The European Commission’s recent proposal for a regulation to fight child abuse online could open the door to spying on private online conversations, Czech MEP Marcel Kolaja from the Pirates and Greens/EFA has warned.
The Commission states that the current voluntary detection mechanism used by companies has proven insufficient. A proposal put forward earlier this year states tech companies will be required to monitor their platforms for child abuse content, even if that includes encrypted messages, leading to fears from some stakeholders.
“The way how the European Commission wants to combat child sexual abuse on the internet is really unfortunate. It leads to snooping and a gross invasion of privacy, and I think the European Parliament should throw the whole European Commission proposal off the table,” Kolaja told EURACTIV.cz.
According to the Czech MEP, the available data shows that child pornography is not primarily spread in personal conversations but on closed forums and platforms.
“Moreover, the automatic filters which are detecting harmful content often fail,” Kolaja said, adding that photographs of children shared between parents or sexting content could end up on police officers’ tables unjustly.
These concerns are shared by Kamil Kopecký from the Palacký University in Olomouc, a Czech expert on e-safety. According to Kopecký, the regulation of harmful content is very important, but personal privacy protection is also needed.
“What about the right to privacy in general? The proposed standard does not yet address these issues in detail, but it is highly likely that there will be some invasion of privacy in online conversations,” Kopecký said.
In Europe, the number of children victims of sexual abuse online has recently increased, though according to Kopecký, the trend is not only linked to the COVID-19 pandemic as growth can be observed at least in the last five years.
According to the expert, there is room for improvement on the legislative side and among parents who should better educate themselves and their children about internet safety.
