News from Ireland question effectiveness and lawfulness of online scanning for tackling child sexual abuse: Lessons for the EU
An investigation in Ireland published today shows that tools for scanning private communications to detect child sexual abuse material (CSAM) online suffer not only from low accuracy and high rates of false alarms but have led to people’s data and privacy being put in danger without reasonable suspicion.
Filter resources
-
News from Ireland question effectiveness and lawfulness of online scanning for tackling child sexual abuse: Lessons for the EU
An investigation in Ireland published today shows that tools for scanning private communications to detect child sexual abuse material (CSAM) online suffer not only from low accuracy and high rates of false alarms but have led to people’s data and privacy being put in danger without reasonable suspicion.
Read more
-
Johansson’s address to MEPs shows why the CSA law will fail the children meant to benefit from it
On 10 October 2022, EU Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, addresses the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties (LIBE) Committee about the proposed EU Child Sexual Abuse Regulation (2022/0155). The address follows months of criticism from civil liberties groups, data protection authorities and even governments due to the risks it poses to everyone’s privacy, security and free expression online.
Read more
-
Securing privacy: Privacy International on end-to-end encryption
EDRi member Privacy International's (PI) report on end-to-end encryption (E2EE) analyses and defends expanding the use of E2EE to protect our communications. It defines E2EE, delves into its human rights implications, briefly addresses some prominent proposals for government access to E2EE content, and concludes with PI’s recommendations regarding E2EE.
Read more
-
United Nations report voices digital rights groups’ concerns over encryption in EU’s new rules
On 16 November 2022, the United Nations Human Rights Office published a report on the right to privacy in the digital age warning against the European Union’s plans to undermine encryption and the threat of mass surveillance in the proposed chat control legislation.
Read more
-
Does Google accuse you of child abuse? Impossible! Right?
The legislator in Europe is working on a proposal that could force companies to scan all messages we exchange for child sexual abuse material. The goal is noble but it can very easily go wrong. And if things go wrong, you might suddenly be accused of sexually abusing children.
Read more
-
Don’t restrict encryption before alternatives have been explored, says advisory council
The Dutch cabinet should explore alternative regulatory avenues for access to encrypted data, according to its chief advisory council for cyber security. The advice is very interesting for a number of reasons.
Read more
-
European Commission must uphold privacy, security and free expression by withdrawing new law, say civil society
In May, the European Commission proposed a new law: the CSA Regulation. If passed, this law would turn the internet into a space that is dangerous for everyone’s privacy, security and free expression. EDRi is one of 134 organisations calling instead for tailored, effective, rights-compliant and technically-feasible alternatives to tackle this grave issue.
Read more
-
European Commission wants to eliminate online confidentiality
This might sound attention-seeking, but we really believe to be not far off the mark. It really looks like the European Commission wants to cancel encryption.
Read more
-
How a Hollywood star lobbies the EU for more surveillance
The European Union debates a new law that could force platforms to scan all private messages for signs of child abuse. Its most prominent advocate is the actor Ashton Kutcher.
Read more
-
Private and secure communications attacked by European Commission’s latest proposal
On 11 May, the European Commission put forward a proposal for a ‘Regulation laying down rules to prevent and combat child sexual abuse’ to replace the interim legislation that EDRi fought against last year. In our immediate reaction, EDRi warned that the new proposal creates major risks for the privacy, security and integrity of private communications, not just in the EU, but globally. Here, we unpack a bit more about the legislative proposal, and why we are so concerned.
Read more
-
European Commission’s online CSAM proposal fails to find right solutions to tackle child sexual abuse
Today, 11 May, is a worrying day for every person in the EU who wants to send a message privately without exposing their personal information, like chats and photos, to private companies and governments. The European Commission has adopted its “Regulation laying down rules to prevent and combat child sexual abuse” material online, including measures which put the vital integrity of secure communications at risk.
Read more
-
Internal documents revealed the worst for private communications in the EU; how will the Commissioners respond?
EDRi, Europe's biggest network for rights and freedoms across Europe and beyond, urge the European Commission to not put forward a CSAM proposal that would undermine the CJEU prohibition of general monitoring or subject Europeans to monitoring that would turn their devices into spyware.
Read more