyond CSAM: The Real Implications

While politicians focus on child safety as justification, the technology itself makes no distinction between different types of content analysis. As noted in Proton’s analysis of client-side scanning, the same system that can detect illegal imagery can just as easily:

  • Monitor political dissent: Flag content critical of current leadership
  • Enforce censorship: Remove or report content that contradicts official narratives
  • Enable mass surveillance: Track every citizen’s digital activity in real-time
  • Eliminate anonymity: Connect all online activity to verified identities through age verification systems

The EU’s proposed age verification requirements make this even more invasive. Every person would need a government-issued internet ID, verified through a central authority. This eliminates anonymous communication entirely and creates a direct link between your real identity and every online action.

The Global Reach

This isn’t just a European problem. Technology doesn’t respect borders, and surveillance infrastructure built for one region becomes available everywhere. China’s social credit system demonstrates how quickly comprehensive digital monitoring can be implemented when the technology exists.

The precedent being set in Europe will inevitably spread:

  • Technology standardization: Global platforms will implement the same scanning systems everywhere
  • Legal framework copying: Other governments will adopt similar legislation
  • Infrastructure reuse: The same surveillance tools will be repurposed for different political goals
  • Normalization effect: Users will accept comprehensive monitoring as standard

According to DW’s reporting on EU Chat Control, critics warn that the legislation could lead to arbitrary surveillance and increased hacking risks, with implications extending far beyond European borders.

The False Promise of Limited Scope

Politicians claim the legislation only covers photos and videos, but this reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of the technology they’re regulating. Windows Recall already proves that everything on your screen becomes a “photo” through screenshot analysis.

Modern AI computer vision can:

  • Read any text displayed on screen
  • Understand context of conversations and documents
  • Analyze behavior patterns across all applications
  • Process multimedia content in real-time
  • Generate detailed reports of user activity

The technical limitations politicians imagine simply don’t exist. Once the infrastructure is in place, expanding its scope requires only changing software settings, not rebuilding systems.

What This Means for You

The implications extend far beyond privacy concerns:

Immediate Effects:

  • Every private communication becomes potentially visible to authorities
  • Self-censorship increases as people fear surveillance
  • Anonymous whistleblowing and journalism are under threat
  • Political opposition could face constant monitoring

Long-term Consequences:

  • Digital authoritarianism becomes technically feasible everywhere
  • Innovation in privacy technology gets criminalized
  • Free speech chills under constant observation
  • Democratic discourse suffers from surveillance fear

The Path Forward

We’re at a critical moment where speaking out still matters. The EU Chat Control legislation has faced delays due to opposition from Germany, the Netherlands, and Poland, proving that resistance can work.

What you can do:

  • Understand the technology: Don’t let politicians hide surveillance behind child safety rhetoric
  • Support privacy-focused alternatives: Choose platforms and devices that prioritize user privacy
  • Advocate for digital rights: Contact representatives and support organizations fighting these measures
  • Prepare for change: Consider how you’ll maintain privacy if these systems become mandatory

Key Resources for Further Reading:

The infrastructure for comprehensive digital surveillance is already in your pocket. Whether it gets activated depends on the political will to resist it. We have a narrow window to prevent the normalization of client-side scanning before it becomes an irreversible part of our digital lives.

The choice is ours, but only for now. Once this surveillance infrastructure becomes legally mandated and socially accepted, there’s no going back. The technology that promises to protect children will ultimately monitor everyone, and the privacy we’ve taken for granted will become a relic of the past.

Sources and References

This analysis draws from the following sources:

This article is based on analysis from our co-founder and privacy advocate Rob Braxman, whose warnings about surveillance technology have consistently proven accurate. As we face this critical juncture in digital privacy, understanding these technologies and their implications becomes essential for everyone who values freedom in the digital age.

9 Likes