Proposal for a regulation laying down rules to prevent and combat child sexual abuse – WS 05 2023

21 June 2023 | 10:30 - 11:30 EEST | WS room 1
Consolidated programme 2023 overview / Workshop 5

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Title and all sections of this page should be final until 21 May 2023.

DO NOT edit the title yourself, the link to your session may otherwise disappear. Please send the final title as early as possible to wiki@eurodig.org.

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Working title: Proposals for a regulation laying down rules to prevent and combat child sexual abuse
Proposals: #39

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To follow the current discussion on this topic, see the discussion tab on the upper left side of this page.

Session teaser

The European Commission has proposed a “Regulation laying down rules to prevent and combat child sexual abuse” which provides a uniform approach to detecting and reporting child sexual abuse and imposes obligations on online service providers to screen private communications for this purpose. Can the regulation ensure both privacy and child protection online?

Session description

Every child has the right to be protected from all forms of violence, and this includes the online environment. Child sexual abuse online can take many forms, including grooming for sexual purposes and child sexual abuse material (CSAM). In grooming, the adult’s goal is to lure the child into a situation where they can subject the child to sexual abuse, either online, offline, or in both environments. CSAM depicts sex offences against children of any age and gender. A large portion of CSAM is hosted in the European Union.

Against this backdrop, in May 2022, the European Commission proposed a “Regulation laying down rules to prevent and combat child sexual abuse” which provides a uniform approach to detecting and reporting child sexual abuse. The proposal imposes obligations on online service providers to screen private communications for this purpose.

The proposal has been criticized for including measures which put the vital integrity of secure communications at risk and opening the door to exploitation for political control and censorship. Another criticism has been its omission of allowing voluntary detection measures to protect children from sexual abuse, which are currently covered by the temporary derogation (EU/2021/1232). This workshop aims to examine different perspectives to the proposal, to privacy, and to child protection online.

Format

The workshop will be participatory and we encourage all attendees to engage in the conversation. There will be some key participants, who will each have 3 minutes to present their arguments. There will be a moderator on site to help ensure a safe and successful session. There will also be an online moderator present to facilitate the participation of online attendees.

Further reading

• https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=COM%3A2022%3A209%3AFIN - Proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down rules to prevent and combat child sexual abuse
• https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A32021R1232 - Regulation (EU) 2021/1232 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 July 2021 on a temporary derogation from certain provisions of Directive 2002/58/EC as regards the use of technologies by providers of number-independent interpersonal communications services for the processing of personal and other data for the purpose of combating online child sexual abuse
• https://www.iwf.org.uk/news-media/blogs/encryption-vs-privacy-in-conversation-with-professor-hany-farid/ - Blog post and podcast by Internet Watch Foundation: Encryption Vs. Privacy: In Conversation with Professor Hany Farid
• https://ecpat.org/ecpat-project-beacon/ - ECPAT Website by ECPAT International: Placing children’s rights into the heart of the EU’s digital policy
• https://www.childsafetyineurope.com/ - Website by The European Child Sexual Abuse Legislation Advocacy Group (ECLAG): Child Safety ON!

People

Please provide name and institution for all people you list here.

SME

• Desara Dushi

The Subject Matter Experts (SME) support the programme planning process throughout the year and work closely with the Secretariat. They give advice on the topics that correspond to their expertise, cluster the proposals and assist session organisers in their work. They also ensure that session principles are followed and monitor the complete programme to avoid repetition.

Focal Points

• Eveliina Karhu
• Tanja Simola
• Lucia Hakala

Focal Points take over the responsibility and lead of the session organisation. They work in close cooperation with the respective Subject Matter Expert (SME) and the EuroDIG Secretariat and are kindly requested to follow EuroDIG’s session principles

Organising Team (Org Team) List Org Team members here as they sign up.

• Vittorio Bertola
• Michael Tunks
• Monika Ermert
• Jutta Croll
• Torsten Krause
• Andrew Campling
• Callum Voge
• Amy Crocker

The Org Team is a group of people shaping the session. Org Teams are open and every interested individual can become a member by subscribing to the mailing list.

Key Participants

• Michael Tunks, Internet Watch Foundation
• Jutta Croll, Stiftung Digitale Chancen (Children's Rights Digital)

Key Participants are experts willing to provide their knowledge during a session – not necessarily on stage. Key Participants should contribute to the session planning process and keep statements short and punchy during the session. They will be selected and assigned by the Org Team, ensuring a stakeholder balanced dialogue also considering gender and geographical balance.

Moderator

The moderator is the facilitator of the session at the event. Moderators are responsible for including the audience and encouraging a lively interaction among all session attendants. Please make sure the moderator takes a neutral role and can balance between all speakers. Please provide short CV of the moderator of your session at the Wiki or link to another source.

Remote Moderator

Trained remote moderators will be assigned on the spot by the EuroDIG secretariat to each session.

Reporter

Reporters will be assigned by the EuroDIG secretariat in cooperation with the Geneva Internet Platform. The Reporter takes notes during the session and formulates 3 (max. 5) bullet points at the end of each session that:

• are summarised on a slide and presented to the audience at the end of each session
• relate to the particular session and to European Internet governance policy
• are forward looking and propose goals and activities that can be initiated after EuroDIG (recommendations)
• are in (rough) consensus with the audience

Current discussion, conference calls, schedules and minutes

See the discussion tab on the upper left side of this page. Please use this page to publish:

• dates for virtual meetings or coordination calls
• short summary of calls or email exchange

Please be as open and transparent as possible in order to allow others to get involved and contact you. Use the wiki not only as the place to publish results but also to summarize the discussion process.

Messages

A short summary of the session will be provided by the Reporter.

Video record

Will be provided here after the event.

Transcript

Will be provided here after the event.