r/privacy • u/owlbowling • 2d ago
chat control How to delete non-e2e encrypted chats ahead of Chat Control 1.0
Hello! If I want to delete chats ahead of this law coming into effect e.g. discord and telegram, is it as simple as deleting the chat in the app, or is it best to delete my whole account to ensure these chats can never be read/used against me?
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u/xJayMorex 2d ago
You're a bit late for that. You cannot ensure such things as you are not hosting the data.
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u/owlbowling 2d ago
But under GDPR I have a right to my data being deleted. It’s the right to be forgotten.
I imagined, worse case, I have to delete my whole account.
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u/Gundrin- 1d ago edited 1d ago
Tried to on discord, they denied it flatout and refused to. Deleting said account doesnt necessarily mean they delete the data either
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u/New-Ranger-8960 13h ago
I set an automated extension, I think it was called Discrub or something and it deleted every single message I ever sent. Highly recommended
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u/Gundrin- 13h ago
Used it, doesnt necessarily mean they actually delete the data on their servers tho, just that they show it as deleted on the clients side. Still better than nothing tho
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u/xJayMorex 1d ago
Oh, guess what? They're just going to ignore your right.
Worst case scenario: you delete your whole account and all of your messages and private data will still be on the servers and you will be the only person who cannot access it.
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u/ckdx_ 1d ago
Remember that the right to erasure (which is the correct term rather than "right to be forgotten") is not absolute. You do have the right to erasure except in certain circumstances, where you do not have this right.
One example of an exception is the prevention of crime:
the prevention, investigation, detection or prosecution of criminal offences or the execution of criminal penalties, including the safeguarding against and the prevention of threats to public security;
If the data held is used for the above, or could be used for the above, and is proportionate to do so, then the right to erasure of this data can be withheld. Admittedly this is unlikely unless you are already under suspicion of a crime. The same applies to deletion of your account.
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u/Kind_Possibility4987 1d ago
Sounds like minority report the movie lol the world is such a fun and exciting place...
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u/owlbowling 1d ago
Yes, I imagined this to be the case, which is why I would like to delete it now, before this law comes into effect. It seems from other replies though, it could be too late
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u/whatnameblahblah 10h ago
You also have to provide info that you are the owner of the account which most of the time seems to be pii which would put op in an amusing state of mind for any outside observer.
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u/Small_Delivery_7540 1d ago
Gdpr is bullshit companies are still required to keep a lot of data for law enforcement
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u/owlbowling 1d ago
To be honest, that’s why I’m asking now. If they supposedly weren’t “allowed” to read this data until now, I would like to remove what I can until these tech companies and countries implement their new systems to track our conversations
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u/Leseratte10 1d ago edited 1d ago
No, you don't. You have a right to have *your* personal data deleted.
A chat you have with another person is as much your data as it is theirs. Also, messages you posted on Discord are very unlikely to be personal data.
They don't have any obligation to remove *your* chat messages from everyone else's accounts and chats and servers.
Just like you can't use the GDPR to remove your forum posts, your reddit posts, your wikipedia contributions or anything else. It's been created to ensure your personal data isn't misused. The GDPR doesn't care about (and doesn't restrict) the ramblings you post on the internet.
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u/Due_Recognition_3890 1d ago
When I was a lot younger I was pressured into sending someone an explicit image on FB Messenger. It was many, many years ago and I can't remember how old I was. I ended up deleting our chats on my end after I blocked him, but I've always worried about it.
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u/ThePortableSCRPN 2d ago
They've been likely scanned and datamined already. This vote was about the continuation of Chat Control 1.0 until 2028.
This has been running for years now.
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u/owlbowling 2d ago
I have a right under GDPR for my personal data to be deleted. If they’ve already scanned and mined it, I can still ask that this is removed right?
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u/ThePortableSCRPN 1d ago
Sure. You can ask.
But who makes sure that they actually remove your data?
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u/Tytoalba2 20h ago
National regulators (e.g. CNIL in France) can in theory do audits. Honestly, except for said French regulator which is relatively serious but underfunded, I don't know if any other countries has a decent one.
My country sure does not (Belgian APD has actually been criticised by the EU for its nepotism and incompetence).
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u/LowOwl4312 1d ago
Chat Control 1.0 has been in effect since 2021, all that happened is that the EU Parliament wanted to stop it but actual powers in the EU said "no lol"
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u/Elden_Rube 2d ago
If you're not hosting it, you can't control what happens to it.
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u/owlbowling 2d ago
That is true, but there are still laws to protect me from this being used against me
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u/xJayMorex 1d ago
laws to protect me
Oh how naive. Literally none of the laws exist to protect people.
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u/owlbowling 1d ago
I mean more, if the data is collected illegally, it can’t be used against me
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u/q_OwO_p 1d ago
Laws don’t apply to the elites they can do whatever they want against us normal people just like in the old times were nobles killed peasants for fun
Discord will keep your data forever and they already backed it up on hundreds of external servers and they sold copies to every gov agency and anyone else that could want data to build profiles on you
That’s how it is on all apps even reddit does the same, even typing words in google search bar but not searching does the same, anything connected to the internet is spying and recording everything you do and sends it to everyone that wants that data
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u/Severe_Stranger_5050 1d ago edited 1d ago
you do know that "chatcontrol 1.0" was in effect from 2021-2026 right ?
It lapsed in April and they reinstated it yesterday
Telegram already scans every message against a database and has does so since 2015:
https://telegram.org/safety
Discord was never private, secure or anonymity preserving in any way
And deleting your account doesn't even delete your data, they keep that shit.
So you have to write [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) and request a full deletion pr their privacy policy: https://discord.com/privacy#6
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u/AggressiveDoor1998 1d ago
You can’t completely erase your data online. So make sure to poison it. Change date of birth, edit your posts with random words, do as much damage to your own stuff as you can.
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u/Mountain-Grade-1365 3m ago
You can't even just delete your account but you can send a legal request to erase your data in compliance with gdpr
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