The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) on 23 October organises a seminar dedicated to the ongoing legislative works on the Commission’s Regulation Proposal on Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM). The speakers include Dutch experts like Frederik Zuiderveen Borgesius en Jaap-Henk Hoepman.

Read the announcement:

EDPS Seminar on the CSAM Proposal: “The Point of No Return?”
On 23 October from 13:00 to 15:00 CET, in the European Parliament in Brussels, room SPAAK 6B1 and online, the EDPS organises a seminar dedicated to the ongoing legislative works on the European Commission’s Regulation Proposal on Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM).

The so-called CSAM proposal has been raising concerns both in terms of privacy implications and as regards the feasibility of envisaged measures:

• already since its preceding temporary regulation, on which the EDPS issued an opinion on 10 November 2020;
• subsequently, the CSAM proposal has been subject to the joint EDPB-EDPS opinion issued on 28 July 2022.

With this Seminar, the EDPS would like to gather stakeholders who in the course of last years have been warning about risks associated with the proposal and misconceptions around its potential effectiveness. At the EDPS, we value those voices, believing that the legislative process, from its very beginning, has not always given them enough recognition.

To attend this Seminar please register via the dedicated registration form.

The event will be web-streamed, but we encourage in-person participation. Please note that if you do not have a valid badge to enter the European Parliament, you will not be able to attend this event, unless you registered by the 15 October.

The speakers’ list includes:

• Andreea Belu, Head of Campaigns and Communications, EDRi
• Patrick Breyer, Member of the European Parliament
• Saskia Bricmont, Member of the European Parliament
• Helen Charles, Public Policy Director, WhatsApp
• David Frautschy, Senior Director, European Government and Regulatory Affairs, Internet Society
• Arda Gerkens, Chair of the Board, The Netherlands’ Authority for the Prevention of Online Terrorist Content and Child Sexual Abuse Material
• Matthew Green, Professor, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore
• Alexander Hanff, Data Privacy Expert
• Jaap-Henk Hoepman, Visiting Professor Computer Science, Karlstad University (tbc)
• Monica Horten, Independent Consultant
• Ella Jakubowska, Senior Policy Advisor, EDRi
• Susan Landau, Bridge Professor in Cyber Security and Policy, Tufts University
• Iverna McGowan, Director of Europe’s Office, Center for Democracy and Technology
• Bart Preneel, Professor, COSIC/KU Leuven
• Teresa Quintel, Assistant Professor, Maastricht University
• Kai Rannenberg, CEPIS – Council of European Professional Informatics Societies
• Birgit Sippel, Member of the European Parliament
• Luca Tosoni, Specialist Director, Norwegian Data Protection Authority
• Meredith Whittaker, CEO Signal Foundation (TBC)
• Sabine Witting, Assistant Professor, Leiden University
• Frederik Zuiderveen Borgesius, Professor, iHub, Radboud University, Nijmegen
• Wojciech Wiewiórowski, European Data Protection Supervisor

Addition of 31 January 2024
On 29 January the article Preserving the confidentiality of communications is essential to fundamental rights was published. In the article the opinion regarding chatcontrol is announced, EDPS Opinion 8/2024 on the Proposal for a Regulation amending Regulation (EU) 2021/1232 on a temporary derogation from certain ePrivacy provisions for combating CSAM.