FAQ – PROJECT BEACON
Balance between online privacy and child protection online
- Why was the research conducted?
- ECPAT wanted to explore the views of members of the public, in some of the largest countries in the European Union on the issues of child protection, data privacy and the balance, if any, between them.
- ECPAT wanted to gather this data to better understand the public’s perceptions on the issues of privacy vs. child protection online.
It is important for policy makers to know what the public finds important when developing legislation. There have been some developments why it is important that Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) know what EU citizens consider important:
- The usage of tools to detect and remove online child sexual abuse has declined since December 2020, when EU Member States needed to have transposed the new EU telecom rules into national law, following the European Electronic Communications Code (EECC) that came into force in December 2018.[1] With internet-based communications services becoming subject to the strict confidentiality requirements, a temporary regulation was adopted in July 2021, permitting providers to use specific technology to combat child sexual abuse online.[2] The temporary regulation is limited until 3 August 2024. Due to the unclarity and the inclusion of extra privacy-preserving points, some ICT companies (such as Facebook) have stopped using the detection software. The number of reports of online child sexual abuse in Europe dropped dramatically after 20 December (58% less reports from Europe in 3 months).[3]
- Commission is working on a long-term legislation to tackle child sexual abuse online. In July 2020, the European Commission published the EU strategy for a more effective fight against child sexual abuse. The strategy provides a comprehensive response to the growing threat of child sexual abuse, both offline and online. The strategy focuses, inter alia, on legislation to effectively tackle child sexual abuse online, including by requiring relevant online service providers to detect, remove and report known child sexual abuse material to authorities. The Commission also wants to develop an European centre to prevent and combat child sexual abuse.
- The European Institutions are currently debating The Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act, which aim to create a safer digital space where the fundamental rights of users are protected and to establish a level playing field for businesses.
- What was the research methodology?
- Research was conducted online in 2021.
- The research was split into two parts – a smaller, non-representative qualitative phase and public opinion polling, quantitative, that was representative.
- The first phase saw groups of 30 x adults being recruited randomly across 7 countries to take part in an online research session to explore the topic. Countries were Poland, Hungary, France, Italy, Germany, Netherlands, Spain.
- The second phase, the public opinion polling, involved more than 9.000 adults (representative of the national adult populations).
- There were at least 1.000 adults per country, with 2.000 in Germany.
- All participants were asked the same 5 x questions.
- The polling was conducted in all of the above countries plus Sweden.
- Polling was undertaken as part of YouGov’s online omnibus polling.
- All research was conducted in the local language.
- What does phase 1, the qualitative data, tell us about the views of the groups in those 7 countries?
NB – phase 1 is not representative data – it is a snapshot of the views of a group of people.
- Most people in these groups had never heard of hash detection tools or anti-grooming tools, however when they heard about them, they wanted these tools used.
- When participants in these groups heard that these tools were not being used (or might not be used) they were angry.
- Participants saw this topic as complicated, complex and beyond the scope of individuals, families, individual companies or nations to solve – they felt powerless to protect all children, including their own.
- They were not clear who was the best person to act, but saw the EU as the likely best (or least bad) place for the problem to be addressed.
- What does phase 2, the quantitative data, tell us about the views of the groups in those 7 countries?
NB – This data, from 8 countries, is representative of the adult population.
Looking at the data aggregated across all 8 countries:
- 76% of respondents are willing to give up some of their personal privacy online to allow for automated technology tools to be used to scan and detect images of child sexual abuse and exploitation to protect children online.
- Nearly 7 out of 10 people surveyed feel that there is not much, if any, privacy online.
- Those who believe online privacy does not exist (68%) outnumber those who believe it does (25%) by more than two to one.
- 77% of female respondents believe that children cannot use the internet safely without being approached by adults seeking to harm them online compared to 69 percent of male respondents.
- 68% of respondents in the eight countries support plans by the European Union to introduce new legislation to make it a legal duty for online platforms to always use automated technology tools for the detection of child sexual abuse material.
- The research findings were broadly consistent across all eight countries.
- What might this quantitative data mean for the EU?
- Among some of the EU’s largest countries, the message is clear; the public want action taken to protect children online.
- There is strong support for proposed EU legislation, among these 8 countries
- Therefore, the EU needs to prioritize the online protection of children and integrate it in its legislation, such as the Digital Service Act, Digital Market Act and the EU strategy for a more effective fight against child sexual abuse.
- Are EU citizens equipped to respond to these issues? Did they understand the implications of using detection tools?
- In the survey it was explained to the respondents that the tools continuously check the personal activity of all users on the platform, which means that users give away some of their personal privacy, because the tools scan images and messages in order to protect children.
- Three out of four people across the 8 countries in Europe believed protecting children from abuse was as important or more important than the protection of their own privacy.
[1] https://www.stibbe.com/en/news/2019/january/the-european-electronic-communications-code-is-now-in-force–10-takeaways
[2] https://www.europarl.europa.eu/legislative-train/theme-promoting-our-european-way-of-life/file-temporary-derogation-from-the-e-privacy-directive-for-ott-services
[3] https://www.missingkids.org/blog/2020/we-are-in-danger-of-losing-the-global-battle-for-child-safety