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Interior Commissioner Johansson at a press conference in October 2021
Photo: JULIEN WARNAND / EPA-EFE
SPIEGEL:
Investigators are seeing increasing success in the hunt for pedo criminals on the Darknet.
Nevertheless, the amount of child abuse recordings on the Internet continues to increase, in 2020 there were more than 65 million images.
What do you, as the EU interior commissioner, want to do about it?
Ylva Johansson
: These numbers and the extent are staggering.
Behind each of the videos and pictures are horrific crimes against children.
I fear that most Europeans may still not realize how big this problem is.
We therefore want to pass a law with which a new European center against sexual violence against children is to be founded.
SPIEGEL:
How could that help get the pictures and videos off the internet?
Johansson:
The center could be home to a central database that stores digital fingerprints of the images and videos that investigative authorities have found illegal.
Internet companies could use this database to detect child abuse recordings in their systems and stop them from spreading.
We would then have a European version of NCMEC.
SPIEGEL:
You mean the American child protection organization "National Center for Missing and Exploited Children" (NCMEC).
Please explain to us what this is supposed to do.
Johansson:
In the US, every internet company is required to work with the NCMEC.
The center maintains a database with these digital fingerprints, so-called hash values.
Internet services use it to determine whether child abuse recordings are being uploaded to their servers.
The NCMEC also works closely with the FBI.
Such a center also helps to catch more perpetrators.
SPIEGEL:
Research by SPIEGEL and NDR shows that the law enforcement authorities would also have to do more, for example report the abuse they discovered on the Darknet.
Because the companies on whose servers the material is actually stored often don't know anything about it.
Johansson:
Authorities could also report pictures and videos to the new EU center after their investigations have been completed.
The footage is terrible and we must do everything we can to stop it from spreading.
The material re-traumatizes those affected and it also increases the demand for further recordings, which in turn leads to new abuse.
SPIEGEL:
What else should happen?
Johansson:
I often hear in the debates on this topic that other measures, such as content filtering, undermine privacy.
But I think we shouldn't accept that we can't protect both privacy and children.
SPIEGEL:
In the debates about data retention, backdoors in encryption or upload filters, the critics are primarily concerned about collateral damage to normal, legal communication.
If investigating authorities have recognized illegal content and then a report to the EU center ensures that it does not end up on the network again, that is a targeted approach.
Such measures shouldn't stand in the way of privacy concerns.
Johansson:
Yes, I agree with you.
SPIEGEL
: Should the new EU center do more than operate a central database?
Johansson:
Yes, when it comes to this issue, we shouldn't forget which measures could still be taken online and outside the network.
The EU center could provide research and expertise for all EU member states, raise awareness of the issue and focus on prevention so that pedophiles don't become criminals.
And finally, the center could also help those affected who fear that their abuse has ended up on the Internet.
Supporting and working with those affected is crucial in these dire situations, because all too often they blame themselves.
What the pedo criminals have done, they often try to normalize and legitimize.
It’s just wrong and a crime.
