Open letter to EU Member States on the proposed CSA Regulation
Dear Ministers of the Interior, Justice, and Economy of EU Member States,
We write to you as small and medium-sized companies and organizations from Europe, concerned
about the proposal for a Regulation on Child Sexual Abuse (CSA). Collectively, we call on you to
ensure that your country’s position on this file is brought as close as possible to the European
Parliament’s one.
We all agree that ensuring children are safe online is one of the most important duties of tech
companies and for this reason, we find the European Commission’s proposed Regulation extremely
worrying. If it were implemented as proposed, it would negatively impact children’s privacy and
security online, while also having dramatic unforeseen consequences on the EU cybersecurity
landscape, on top of creating an ineffective administrative burden1.
The European Parliament recently adopted its position on the file, acknowledging that scanning
technologies are not compatible with the aim of having confidential and secure communications.
The crucial changes it therefore puts forward for the proposal reflect the opinions of the European
Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), the Council legal services as well as countless experts in
cryptography and cybersecurity2. It also reflects the opinion of between 63% and 69% of the
companies, public authorities, NGOs and citizens consulted by the European Commission in its
Impact Assessment3.
As small and medium-sized tech companies and organizations, we share their concerns as we know
that looking for specific content – such as text, photos and videos – in an end-to-end encrypted
communication would require the implementation of a backdoor, or of a similar technology called
“client-side scanning”. Even if this mechanism is created with the purpose of fighting crime online,
it would also quickly be used by criminals themselves, putting citizens and businesses more at risk
online by creating vulnerabilities for all users alike.
Data protection is a strong competitive advantage
As tech companies operating within the European Union, we have built products and services in line
with the strong data protection framework of the EU which still serves as an example and inspiration
across the world.
The GDPR allowed for the creation of ethical, privacy-first tech companies in Europe, that would
otherwise never have been able to compete against Big Tech. It gave European companies a strong
competitive advantage in that field internationally and allowed consumers to finally be able to find
alternatives to American and Chinese services. Our users, both within the EU and beyond, have come
to trust our commitment to safeguarding their data and this trust is a key driver of our
1
A detailed summary of the proposal, drafted by the NGO EDRi, is available here: https://edri.org/our-work/private-
and-secure-communications-put-at-risk-by-european-commissions-latest-proposal/
2
For more information, you can read their statement from July 2023: https://edri.org/wp-
content/uploads/2023/07/Open-Letter-CSA-Scientific-community.pdf
3
See in particular page 134 of the impact assessment: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52022SC0209
competitiveness. The learning curve for adapting to the necessary administrative burden brought
about by the GDPR was high but was worth it.
However, the CSA Regulation could threaten this unique selling point of European IT companies and
would also add a new administrative burden which we fear could overwhelm both our companies
and law enforcement bodies. Considering the volume of communications and content transiting
through our services, even an insignificant error rate of the technologies applied to scan for abusive
material would result in millions of false positives to be manually reviewed every day.
The CSA Regulation could erode trust and safety online
In a world where data breaches and privacy scandals are increasingly common, the EU's reputation
for stringent data protection is a unique selling point for businesses operating within its borders. It
provides us with a competitive edge, assuring our customers that their information is handled with
the utmost care and integrity. This trust, once eroded, is challenging to rebuild, and any measures
that compromise it such as mandatory scanning, or mandatory age verification have the potential
to harm businesses both large and small.
Furthermore, the EU has recently adopted Regulation 2023/2841, which mandates that EU
Institutions and bodies to consider the use of end-to-end encryption among their cybersecurity risk-
management measures. There are also multiple ‘cyber’ EU proposal currently on the table, such as
the Cyber Resilience Act and the Cybersecurity Act. Supporting an opposite approach for the CSA
Regulation would only undermine the EU cybersecurity framework creating a contradictory,
incoherent and inefficient new set of measures that companies would not be able to enforce without
putting citizens and businesses at risk.
The EU Parliament's proposal goes in the right direction
Therefore, we applaud the European Parliament for its resolute stance in defending the European
citizens' right to privacy and secure communication. The European Parliament’s commitment to
these principles is not only a testament to its dedication to human rights, but also a beacon of hope
for businesses like ours that prioritize data protection and security. The position of the Parliament
includes alternatives to scanning which have a minimal impact on cybersecurity and data protection,
and which experts believe would be both more effective and more efficient than mandatory
scanning. Such changes of paradigm would mean going beyond the false dichotomy between privacy
and security, while also making the proposal respect the proportionality principle, as requested by
the Regulatory Scrutiny Board.
Even if not perfect in our eyes, the changes the European Parliament made in its position are a good
compromise to maintain digital security and confidentiality and to better protect children online.
We believe that these changes strike the right balance between child protection and safeguarding
privacy and cybersecurity.
As representatives of the vibrant European small businesses’ community, we encourage EU
Member States to continue championing the values of privacy, cybersecurity and data protection.
These principles not only align with the EU's commitment to human rights, but also serve as a
foundation for a thriving and competitive business environment. Let us defend and strengthen
these principles, ensuring that the EU remains an advocate of privacy in the global marketplace.
For these reasons we call on you to:
• Ensure that Council’s position is aligned as closely as possible to the European Parliament’s.
This will allow for a swifter adoption of the Regulation while building on the important work
of the European Parliament.
• Maintain the high level of fundamental rights - and in particular data protection – enjoyed
by citizens in the European Union.
• Refrain from forcing companies like us to conduct mass surveillance of private
correspondence on behalf of law enforcement agencies.
• Guarantee a high level of cybersecurity in the EU by protecting end-to-end encryption and
bringing the necessary safeguards in the text. Client-side scanning and backdoors in
particular should not be mandated.
• Preserve the confidentiality of correspondence.
• Minimize the administrative burden of the proposal by making it more effective and efficient,
through alternatives to mass scanning.
Signed,
Blacknight Solutions (Ireland) E Foundation (France)
Element (United Kingdom) Logilab (France)
Mail.de GmbH (Germany) Mailfence (Belgium)
Matrix Foundation (United Kingdom) Murena (France)
Nextcloud (Germany) Olvid (France)
Open-Xchange (Germany) Proton (Switzerland)
Renvis (Greece) Surfshark (Lithuania)
TelemetryDeck (Germany) Threema (Switzerland)
Tresorit (Switzerland) Tuta (Germany)
Trade associations and supporters:
ACT | The App Association Cyberstorm
Defend Democracy Encryption Europe
Gate 15 ISOC-CAT
Myntex Privacy & Access Council of Canada
Quilibrium SecureCrypt
Studio Legale Fabiano
Saatja: "Hanna Bozakov" <
[email protected]>
Saaja: "Info" <
[email protected]>, "MKM info", "JM info Shared MB"
Teema: Open letter from EU companies to the EU Member States on the proposed CSA Regulation
Kuupäev: 2024-01-19 14:34
Dear Mr Läänemets, Mr Riisalo and Mr Laanet
In March, the ministers of all EU countries will vote on client-side
scanning (CSAR). As European IT companies, we urge you to align your vote as
closely as possible with the EU Parliament's draft. This will support the
high level of data protection for which the EU is now famous (GDPR) and thus
also strengthen Europe and Germany as a business location for IT companies.
Please find attached the full open letter.
We as the largest encrypted email service in the EU are at your disposal for
a discussion on this topic.
Yours sincerely,
Hanna
--
Tutao GmbH
Deisterstr. 17a
30449 Hannover
Germany
Phone: +49 511 202801-0
Fax: +49 511 202801-19
https://tuta.com
https://mastodon.social/@Tutanota
https://twitter.com/TutaPrivacy