2023-10-04 13:06:05
The fundamentals of internet They can change forever. The European Comission intends to approve the new Online child safety lawa controversial measure aimed at stopping the dissemination of content from sexual abuse of minors (CSAM) that has put experts in cybersecurity because of the profound impact it would have on the privacy of the users of the European Union (UE).
The initiative of Brusselsstill in the negotiation period, would force the digital platforms and to the portals of video game to use algorithms to detect the wrong call child pornography. The law would lead to services like WhatsApp, Telegram, Instagram o TikTok to constantly and massively scan all the private messages circulating out there to intercept illegal content. That would mean that everything you discuss with your partner, friends or family – even if you are not suspected of committing anything crime– would be watched.
The Commissioner of the Interior, Ylva Johanssonhas reiterated that the initiative that it proposed for the first time in May 2022 would not jeopardize the privacy of communications in the UE. However, hundreds of experts have denounced that the message scanning proposed by artificial intelligence (AI) would open a hole in the systems of end to end encryption, the only method that guarantees that privacy. That hole could be exploited by cybercriminals or by authoritarian governments to access the most intimate sphere of their victims.
An internal EU document leaked to ‘Wired’ magazine revealed last May that Spain would have the “most radical” position regarding this measure, requesting to limit the private shielding that keeps our telecommunications under control. encryption. Sources from the Ministry of the Interior explained to EL PERIÓDICO that the document is not real and that it does not reflect his opinion on the law.
Civil society complaint
The controversial EU initiative has become a new battleground in the old debate between security and privacy. More than 500 academics, scientists and researchers they signed a letter in which they asked the Commission to withdraw the proposal, warning of its harmful effects on digital communication. “It would be like crossing the Rubicon,” warned last week the director of the European Data Protection Council, Wojciech Wiewiórowski.
More than 80 NGOs they have done the same. Some experts have denounced that the law hides behind the need to combat the scourge of sexual abuse of minors to launch a new offensive against privacy. “Attempts to break down the encryption of communications are constant. But when you turn to a topic as difficult and painful as child abuse, you generate a different context,” he denounced last week. Meredith Whittakerpresident of the Signal Foundation, responsible for the messaging application of the same name that is considered one of the most secure in the world.
Rise of sexual abuse
In recent years, the sexual abuse to minors has become an increasingly worse problem. In 2022, 32 million complaints, an increase of 82% and the worst figure in history. End-to-end encryption is the only private method that guarantees that only the sender and receiver read your messages. However, Europol has warned that sex offenders They use it to perpetrate their crimes.
In 2020, the EU set the fight against these contents among its priorities. Even so, NGOs and cybersecurity experts are not the only ones who consider that their proposal to tackle this problem is disproportionate. “It raises many problems in relation to privacy, security and police investigations,” a study points out of the European Parliament itself.
Crucial votes
Related news
The bill is not yet final. The project and its content is being led by Javier ZarzalejosMEP PP which, as Commissioner Johansson has defended, the scanning is “reliable” and does not access Europeans’ messages.
This Thursday, he and those responsible for this issue from the rest of the political groups they will meet in the Civil Liberties Committee of the European Parliament to polish the text. Next October 26 will vote on the proposal and then this will go to the November plenary session in the European Parliament, where a position must be established.
#Experts #arms #law #scan #messages #child #sexual #abuse