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The EU would scan all messages to protect children
The European Union is edging closer to adopting new rules that would require mass scanning of digital messages - including encrypted ones. On Thursday, 21 June, EU governments will adopt a position on proposed legislation aimed at uncovering material on child sexual abuse. The vote will determine whether the proposal has enough support to move forward in the legislative process.
The law, first introduced in 2022, would introduce an "upload moderation" system that scans all digital messages, including images, videos and shared links. Any service required to install this "verified" monitoring technology must also ask for permission to scan your messages. If you do not agree, you will not be able to share images or URLs.
Somewhat confusingly, the new legislation both supports end-to-end encryption, while at the same time emphasizing that encryption can become a safe zone where child abuse material can be shared.
The proposed solution is to leave messages open to scanning, but somehow without compromising the layer of privacy offered by end-to-end encryption. It has been suggested that the new moderation system could achieve this by scanning the content of messages before apps such as Signal, WhatsApp and Messenger encrypt them.
In response, Signal president Meredith Whittaker says the app will stop working in the EU if the rules become law, as the proposal "fundamentally undermines encryption", regardless of whether it's scanned before encryption or not. "It can be called a back door, front door, or 'load moderation,'" Whittaker writes. "But whatever we call it, each of these approaches creates a vulnerability that can be exploited by hackers and hostile nation-states, removing the protection of unbreakable mathematics and replacing it with a high-value vulnerability."
Several organisations, including Mozilla, have signed a statement calling on the EU to reject the new moderation rules. Several MPs also expressed their opposition to the new proposal. If the legislation is supported, negotiations will begin between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission to create the final text of the law.
