Thread by @mickmoran

Here's an important thread on a situation that is threatening the lives and well-being of children globally if allowed to continue to it's conclusion. Bear with me -it's complicated but there are things you can do to help at the end.
#childabuse #Privacy #Law #ICT #cybersecurity

companies exist to make profit for their shareholders and in a low-regulation environment it's sometimes hard for them to justify expenditure to deal with the dark-side of the human condition because it is the antithesis of line one of this tweet.

Thousands of men and women work in hard #moderation, #lawenforcement and #networkadmin so you are not exposed to this #darkside of humans amplified by the internet.

Unlike the EU, the USA has regulation (a law) that states these companies must report #CSAM or #Grooming activity to @MissingKids when they become aware of it.

How do they become aware? User reports is one way, stumbling across it in the normal course of their work is another, but most of it is found by the "voluntary action" of these companies who rightly do not want to tolerate this dark material on their networks. #aboveandbeyond

When they find Child Sexual Abuse Material #CSAM or #Grooming activity they report it, it's processed and it is passed to #LawEnforcement somewhere in the world best placed to assess it and action it if necessary.

This #voluntaryaction will STOP on December 21st

The global nature of the internet means a cybertip received by @MissingKids can be outside the #USA. So after processing, the #cybertip is sent to law enforcement in #EU or elsewhere for assesment or action according to local laws.

Without doubt these #cybertips have saved lives and removed children from harm all around the world. Fair play @MissingKids, Fair play #USA, Fair play online companies who work to find, remove and report #CSAM and #Grooming from their platforms.

2020 so far has seen 1,020 reports sent to #EU #lawenforcement via @Europol about suspected grooming activity by #sexoffenders. #Grooming is communication strategies to entice children for sex through the use of teaching, treating or threatening. #real children #real harm

40% of these #cybertip came from chat or messaging services and 60% from social media and gaming platforms reported after "voluntary action" - exactly as we would expect as thats where groomers hang out.

@MissingKids also processed nearly 17,000,000 (17 million) #cybertips relating to #CSAM et al. of which 725,000 were sent to #EU #LawEnforcement for assesment and action. Each #cybertip could* represent a child at risk

*explaining this would require another very long thread

The vast majority of these #cybertips come from #voluntaryaction by companies. #Aboveandbeyond what is required by law. This is good. This is progress in a self-regulation world.

The #EU has no such law. When the ePrivacy directive comes live on the 21st of December 2020 all of these voluntary actions stop - *dead*. Companies cannot risk a privacy prosecution to continue and so #childsafety and #childrights once again comes second because....#privacy

The EU commission has committed to address regulation similar to the #USA in their strategy document published in July this year

ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/s…

and so they have applied for a *limited temporary #derogation* from a number of articles (5 (1) and 6) of the ePrivacy directive that will maintain the status quo until new law can be drafted.

eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/…

some one some where didn't do something resulting in #privacy once again coming up against #childrights but that is neither here nor there. The #derogation is currently being considered in the parliament @EUParl_EN and must pass.

here is what #you can do to stave off this situation:

Sign this petition: change.org/p/council-of-t…

Talk to your local representatives and MEPs - a full list of #MEP here: europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/full-l…

Get in touch with your local #CSAM #hotline and ask them what they are doing about this - you'll find the list here: inhope.org/EN/our-story

Also watch @INHOPE_PR explainer videos here:
inhope.org/EN/automated-d…

Also, if you speak another #EU language other than #English could you please translate this tweet and pass it on?