I have been closely following the debate around "Chat Control" in the EU and similar anti-encryption regulations worldwide. I’ve noticed that while the technical experts are worried, the general public still doesn't quite grasp what life after privacy actually feels like.
I believe fiction can sometimes communicate these stakes better than a technical whitepaper ever could. I wrote this short story to explore the logical conclusion of these laws.
What bothers me most is not the governance and those who drive the horrible system. What bothers me most are the people down below. I used to dismiss them as stupid, but now I think, deep down, most people don’t actually want freedom. They see it as scary and prefer that their lives are tightly managed.