Brussels on Wednesday issued a draft regulation imposing duties on online sites and couriers to detect, report and remove child pornography, raising concerns about the eruption of this illegal content.
In addition to this regulation imposed on sites, the European Commission also recommends the establishment of a European Center for the Fight Against Child Sexual Abuse, an independent organization based in The Hague (Netherlands) such as Europol. To cooperate.
In particular, it will be responsible for collecting reports of this content through the sites and assisting victims to dispose of them. The proposal is being closely followed by the technology sector, which fears it could lead to mass surveillance.
85 million videos and photos have been reported
“Our society today is failing to protect children,” said European Interior Commissioner Yilva Johansson. He said that according to data from the American Center for Missing and Exploited Children NCMEC, there will be 85 million videos and photos related to child sexual abuse worldwide by 2021.
“It’s only the tip of the iceberg,” the Swedish official said. More than 60% of this content is provided on servers located in the EU. By 2020, 95% of content reports worldwide came from Facebook alone, while the commission noted that “the problem is not limited to one site”, noting that the Govt-19 epidemic exacerbated the problem with its locks.
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Until now, providers of services and couriers on the Internet have continued to volunteer to detect this illegal content. But Brussels now wants to be forced to remain active, under the penalty of sanctions.
A project that does not like technology
The law, which is part of a strategy announced in 2020, is part of the EU’s regulatory framework for digital services (the Digital Services Act, DSA), which aims to regulate digital sites, with fines of up to 6%. Their annual income for violations.
The plan is yet to be discussed with the European Parliament and member states. The commissioner, who met with representatives of nearly twenty digital players, expects large lobbies from companies against his proposal. “But I think there are a majority of citizens on my side,” he told reporters.
Victoria de Bosen of the CCIA Association, which represents the technology industry, responded: “We hope the new obligations (…) respect the European ban on general surveillance and that they do not affect encryption.” Information and communication, including “Gafa” (Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple) members. “We are ready to work with European lawmakers to create efficient and effective rules,” he added in a statement.
afp / aps