On Thursday 5 February, MEP Birgit Sippel (S&D, German) published her draft report on extending the derogation from the ePrivacy Directive, which authorises platforms to scan private communications to detect paedophile content. While the European Commission was calling for a further two years (see EUROPE 13796/11), the MEP is proposing to limit this reprieve to just one year, until 3 April 2027.
Birgit Sippel justifies this position by the need to respect the temporary nature of this tool. She says she is prepared to support a “strictly limited extension, under clear conditions”. This extension is accompanied by a major technical tightening: it must be “confined exclusively to the detection of known, hashed child sexual abuse material”, thus excluding scanning of unknown content using artificial intelligence.
In addition, the report exposes a “significant enforcement gap” in the current derogation system, adding that the platforms “are dictating” their own practical conditions, in the absence of appropriate control tools. It therefore considers it “imperative to equip the Commission with appropriate enforcement tools, including an effective system of fines” since, “without credible sanctions, obligations remain largely declaratory”.
For Ms Sippel, this one-year reduction should above all serve as political leverage. Relying on “the political will to deliver a permanent framework”, she urges the EU’s co-legislators to finalise permanent legislation and supports an “explicit commitment to avoid any further extensions” in the future.
The draft report: https://aeur.eu/f/kmy (original version in French by Justine Manaud)