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NOSEA number of apps that can be used to send messages
NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 05:36
A group of almost 200 scientists from 26 countries is concerned about a bill from Brussels intended to combat child abuse. In an open letter to the European Commission, the experts write that they do not think it is a good idea that messaging services such as WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram are obliged to install detection software to prevent the spread of child pornography.
According to the bill, messaging services that are classified as ‘high risk’ would have to install this software. A bad plan, says Associate Professor Jaap-Henk Hoepman, affiliated with Radboud University and one of the authors of the letter.
Input disproportionate
“Suppose WhatsApp is seen as a ‘high-risk messaging service’ for distributing child pornography, then with the proposal as it is currently on the table, all EU citizens who use WhatsApp will receive this detection software on their phones. We think that is disproportionate and a threat to the security and privacy of communications.”
The plan has been under negotiation in Brussels for a long time. Despite the adjustments that the European Commission has previously made – such as making the measures only mandatory for ‘high-risk messaging services’ – according to the signatories of the letter, this method is not suitable for all types of detection.
Detection software can be a good method for tracing users of known child pornography material, Hoepman thinks. “There will certainly be fewer false alarms between senders and recipients of encrypted child pornography material. But the detection software must also be installed to recognize new, as yet unknown material and to detect groomingwhere adults try to seduce children.”
False notifications
And detecting unknown material in particular is a problem. This requires the application of artificial intelligence and, according to experts, that technology has not yet been developed far enough.
“You will get a lot of false alarms,” Hoepman predicts. “Children also spread a lot of sexual material among themselves in their search for their own sexuality. How does the software know how old someone is? Or someone of 19 years old sends something to a minor; technically that is already the case.” grooming. All these people are therefore suspected and subject to investigation.”
Ben van Mierlo, national coordinator of Vice, Child Pornography and Child Sex Tourism at the police, sees the same problems as the authors. “A grandfather sends a photo of his grandchild in the swimming pool to your family app. Detection software forwards a report to Interpol or Europol. And the sender or recipient is seen as a suspect while he or she is not.”
Moreover, it takes a lot of manpower. “There are billions of messages being sent that need to be looked at.”
Insight into communications
Police and intelligence services have been struggling for years to track down criminals who use encrypted communications from WhatsApp or Signal. They want access to this. “Criminals can now engage in criminal activities digitally, completely undetected,” says Van Mierlo.
It is not yet clear which technology should be used to implement the EU bill. Van Mierlo: “If the recipient of suspicious material only receives a notification stating that this message cannot be seen, this will stop the spread. But we need evidence to be able to arrest a suspect.”
This requires access to message traffic with the permission of the judge, the police believe. “Look at groomingthis is about text and context: without insight into what is said back and forth, you do not know whether something is done voluntarily, and whether someone is indeed a minor.”
“If we have a suspect, of child pornography, but also of arms trafficking or drug trafficking, we want to view those messages. We need that insight into end-to-end encryption. We already have to let suspects walk due to lack of evidence,” said Van Mierlo.
Privacy researcher Hoepman is firmly against access to encrypted messages. “Privacy is a great asset. The police cannot view encrypted correspondence, but they do have a lot of metadata; who communicates with whom and when, they have location data for ten million Dutch people. They can analyze all that.”
Balance is lost
According to the police, the balance between privacy and security is lost. “If Facebook’s Messenger soon also switches to end-to-end encryption, we will miss millions of notifications every year that we now receive. We do not want to be a surveillance state, but you want privacy and security.”
Van Mierlo also sees a role for the companies behind messaging services. “Companies like Meta must also take their responsibility by alerting investigative authorities and passing on personal data in criminal activities. They say this is not technically possible, but we doubt that.”
The final step towards legislation on detection software on telephones is expected after the European elections in June.
