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WORLD NEWS Thursday 12 May 2022
EU commission proposes plan to fight child pornography

By SAMUEL PETREQUIN spread scanning of pri-
Associated Press vate communications and
BRUSSELS (AP) — The Eu- would discourage compa-
ropean Union’s executive nies from providing end-to-
arm on Wednesday un- end encryption services,
veiled a plan to require which scramble messages
online platforms to detect so they’re unreadable
and report the sharing of by anyone else and are
child sex abuse images on used by chat apps Signal
the internet, which quickly and WhatsApp. The group
triggered privacy con- fears that tech companies
cerns. would take the most intru-
The regulation, which sive measures to avoid le-
needs to be endorsed by gal troubles.
member countries and the “The European Commission
EU Parliament, would force is opening the door for a
companies operating in vast range of authoritarian
the EU to detect, report surveillance tactics,” policy
and remove the material. advisor Ella Jakubowska
Voluntary detection is cur- said.
rently the norm and the Today, she said, online plat-
Commission believes that forms will scan private mes-
the system does not ad- European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson arrives for the weekly College of sages for child sex abuse
equately protect children Commissioners meeting at EU headquarters in Brussels, Wednesday, April 27, 2022. content.
since many companies Associated Press “But once these methods
don’t do the identification are out there, what’s stop-
work. ing 2014-2020 and over 65 removal of child sexual ties in EU countries find ping governments forc-
Reports of online child million images and videos abuse online is also urgent- there is a risk of abuse after ing companies to scan for
sexual abuse in the 27-na- of children being sexually ly needed to prevent the reviewing the risk assess- evidence of dissidence or
tion bloc have increased abused identified. sharing of images and vid- ment, they will be able to political opposition tomor-
from 23,000 in 2010 to more “Not only is the number of eos of the sexual abuse of ask a court to issue a de- row?”
than 1 million in 2020. Inter- reports growing, but these children, which retrauma- tection order. The Commission said any
national police agency In- reports today concern tizes the victims often years The EU Commission is ada- review would take place
terpol has also reported a younger children,” said after the sexual abuse has mant that the new rule anonymously and that
surge in the online distribu- Ylva Johansson, the EU ended.” would offer strong safe- steps to identify users would
tion of sexually explicit im- Commissioner for Home Af- In practice, providers will guards for the respect of only be taken in the event
ages of children during the fairs. have to assess the risk that privacy and personal data, that potential child abuse
COVID-19 pandemic. “These reports are instru- their services are misused although critics have said has been identified. In ad-
A similar increase has been mental to starting investiga- to spread child pornogra- the proposal could allow dition, the technology used
noticed globally, with re- tions and rescuing children phy material or for groom- companies to spy on users. would not allow the extrac-
ports of child abuse on the from ongoing abuse in real ing, and should propose risk Digital rights group EDRi tion of any information oth-
internet rising from 1 million time,” she added. mitigation measures. warned that the proposal er than that necessary to
to almost 22 million dur- “Detection, reporting and If the competent authori- appears to call for wide- detect the abuse.q

French court investigates Interpol chief over torture claims

PARIS (AP) — French judges universal jurisdiction. France are part of an is-
on Wednesday opened an In January, they filed a sue “between the parties
investigation into torture al- criminal complaint directly involved,” and given that
legations against Interpol with the tribunal’s judges the investigation is ongoing
President Maj. Gen. Ahmed to open an investigation “it would be premature for
Nasser al-Raisi of the United into claims against al-Raisi. Interpol to comment.”
Arab Emirates. The new Interpol president Hedges was a doctoral stu-
Two British citizens, Mat- was on French territory at dent in the UAE when he
thew Hedges and Ali Issa the time, visiting the inter- was imprisoned for nearly
Ahmad, who had both national police agency’s seven months in 2018 on
been detained in the UAE headquarters in Lyon. spying charges. He said he
before al-Raisi was elected Al-Raisi was elected for a was tortured and at times
president of the France- four-year term as Interpol held in solitary confinement
based world police agen- president in November. with no access to a lawyer.
cy, on Wednesday gave He has been accused by Ahmad has said he was Inspector general at the United Arab Emirates interior ministry
evidence against him at human rights groups of in- detained and tortured by Maj. Gen. Ahmed Naser al-Raisi speaks on his cell phone during
the Paris Tribunal’s special volvement in torture and UAE security agents during the first day of the Interpol annual assembly in Istanbul, Turkey,
unit for crimes against hu- arbitrary detentions in the the 2019 Asian Cup soc- Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2021.
manity and war crimes, UAE. cer tournament he had at- Associated Press
their lawyers said. The UAE has denied the al- tended in the Gulf country.
The two Britons filed a crimi- legations. Al-Raisi was the general country in addition to his detention for questioning
nal complaint against al- An Interpol spokesperson inspector in the UAE inte- leadership role in Interpol. while he is next on French
Raisi with the prosecutors told The Associated Press rior ministry at the time of According to French law, territory,” said the Britons’
of the Paris Tribunal in Oc- in an email that the alle- the two Britons’ detentions “an open investigation international lawyer, Rod-
tober under the principle of gations against al-Raisi in a post he still holds in his could lead to al-Raisi’s ney Dixon.q