#Law – Urrús

Companies exist to make money for their shareholders and it’s important to remember that when we discuss what they do to deal with anything bad that happens on their network. That includes Facebook, Google, Twitter et al.

They have grown in a low-regulation environment, which was encouraged by governments all over the world. So dealing with the dark-side of social media and the human condition was always going to be a hard sell to their boards as it costs money and is the antithesis of profit making. See line one of this post.

Unlike the EU, the USA brought in regulation relating to the online facilitation of child sexual abuse through a law stating that when a company is aware of Child Sexual Abuse Material and Grooming on their network they will report it to NCMEC.

NCMEC processes these reports and sends the “cybertips” to law enforcement all over the world for action. These cybertips have saved lives and helped remove countless children from harm all over the world.

So, how does a company become aware of CSAM or grooming on their network? Users reports, sure, but in most cases they are actively scanning their systems for evidence of it in the same way they do for viruses or malware. There are “voluntary actions”.

When the ePrivacy directive comes into force on the 21^st of December of this year those “voluntary actions will stop – dead.

The EU commission wants to bring in a law similar to the US law and the procedure to report (EU Style NCMEC) and so has applied for a limited temporary derogation from a number of articles (5 (1) and 6) in the ePrivacy directive that will maintain the status quo until new law can be drafted.

This derogation is currently under consideration at the European Parliament. If it passes, the status quo remains while the EU Commission prepares regulation in the form of law for 2021/22. If it fails, the voluntary action by these companies stop and there will be less children saved or removed from dangerous situations.

Here’s what you can do, as soon as possible:

Sign the petition

Further reading/ watching:

Talk to your local representatives and MEPs – list here .

Support your local InHope Hotline

Read more and see the supporting evidence of what stops if this derogation fails to pass here.

This is an explainer the derogation being sought by the European Commision to Articles 5(1) and 6 of the ePrivacy Directive about to be updated by the Electronic Communication Code. It’s a little technical and lawyerly but then all good legislation is. This is my understanding of it and is subject to change since I’m not a lawyer.

The ePrivacy directive was issued in 2002 and with GDPR needed updating and this happened in 2018 as the European Electronic Communication Code. It is a directive and all member countries must transpose it – make it law in their countries. Failure to do this can result in legal action.

Now, countries had two years to transpose it and so all of the provisions of the EECC kick in on the 21^st December 2020. Definitions of electronic communications services and privacy will change and will include what are called “number-independent interpersonal communications services”. This will include webmail, messaging services and IP telephony. Essentially, therefore companies (such as Facebook, Google, Microsoft et al. who are now doing voluntary actions to find, report and remove Child Sexual Abuse Material and to find Groomers within their networks would run the risk of exposure to prosecution if they continued.

The derogation is simply a legal request to stay articles 5(1) and 6 of the ePrivacy for a short period while the commission gets a legal framework into place to allow companies to continue scanning for CSAM and Grooming activity. In other words, it’s asking tha tthe status quo remain in place for activities aimed at

The discussions as to whether the derogation will be allowed is ongoing and this is why we need to act now.

As already stated, if the derogation is not accepted or is watered down, there is a major risk that all efforts currently being made to find, report and remove CSAM and Grooming stop.

Here is what you can do to help:

Sign the petition

Tag: #Law

on voluntary actions to combat child sexual abuse

the derogation – a summary