The Dutch Minister of Justice and Security is currently negotiating a proposal for a new European law to combat the online sexual abuse and exploitation of children. Reports from several media outlets have revealed a conflict of interest. The European Commission has been working closely together with companies that stand to gain financially if the bill is passed. Human rights organization Bits of Freedom is concerned by these revelations and has sent an urgent letter to the minister calling on her to vote against the current proposal. Policy advisor Rejo Zenger: "The commercial interests of a few companies seem to be paramount, not that of the child."

At issue is a bill to combat the sexual abuse of children. Part of the controversial proposal is the possibility for government to force services like WhatsApp and Signal to scan all their users' messages. The Dutch cabinet aims to protect end-to-end encryption, but still supports so-called client side device scanning, even though it puts the confidentiality of online communications at risk.

Now, thorough investigation by journalists has revealed a conflict of interest. The European Commission has a long-standing and close working relationship with a large network of mostly interrelated charities, tech companies and lobbying firms, some of which are supported financially by the European Commission. Around the launch of the proposal, the European Commission asked companies to launch campaigns to garner support for the proposal from policymakers and politicians. Policy advisor Rejo Zenger comments: "This is particularly worrisome because some of the technologies that the companies involved provide as a service, are at the heart of the controversial parts of the proposal. For example, Thorn is one of the few companies that could provide the technology for the so-called detection orders."

Bits of Freedom today sent an urgent letter to the Dutch Minister of Justice and Security, who is negotiating the bill in Brussels. The organization has requested the minister to refrain from supporting the proposal until she can state for certain which interests were leading in the design of the proposal. Bits of Freedom's appeal is in line with the advice of the government's principal advisory body on the subject, the National Rapporteur on Trafficking in Human Beings and Sexual Violence against Children, who stated that a broader debate is necessary in order to be able to make informed decisions on such an important issue.

Background

• Open letter from Bits of Freedom to the minister of Justice and Security (PDF)
• Advice National Rapporteur on Trafficking in Human Beings and Sexual Violence against Children
• ‘Who Benefits?’ Inside the EU’s Fight over Scanning for Child Sex Content (article on balkaninsights.com, about the conflict of interest)
• Warum Ashton Kutcher für Überwachungspläne lobbyiert (article on zeit.de, about the conflict of interest)
• ‘Wie heeft hier baat bij? Niet de kinderen’] (article by the Groene Amsterdammer, about the conflict of interest)

Contact

Rejo Zenger, policy advisor Bits of Freedom, rejo@bitsoffreedom.nl, +31 6 39 64 27 38