Things are not all rosy with Europe, with Europe sometimes coming up with very unwise plans. One such unwise plan is known as chatcontrol, background information can be found in the article Undermining Democracy: The European Commission’s Controversial Push for Digital Surveillance.
The latest news is that the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) opposes the proposal, read their article Preserving the confidentiality of communications is essential to fundamental rights, published on 29 January. From the article:
The EDPS has issued an Opinion on the proposed Regulation to extend the temporary derogation from certain provisions of the ePrivacy Directive to combat child sexual abuse online. The Regulation would allow providers of certain independent interpersonal communication services to continue to apply specific technologies to private communications in order to detect child sexual abuse material for two more years, whilst negotiations for a long-term Regulation are ongoing.
In its Opinion, the EDPS expresses concern about the aims of this Regulation, which would, in effect, restrict individuals’ fundamental rights to privacy and personal data, including their right to the confidentiality of communications. The EDPS also highlights that the recommendations previously issued in its Opinion on temporary derogations from the ePrivacy Directive 2020 were not fully addressed, further putting individuals at risk. (…)
In line with its previously issued recommendations, the EDPS reiterates that the proposed Regulation does not include sufficient and effective safeguards to prevent general and indiscriminate monitoring of private electronic communications. Putting these safeguards in place is important, especially given the high error rates observed with certain technologies used for detecting child sexual abuse materials or child solicitation, such as grooming. The EDPS underscores the significant risk that technologies used to detect child sexual abuse material may flag consensually produced and shared imagery.
Whilst the EDPS fully supports the aim to combat child sexual abuse as a terrible crime, this Regulation is not the solution. The goal of combatting child sexual abuse must be pursued with the necessary safeguards for individuals’ private communications, and, by extension, their fundamental rights to privacy and personal data.
The opinion is here (pdf).
Will the European Commision, the European Parliament and the Council listen?
Addition 24 May 2024
In its Civic Space Report 2024 (aankondiging) the European Civic Forum criticizes the chatcontrol proposal (page 45):
The proposed EU Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) Regulation allows authorities to access private online communications, jeopardising encryption and potentially legitimising mass surveillance. 87 In countries where the space for CSOs, activists, political opposition, journalists and lawyers is narrowed and they are under surveillance and harassed, end-to-end encryption as a means of communication is highly important.
Ellen Timmer - juridische artikelen en berichten 