A key body of European Union (EU) lawmakers is still reeling from a controversial legislative proposal that would require millions of users of messaging apps to consent to having their uploaded photos and videos scanned by AI to detect child sexual abuse material (CSAM). We are at a standstill.
Critics of the plan run the gamut, from tech industry messaging giants like WhatsApp to privacy-focused players like Signal and Proton; Legal, security and data protection experts, as well as civil society and digital rights groups. and A majority of lawmakers from various political blocs in the European Parliament have warned that the proposal would break encryption, arguing that it poses an existential threat to democratic freedoms in the European Parliament and fundamental rights such as privacy.
Opponents also argue that the EU plan will not achieve its stated goal of protecting children, and that messages from everyday app users will be fed through flawed AI-based CSAM detection systems, leaving law enforcement agencies instead swept up in millions of false positives. They claim it will work.
On Thursday, a meeting of ambassadors representing the governments of the bloc's 27 member states was expected to reach a position on the file to open negotiations with the European Parliament after the Belgian president put the issue on the agenda for today's meeting. However, a spokesperson for Belgium's representative to the EU confirmed to TechCrunch that the item was removed after it became clear that the government was still too divided to secure a majority in the negotiating mandate.
A Belgian spokesperson said: “There was an intention to reach a mandate at today's meeting of ambassadors, but it is not yet clear whether we will be able to secure the required majority.” “In the last hours before the meeting… it was clear that the required majority could not be met today, so we decided to remove the item from the agenda and continue consultations among Member States to continue work on the text. ”
This is important because EU law tends to be a tripartite affair, with the Commission proposing legislation and the Parliament and Council discussing (often revising) the draft law until a final compromise is reached. But the so-called three-point dialogue on the CSAM inspection file cannot begin until the Commission adopts a position. So if member states remain divided, as they have been in the nearly two years since the Commission introduced the CSAM inspection proposal, the file will remain parked.
Earlier this week, Signal chief executive Meredith Whittaker called out her attack on the controversial EU proposal. “(M)ass scanning of personal communications fundamentally weakens encryption. She warned local lawmakers, accusing them of cynically trying to change client-side scanning to cover up plans that amount to mass surveillance of private communications.
Despite loud and growing warnings about the bloc's apparent hard focus on digital surveillance, the European Commission and Council have continued to push for a framework that would require messaging platforms to scan citizens' private messages, including end-to-end messages. Encrypted (E2EE) platforms like Signal instead support more targeted searches, pioneering an E2EE platform proposed by MEPs in the European Parliament last year.
Last month, details of a revised CSAM proposal circulated by the Belgians for consideration by member governments were revealed in a leak, causing fresh consternation.
Patrick Breyer, a Buccaneer lawmaker who opposed the Commission's CSAM inspection plans from the beginning, said the Commission's revised proposal would require users of messaging apps in the EU to inspect all images and videos sent to others through technological means. I insist that we must agree to this. Plan your text couch to “adjust upload”. Otherwise, you will lose the ability to send images to others. “The leaked Belgian proposal means that the essence of the EU Commission’s extreme and unprecedented initial chat control proposals will be implemented unchanged,” he warned at the time.
Makers of private messaging apps, including Signal, have also warned they would leave the EU rather than be forced to comply with mass surveillance laws.
In a press email today, Breyer welcomed the failure of a sufficient number of EU ambassadors to agree on a way forward, but warned that this was likely just a reprieve, writing: Commissioner for Affairs) Ylva Johansson failed to secure a qualified majority. But they won't give up and may try again in a few days. When will we finally learn from the EU Parliament that a new approach is needed to protect children that is effective, proven in court, and multi-competent?”
Also responding to the committee's frustration in a statement, Proton founder Andy Yen made a similar point about the need to keep fighting. “We must not rest on our laurels,” he wrote. “Anti-encryption proposals have been defeated before, repackaged, and keep coming back onto the political stage. “It is important for those protecting privacy to remain vigilant and not be fooled when the next attack on encryption begins.”
Congratulations on the Commission's ongoing division on the file seem to have to be carefully tempered, as member governments appear to be very far from reaching the qualified majority needed to begin talks with MEPs. We should immediately pressure our lawmakers to agree to a bill that would allow mass scanning of citizens' devices, despite their opposition. “We are very close to a qualified majority,” a Belgian spokesperson told TechCrunch. “If one country changes its opinion, we will have a weighted majority and power over the board.”
The spokesman also said there was already a full agenda for next week's final core meeting, the last before the end of the six-month term. It was therefore proposed that talks to agree on the Council's mandate would be held by Hungary, which would assume the rotating chairmanship. For 6 months from July 1st.
“As the Chair, we will continue to work at an expert level going forward and see if there are Member States that are dissatisfied or dissatisfied with the proposals and continue to discuss ways in which we can impose fines. -Coordinate to make it viable for everyone,” the spokesperson added. “And that issue will be discussed by the next president.
“As far as we know, they want to continue working on this topic. The committee is also willing to do so. And since the National Assembly is waiting for us, we must do so,” he said.
