Open petition: Ban client side scanning (CSS) of private communications on personal devices

Created by Anna Langley
Closes on 23 August 2026

We ask the government to:
- Prohibit any requirement for client side scanning on consumer devices.
- Reaffirm its commitment to safeguarding democratic freedoms, protecting human rights, and preserving the security of its citizens’ digital communications.

In our view, CSS is mass surveillance that could scan every private message, eroding the privacy rights protected by the European Convention on Human Rights and undermining democratic liberty. We believe that technically, it creates a universal backdoor: any state or malicious actor could exploit the on device scanning technology, exposing personal, financial and health data. We do not believe that enabling scanning technology that only targets illegal content is possible; once the code exists, it can be repurposed, and our privacy no longer exists.

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