The most important thing is not the fall
The European Parliament on Thursday rejected the European Commission's proposal to allow major digital companies to voluntarily monitor electronic communications for content related to child sexual abuse. The exemption granted until 2027 is therefore revoked, and the practice must end on April 3.
New twist in the Chat Control saga: with 228 votes in favor, 92 abstentions and 311 votes against, the European parliamentarians have rejected Thursday, March 26, the European Commission's proposal to extend the existing derogation from the ePrivacy Directive.
This last point allows major digital platforms to scan the content of private conversations to detect the circulation of content relating to child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
This extension was requested by Brussels to maintain a temporary possibility of surveillance, pending the conclusion of negotiations relating to a long-term legal framework: the Child Sexual Abuse Regulation (CSAR) project, nicknamed Chat Control by its opponents.
Differences in viewpoints
The MEPs had already expressed on the issue of the voluntary detection of child pornography on March 11th. They had then adopted, as Next reported it, a position in favor of extending the derogation to the ePrivacy Directive until August 2027.
They had also incorporated several amendments into the proposed regulation reducing the global nature of the surveillance thus permitted, for example by restricting it to users identified by a judicial authority as being " reasonably suspected "of being linked to child abuse."
Based on this position, negotiations were then to begin via a trilogue with the Council of Europe and the European Commission to endorse (or reject) this proposed derogation. There was a certain degree of urgency, since the previous derogation was only valid until April 3, 2026.
The matter was therefore referred on March 11 to the committee responsible for interinstitutional negotiations… and the discussions initiated by the latter broke down, as announced by the European Parliament in a press release the 17 last march.
« By their lack of flexibility, member states deliberately accepted that this regulation would expire in April. Consequently, voluntary monitoring by internet service providers to combat the online distribution of child pornography will no longer be possible. " says the German rapporteur of the text, Brigit Sippel.
Failing to reach an agreement, MEPs voted on the European Commission's proposal on Thursday, March 26, and rejected it, thus concluding the first reading. In doing so, they are bringing to an end, on April 3, the derogation that authorized the monitoring of encrypted communications.
Upcoming trilogues
Patrick Breyer, the main declared opponent of the text, see In this rejection, a new victory:
« American companies like Meta, Google, and Microsoft must stop indiscriminately monitoring the private conversations of European citizens. The privacy of digital communications has been restored! »
He points out, however, that this latest development does not signal the end of the control ambitions expressed by certain member states and by Brussels, particularly because negotiations surrounding a potential Chat Control 2.0 are ongoing. He also emphasizes that the issue is not limited to monitoring communications:
« Furthermore, the next major threat to digital freedoms is already on the agenda: as part of the ongoing trilogue, lawmakers will have to negotiate whether instant messaging services and app download platforms will be legally required to implement age verification. This would force users to provide identification or submit to facial recognition, effectively making anonymous communication impossible and seriously endangering vulnerable groups such as whistleblowers and victims of persecution. »
source: Next
Additional information :
Crashdebug.fr: "Chat Control" - European proposal to scan all private messages gains momentum (Zerohedge.com)
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