Pavel Durov is not in the mood to celebrate his 41st birthday. The creator of Telegram has just released a warning on X that sounds like an air raid alert for anyone concerned about online privacy.
And no, this is not another clickbait cry about the “end of the Internet”. Durov has specific reasons for concern. Our generation may go down in history as the last to have true digital freedoms. And who allowed them to be taken away from her.
Europe goes all out – Chat Control as a weapon of mass surveillance
The European Union is getting ready to vote on Chat Control – a proposal that will effectively destroy end-to-end encryption in instant messengers. Telegram, WhatsApp, Signal – all would allow regulators to “scan” messages before they are encrypted and sent.
Read it again. Before. They will stay. Encrypted.
This is not protection against criminals. It’s a systemic backdoor that turns private correspondence into an open book for governments. Meredith Whittaker, CEO of Signal, doesn’t mince her words:
You can’t create a backdoor through which only the ‘good’ people will enter. Hackers and hostile nations eagerly await such cybersecurity vulnerabilities
Good news? Germany, with 97 seats in the European Parliament, has just questioned the entire initiative. This may be enough to block her. But Whittaker warns: “The war is not over.” Chat Control now moves to the European Council, where the matter remains open.
Great Britain: digital identity as a gateway to life
In September, Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced the introduction of a digital ID card system. Officially – to fight illegal employment and accelerate access to public services. In practice? Citizens will have to upload their personal data to the government application to prove their right to live and work in the UK.
The government says it’s convenient. Critics ask: What happens when the government has all your data in one place? And what will stop him from abusing them?
Over 2.8 million people have already signed a petition against digital ID. In the British system, any petition exceeding 100,000 signatures must go to parliamentary debate. The question is: will politicians hear the voice of citizens?
Australia: age verification as a pretext for mass surveillance
From December 10, Australia will ban access to social media for people under 16 years of age. A noble goal? Protecting minors from harmful content. Problem? The planned online age verification system will require all users to provide personal information.
The same pattern again: the government needs a database with the identities of all Internet users. Officially – to protect children. Unofficially – infrastructure is being created for total control of who logs in, when and where.
Durov doesn’t mince his words: “It’s a tool of control”
Germany is persecuting anyone who dares to criticize officials on the Internet. Britain jails thousands of people for tweets. France initiates criminal proceedings against tech leaders who defend freedom and privacy
– Durov enumerates and adds something that sounds like an epitaph for our era:
A dark, dystopian world is coming fast – while we sleep. Our generation risks going down in history as the last to have freedoms – and allow them to be taken away
What does this have to do with cryptocurrencies? All.
Privacy is the foundation of Bitcoin and the entire cryptocurrency industry. BTC was created precisely to operate anonymously – using addresses instead of names, enabling peer-to-peer transactions without banks as intermediaries.
If governments can eliminate privacy in online communications, they can apply the same tools to financial transactions. Chat Control today, Bitcoin Control tomorrow? This isn’t paranoia. This is an extrapolation of trends that we can already see with our own eyes. This will undermine the core of digital assets and introduce censorship and control that cypherpunks, including, of course, Satoshi Nakamoto, have been trying to escape from the very beginning.
Time is running out
Durov is right about one thing: there is no longer time to discuss “if” this threat is real. The question is “when” and “how much”. Each of these initiatives – Chat Control, digital ID, age verification – is another element of the surveillance infrastructure. Separately, they sound like reasonable solutions. Together they create an architecture of control that Orwell could only dream of.
And us? We are still scrolling through the feed as if nothing was happening.
And the clock is ticking.
