Yesterday, the European Parliament held a vote on the issue of “chat control” – the legislation empowering tech giants to monitor private messages, allegedly to counter an “epidemic” of child sexual abuse material.

From EuroNews:

The legislation has been dubbed “chat control” by its critics, due to its privacy implications, particularly on end-to-end encrypted communications. The European Parliament is set to vote again this week on controversial legislation that would allow technology companies to scan online communications for child sexual abuse material.

That vote, technically on extending a temporary measure that expired in early April, was held yesterday.

The majority of MEPs voted “no”.

The motion was passed anyway.

This was the second vote on this issue, it was previously rejected by a handy majority in March (311 against, 228 for, 92 absent). But the powers-that-be are really desperate to get this law in place, so they pulled out all the stops this time around.

Read more: “Democracy” in Action – EU’s Dirty Tricks to Erase Your Privacy