News Round-Up: Commission Calls to Scrap Border Checks; Dutch Solar Shutdown Payments; China Builds AI to Preempt Dissidents
Twice a week, the editorial team of Freedom Research compiles a round-up of news that caught our eye – or what felt like under-reported aspects of news deserving more attention.
Over the past few days, the following topics attracted our attention:
European Commission: Member States Should End Border Controls
“Switch Off Your Solar Panels”: Dutch Grid Operator Offers Cash to Households
China Develops AI to Predict and Preempt Dissidents
European Commission: Member States Should End Border Controls
The European Commission recommends that Member States gradually phase out border controls at the European Union’s internal borders, as these hinder free
movement within the Schengen Area and illegal immigration has decreased. The
recommendation affects those Schengen countries that decided to reinstate
border controls - such as Germany, France, the Netherlands, Austria, Denmark,
Italy, Slovenia, Sweden, and Norway - because they were struggling with high levels of immigration and the threat of terrorism, reports The Brussels Times.
The Commission justifies the recommendation by noting that the EU’s new Asylum and Migration Pact will enter into application in June 2026. Among other things, it will strengthen the protection of the EU’s external borders and provide member states with new tools to combat illegal migration. Magnus Brunner, the EU Commissioner for Home Affairs and Migration, confirmed that the EU has implemented the world’s most advanced border management systems, and therefore Member States can now gradually phase out internal border checks. Brunner also cited data showing that illegal border crossings were 26% lower last year and 40% lower in the first four months of this year.
The Commission further explained that there are far better alternatives to border controls that do not interfere as much with the free movement of people. Examples include random, targeted, or risk-based police checks and mobile technologies that identify individuals biometrically or automatically monitor vehicles.
Germany has announced that, despite the Commission’s recommendation and the decrease in the number of asylum seekers, the country intends to continue with border controls.
All countries that have reinstated border controls are in the Schengen Area, where border controls are generally not in place. Member states are permitted to temporarily reinstate border controls if necessary for reasons of public order or internal security. In such cases, border controls may be reinstated for up to two years, which may be extended in exceptional circumstances.
“Switch Off Your Solar Panels”: Dutch Grid Operator Offers Cash to Households
In the Netherlands, approximately 55,000 households received a letter from grid operator Enexis requesting permission to temporarily turn off residents’ solar panels during sunny periods. The operator will pay households that agree a compensation of €0.25 for every kilowatt-hour not produced, reports AD Nieuws.
The company is inviting residents of the Groningen, Overijssel, North Brabant, and Limburg regions to voluntarily register their solar panels in the Zonnedimmer app. Through this app, Enexis can turn the solar panels on and off and thus limit electricity production. The reason is that during periods of high solar activity, the power grid risks overload, which this measure aims to prevent by stopping home solar panels from feeding electricity into the grid
Enexis explains that a grid overload is particularly likely when many neighbors in the same area generate a massive amount of energy simultaneously. A grid overload can damage cables and lead to prolonged power outages. “To prevent this, we may sometimes have to temporarily shut down a power station as a last resort. You will then be without power for a few hours. With a solution like Zonnedimmer, we can work together to reduce the risk of these problems. This keeps the power grid safe and reliable for you and your neighbors,” the letter states.
When solar panels are turned off, households lose the electricity they generate. The company plans to compensate at €0.25 per kilowatt-hour, which amounts to about 1–2 euros for a typical solar panel owner whose panels are not operating for two hours. Depending on the energy contract, this solution can even be profitable for some customers, as under normal circumstances they might not earn anything (or could even pay extra) during sunny hours.
In the Netherlands, this type of solution has been used before, with payments made to owners of wind turbines and solar farms for shutting down their equipment when electricity production exceeds demand. At the same time, the country is facing grid congestion issues, and many people and businesses remain on waiting lists for grid connections for years.
China Develops AI to Predict and Preempt Dissidents
A Chinese company is attempting to develop artificial intelligence that uses location data and internet usage to predict who might say or do something critical of the government in the future - in other words, who might become a dissident. With such technology, the trigger for state action would no longer be something a citizen has done, but something the state believes the citizen will do, writes The New York Times.
Currently, Chinese authorities monitor online activity using the Great Firewall, a system developed by Geedge Networks, a surveillance and censorship software. However, according to researchers at the Wicked Problems Lab at Vanderbilt University’s National Security Institute, documents have been leaked from the same company. According to these documents, Geedge is collaborating with a government-funded research unit (MESA Lab) to develop artificial intelligence technology that, by analyzing location data and internet usage, can predict who might do or say something critical of the government. Brett V. Benson, a political science professor at Vanderbilt University, said: “Geedge’s research team was doing more than just documenting behavioral patterns. They were trying to predict what citizens might do next and with whom.”
More specifically, the company plans to link a person’s physical movements with other online activities, including what movies they watched and what books they read. Based on such so-called “ordinary” data, profiles are created, the individual is identified, and the system assesses the likelihood of what the person plans to do next - specifically, whether someone might start criticizing the government. Vanderbilt researchers emphasize that this approach differs from traditional surveillance, which reacts to actions that have already taken place. Predictive systems, by contrast, allow action before anything happens at all, let alone public dissent.
According to Vanderbilt the company’s success appears to have stalled. Specifically, the Biden administration imposed export controls on U.S.-designed computer chips that power artificial intelligence. As a result, Geedge has faced difficulties in securing sufficient computing power, and according to Professor Benson, the company has been using older, less powerful models and chips. These were sufficient for the company’s existing products, but predictive technology requires much more powerful and advanced solutions. Thus, the predictive technology plan is still in the research phase. According to Vanderbilt researchers, it is in any case a frightening solution where an authoritarian regime can suppress dissidents before any “different thoughts” even cross their minds. It is also considered possible that the obstacle caused by U.S. export controls may soon ease. During President Trump’s recent visit to Beijing, U.S. officials stated that China has access to a more advanced version of Nvidia chips.
According to Brett J. Goldstein, director of Vanderbilt’s Wicked Problems Lab, predictive technology emerges when mass surveillance meets artificial intelligence. “Without checks and balances, what China is doing to its own citizens is a preview of what becomes possible anywhere these tools go unchecked,” Goldstein stated.
Finally, researchers at Vanderbilt University noted that the data leak provided a good overview of China’s surveillance architecture. The Chinese Academy of Sciences trains talent and creates commercial enterprises, such as Geedge, which develop the necessary technology and sell it to government agencies. Many of these companies engage in dual business activities, where the line between legitimate business and surveillance systems created for the state is blurred. However, the powerful surveillance systems created by China do not usually remain within China’s borders. According to Geedge’s documents, they are actively exported elsewhere, such as to Myanmar, Pakistan, Ethiopia, and Kazakhstan. This creates a backdoor for Chinese companies to access data collected in other countries if they so desire. Although Geedge’s documents do not demonstrate this potential capability, given China’s past behavior, this is a well-founded concern.
With Trump aligning with Sanders on public investment in AI companies, it seems China and the US are in lockstep using AI to control the population.
Funny that AI is never used for predicting government corruption or surveilling public officials- only to predict if a citizen will oppose that corruption.