The European Union moves closer towards ending smartphone end-to-end encryption with new CSAM counter-measures scanning message apps that provide it.
CSAM (Child Sexual Abuse Material) is a significantly harmful portion of the internet that surprisingly keeps popping up in the news with alarming regularity. At one point the question must be posed: just how massive of a harmful community is this? At any rate, CSAM is shared around, exploits kids in any number of ways, and naturally countries want to be done with the medium as a whole. However, many of the solutions that these countries have could potentially cause damage to users on a more individual level. The first example of this is the UK, which approached both Apple and WhatsApp to essentially ask for both companies to create backdoors into the end-to-end encryption they employed. The reason is simple: so messages and CSAM content can be easily spotted in chat, and the associated criminal third parties be packed up.
Of course, as the USA’s population and Edward Snowden can attest to, backdoors are a major security issue that essentially rob users of one of the last major protective services they have against third parties accessing personal data. If the NSA snooping is bad news, imagine giving that power away to an entire country; or worse yet, multiple countries; or even worse, an entire continent. That is what’s happening right now: while Apple and WhatsApp rejected the UK quickly enough, the EU’s Parliament is a different matter entirely. Leaked plans and memos reveal that the EU plans on backdoors and bypasses across all such apps and smart devices, in the interests of stopping CSAM content.
Vector created by freepik
I do agree that child-related harmful content should be stopped so dead in its tracks that we never have to hear of it again. However, there’s only so much that we can trust our governments with access to personal data over such an endeavor. Simply put, if a cop breaks into another house without a warrant and shoots an innocent nurse, my knee-jerk reaction won’t be providing every police force in the country with the keys to my house. Personal privacy is important, and is an essential part of society. The EU intends on harmfully undermining such a basic human right.
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CSAM (Child Sexual Abuse Material) is a significantly harmful portion of the internet that surprisingly keeps popping up in the news with alarming regularity. At one point the question must be posed: just how massive of a harmful community is this? At any rate, CSAM is shared around, exploits kids in any number of ways, and naturally countries want to be done with the medium as a whole. However, many of the solutions that these countries have could potentially cause damage to users on a more individual level. The first example of this is the UK, which approached both Apple and WhatsApp to essentially ask for both companies to create backdoors into the end-to-end encryption they employed. The reason is simple: so messages and CSAM content can be easily spotted in chat, and the associated criminal third parties be packed up.
Of course, as the USA’s population and Edward Snowden can attest to, backdoors are a major security issue that essentially rob users of one of the last major protective services they have against third parties accessing personal data. If the NSA snooping is bad news, imagine giving that power away to an entire country; or worse yet, multiple countries; or even worse, an entire continent. That is what’s happening right now: while Apple and WhatsApp rejected the UK quickly enough, the EU’s Parliament is a different matter entirely. Leaked plans and memos reveal that the EU plans on backdoors and bypasses across all such apps and smart devices, in the interests of stopping CSAM content.
Vector created by freepikI do agree that child-related harmful content should be stopped so dead in its tracks that we never have to hear of it again. However, there’s only so much that we can trust our governments with access to personal data over such an endeavor. Simply put, if a cop breaks into another house without a warrant and shoots an innocent nurse, my knee-jerk reaction won’t be providing every police force in the country with the keys to my house. Personal privacy is important, and is an essential part of society. The EU intends on harmfully undermining such a basic human right.
"We want a backdoor, but we don't want just *anyone* to be able to use it. Only us good guys." pic.twitter.com/LhicTwmJpW
— Alec Muffett (@AlecMuffett) May 10, 2022
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