Despite coming close to achieving the majority needed for an agreement on the regulation relating to child sexual abuse material, the vote has been postponed as significant disagreements persist.
According to a source from EU CouncilEU ambassadors meeting today (June 20) in Brussels have postponed discussions on the controversial drafting of a regulation for protect children onlineas it was clear that there was not enough agreement between Member States to move the proposal forward.
The editorial board proposed using the so-called “upload moderation” to force encrypted messaging services such as WhatsApp and Messenger to include surveillance technology which would scan the images of all users.
To be accepted, the proposal would need the support of more than half of the countries (15 of 27) representing at least 65% of the total EU population. Some countries, including France, fear that the measure will endanger the integrity of the encrypted communicationswhich in principle should only be accessible by sender and recipient.
“In the last few hours, it seemed that the necessary qualified majority was not going to be reached,” the source said, adding that the Presidency decided to withdraw the point and continue consultations.
(For more details on upward moderation, see the previous Euronews article here)
Break encryption
It is not yet clear whether the Belgians will continue to seek a general agreement in the coming days, as other two meetings of the ambassadors competent – at Coreper II – on June 24 and 26. “This remains a high priority for the Council, and work will continue to find a position and start negotiations with the European Parliament. It’s about a clear commitment from the Council to continue protecting children from despicable crimes,” the source added.
The European Commissioner for Values and Transparency has recognized that breaking encryption is a necessity of the regulations on material of sexual abuse childish. “The Commission proposed the method or rule that even the encrypted messaging can be broken for the sake of better protection of children,” said Věra Jourová today at the European Summit of Data Protection.
Jourová’s comments appear to contradict statements by Ylva Johansson, European Commissioner for Home Affairs, who proposed the regulations and never mentioned the breaking encrypted communication. “My bill is not about encryption, it’s not even mentioned. The bill does not include anything to do with encryption… my bill is technologically neutral. “It is not a bill aimed at breaking or weakening encryption,” she said in an interview with Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladetshe.
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