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world news Diahuebs 12 Mei 2022

EU commission proposes plan to fight child pornography

(AP) — The European 2020 and over 65 million im- the respect of privacy and
Union’s executive arm ages and videos of children personal data, although crit-
on Wednesday unveiled being sexually abused identi- ics have said the proposal
a plan to require online fied. could allow companies to spy
platforms to detect and on users.
report the sharing of child “Not only is the number of
sex abuse images on the reports growing, but these re- Digital rights group EDRi
internet, which quickly ports today concern younger warned that the proposal ap-
triggered privacy con- children,” said Ylva Johans- pears to call for widespread
cerns. son, the EU Commissioner scanning of private commu-
for Home Affairs. nications and would discour-
The regulation, which needs age companies from provid-
to be endorsed by member “These reports are instru- ing end-to-end encryption
countries and the EU Parlia- mental to starting investiga- services, which scramble
ment, would force compa- tions and rescuing children messages so they’re unread-
nies operating in the EU to from ongoing abuse in real able by anyone else and are
detect, report and remove the time,” she added. “Detec- used by chat apps Signal and
material. tion, reporting and removal WhatsApp. The group fears
of child sexual abuse online that tech companies would identified. In addition, the dren, a U.S. nonprofit refer-
Voluntary detection is cur- is also urgently needed to take the most intrusive mea- technology used would not ence center which helps fam-
rently the norm and the prevent the sharing of im- sures to avoid legal troubles. allow the extraction of any ilies and exploited victims.
Commission believes that the ages and videos of the sexual information other than that
system does not adequately abuse of children, which re- “The European Commis- necessary to detect the abuse. Under the European Com-
protect children since many traumatizes the victims often sion is opening the door for mission’s plans, the center
companies don’t do the iden- years after the sexual abuse a vast range of authoritarian “Encryption is an important would help coordinate ac-
tification work. has ended.” surveillance tactics,” policy tool for the protection of cy- tions among the EU’s 27 na-
advisor Ella Jakubowska said. bersecurity and confidential- tions in the areas of law en-
Reports of online child sexu- In practice, providers will ity of communications,” the forcement, deterrence and
al abuse in the 27-nation bloc have to assess the risk that Today, she said, online plat- Commission added. “At the assistance for victims of child
have increased from 23,000 their services are misused forms will scan private mes- same time, its use as a secure sex abuse.
in 2010 to more than 1 mil- to spread child pornogra- sages for child sex abuse channel could be abused by
lion in 2020. International phy material or for groom- content. “But once these criminals to hide their ac- During the pandemic, lock-
police agency Interpol has ing, and should propose risk methods are out there, what’s tions, thereby impeding ef- downs imposed to slow
also reported a surge in the mitigation measures. If the stopping governments forc- forts to bring perpetrators of down the spread of the coro-
online distribution of sexu- competent authorities in EU ing companies to scan for ev- child sexual abuse to justice.” navirus exacerbated the prob-
ally explicit images of chil- countries find there is a risk idence of dissidence or politi- lem for children, who spent
dren during the COVID-19 of abuse after reviewing the cal opposition tomorrow?” To help providers better more time online and were
pandemic. risk assessment, they will be identify abuse, the Commis- more vulnerable to preda-
able to ask a court to issue a The Commission said that sion proposed the creation of tors. According to the Inter-
A similar increase has been detection order. any review would take place an EU Center on Child Sex- net Watch charity, there was
noticed globally, with reports anonymously and that steps ual Abuse acting as a “hub of a 64% increase in reports of
of child abuse on the internet The EU Commission is ada- to identify users would only expertise.” It would be simi- confirmed child sexual abuse
rising from 1 million to al- mant that the new rule would be taken in the event that po- lar to the National Center for in 2021 compared with the
most 22 million during 2014- offer strong safeguards for tential child abuse has been Missing and Exploited Chil- previous year.

Britain pledges to defend Sweden if it’s attacked

(AP) — Britain pledged make a similar defense com- stop-gap, but a long-term “military and political reper- values.”
to defend Sweden if the mitment to Finland, where commitment to bolster cussions” if Sweden and Fin- Johnson met with Andersson
country came under at- he will meet with President military ties and global sta- land decide to join NATO. in Harpsund, the country re-
tack, with Prime Ministers Sauli Niinisto. bility, and fortify Europe’s Andersson said that Russia treat of Swedish prime min-
Boris Johnson and Mag- defenses for generations to would increase its “mili- isters, which is located about
dalena Andersson signing The agreement will “fortify come,” Johnson said in the tary presence in this region 90 kilometers (55 miles)
a security assurance deal northern Europe’s defens- statement. Finland shares a if Sweden and, or, Finland southwest of Stockholm. He
outside Stockholm on es, in the face of renewed 1,340-kilometer (830-mile) sends in an application.” is set to hold talks with Ni-
Wednesday. threats,” Johnson said in a land border with Russia. inisto, who has a significant
statement, adding it “is a Should they apply, there will role in Finland’s foreign and
Sweden and Finland are symbol of the everlasting “And whether it’s in the event be an interim period lasting security policy decisions, at
pondering whether to join assurance between our na- of a disaster or a military at- from when an application the Presidential Palace in
NATO following Russia’s in- tions.” tack, what we’re saying today has been handed in until all Helsinki later Wednesday.
vasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24. is that upon request from the 30 NATO members’ parlia-
Johnson is later expected to “These are not a short-term other party, we would come ments have ratified it. The Johnson, who said Putin was
to the other parties’ assis- two Nordic countries are ex- “a 21st-century tyrant,” also
tance,” Johnson told a joint pected to announce their po- offered during his one-day
news conference. He said sitions on NATO member- visit to increase the deploy-
that the war in Ukraine is ship in the coming days. ments of British troops and
Russian President Vladimir military assets to the region.
“Putin’s bloodthirsty cam- “If Finland makes this histor-
paign against a sovereign na- ical step it is for the security “And in times of crisis, coop-
tion.” of our own citizens,” Finnish eration becomes even more
Prime Minister Sanna Marin important. And this applies
Andersson said: “Putin told a news conference after not least for our international
thought he could cause divi- talks with Japanese Prime defense partnerships. And
sion, but he has achieved the Minister Fumio Kishida in Sweden’s partnerships with
opposite. We stand here today Tokyo Wednesday. “Joining the U.K. and with NATO
more united than ever.” NATO will strengthen the have been crucial during
whole international commu- these exceptional times,” An-
The Kremlin has warned of nity that stands for common dersson said