I Grew Up on a Free Internet — Chat Control Can't Chain Curiosity

The fight against child sexual abuse material (CSAM) is necessary. But the way the European Union is choosing to fight it is dangerous.

The so-called “Chat Control” proposal would turn every phone and computer into a tool of pre-emptive surveillance. It would force platforms to scan private messages, images, and even encrypted conversations. A disproportionate measure — easy for abusers to evade, but powerful enough to undermine the freedom of millions.

Mass surveillance does not protect children. It breaks the encryption journalists, activists, trade unionists, whistleblowers, queer youth, migrants — anyone who needs to speak without fear — depend on.

Protecting children means investing in education, prevention, parent communication, and stronger communities — not stripping everyone of their right to a free internet.

I signed the new CSA Scientist Open Letter opposing the July 2025 “Chat Control” proposal because it is ineffective, undermines encryption, and threatens fundamental rights.
I invite engineers, scientists, and citizens to read and sign too: https://csa-scientist-open-letter.org/Sep2025.

When I was a kid, I found Turbo Pascal on a stack of dusty floppies.
My dad showed me something important:
I couldn’t just talk like people to a computer and expect it to understand.
What we’d now call vibe coding didn’t work.

I had to be precise, structured — or get garbage back.
I made a program that added two numbers.
The screen blinked and answered — and I was hooked.
That was the first crack in the wall.

Then came the 56k modem,
that screeching handshake with the infinite.
I dove into the net headfirst.
Dragon Ball icons, game cracks, howtos, IRC, MSN, forums, Kademlia.
I called my friends on the phone just to say:

“Go online now — there’s something you need to see.”

We explored together,
kids standing on the shoulders of an emerging, lawless giant.

That’s where I met ganzos.
Fifty-three years old. Mechanical engineer.
I lied about my age to get into the forum where we talked.
He didn’t care — hackers don’t ask for ID.
I was building my metronome, my music scale generator,
my snake game clone.

When I got stuck, I dumped my errors into the forum.
And ganzos answered.
He helped me understand what the compiler was screaming about,
why my code broke, how to fix it.

Piece by piece, line by line,
he showed me that nothing was magic — only logic.

When I couldn’t compile binaries,
he mailed me a cracked copy of Visual Basic 6.

In exchange, my parents mailed him oranges from our town,
which turned out he knew about and visited during his honeymoon.
Those oranges have unique properties due to the location,
very hot during the day and cool at night
by the south side of Mount Etna.

From there, the world opened wider.
Linux. Networking. Servers.
The Catania Linux User Group, Freaknet Medialab, Freenode.
I learned that source code was not forbidden knowledge.
I learned that software could be changed to fit my will.
I learned that power comes from understanding and the freedom to share.

And then — society caught up.
The wild net I grew up in got fenced off.
Parental controls. Government firewalls.
Algorithms feeding you safe, approved truths.
Centralization.

But here’s the truth they can’t fence in:
I learned music through piracy.
I learned programming by lying about my age.
I learned the truth about facts censored by our government from a free internet.

And none of that came from control.
It came from freedom.

Control doesn’t protect kids.

Control keeps them weak.
Parent Communication keeps them safe.
Free communities make them grow.
Education sets them free.
Curiosity keeps them alive.

If I were a kid today,
I’d be breaking your controls,
cracking your systems,
finding the holes in your “firewalls” —
because that’s cool,
and I want to know.

That’s also where kids may find a different ‘mentor’ than ganzos.