The law to combat online sexual abuse of minors continues to be resisted in the EU. The division has once again been evident in the meeting of the Interior Ministers who have once again analyzed the proposal, with some changes with which an attempt has been made to satisfy the governments that reject the mass scanning of communications, but nine of them continue opposing. The Council of the EU must therefore continue to seek an approach that balances the prosecution of child pornography and the maintenance of the privacy of communications before starting negotiations with the European Parliament and the European Commission.
The initiative has been blocked for more than a year due to the inclusion of a controversial measure to combat this crime: the possibility of scanning communications via WhatsApp or social networks to detect child pornography. Victims of sexual abuse have pressed in Brussels to maintain this premise, but fundamental rights experts consider that it represents a violation of the right to privacy. And that is the position of nine European countries, which maintain the blockade because they want more guarantees against the scanning of communications.
According to the Commission’s original proposal, all digital platforms that allowed messages to be sent to their users, from social networks, messaging apps or even online video games, had to implement a new child pornography detection system. To do this, they had to allow artificial intelligence to bypass the encryption of all messages and carry out an analysis in search of photos, videos or other content that could contain this type of abuse.
Fundamental rights experts denounce that its implementation would require opening a hole in the digital encryption of messages.
Although the Council of the EU, where governments are represented, has been polishing the proposal to give more guarantees regarding privacy, they are insufficient for nine countries, which oppose or abstain from the initiative: Germany, Austria, Finland, Slovenia, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Belgium, Poland and Czech Republic. “We believe that this is not the correct approach,” said the German minister, considering that the law would put “millions of people under general suspicion” for allowing scanning and access to the platforms’ encrypted communications. His Dutch counterpart has spoken along the same lines, ensuring that “fundamental rights and digital resilience” are put at risk.
Although Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska has not intervened in the debate, Spain is in the group of countries that accepts the text in the terms proposed. However, diplomatic sources acknowledge that they were more in favor of the European Commission’s initial initiative than the current form, which has reduced the possibilities regarding the scanning of communications.
Throughout the negotiation “the scope of application has been limited,” these sources explain. Initially, it was planned that pedophile material could be detected in all communications, while the latest texts restrict it to “known material”, that is, material about which there is a complaint or which has been previously identified. In return, operators would be allowed to voluntarily carry out the detection and removal of material as well as an evaluation of the available technology over a period of three years to assess whether it is prepared to identify the material without affecting the privacy of users. communications.
The lack of agreement therefore forces us to continue working on a text that a majority of governments can endorse in order to begin negotiations with the European Parliament, which has already set its negotiating position in October 2023. The European Parliament opposed this scan. widespread search for pornography. “You cannot scan the network in a general way nor open back doors in encryption,” explained Javier Zarzajejos (PP), who was the speaker of the text supported by all the groups.
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