[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 56 (Thursday, March 25, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S1833]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




SENATE RESOLUTION 138--URGING THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT TO EXEMPT CERTAIN 
  TECHNOLOGIES USED TO DETECT CHILD SEXUAL EXPLOITATION FROM EUROPEAN 
                        UNION EPRIVACY DIRECTIVE

  Mr. COTTON (for himself, Mr. Boozman, and Ms. Murkowski) submitted 
the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 
Foreign Relations:

                              S. Res. 138

       Whereas ensuring the safety of children online is a global 
     issue that nations must address together;
       Whereas the online trafficking of child sexual abuse 
     material (referred to in this preamble as ``CSAM'') and 
     online enticement of children (also known as ``grooming'') 
     are pervasive problems that are growing at dramatic rates;
       Whereas crucial tools in detecting CSAM and grooming online 
     and protecting children using online platforms from child 
     predators are hashing, PhotoDNA, and anti-grooming 
     technologies that are voluntarily used by electronic service 
     providers (referred to in this preamble as ``ESPs'') to 
     detect, report, and remove CSAM;
       Whereas the use of hashing, PhotoDNA, and anti-grooming 
     technology by ESPs has generated millions of reports annually 
     to the CyberTipline of the National Center for Missing & 
     Exploited Children;
       Whereas the CyberTipline is a global hotline for reports 
     related to child sexual exploitation that was authorized by 
     Congress in 1998;
       Whereas in 2019, more than 69,000,000 images, videos, and 
     files related to child sexual abuse were reported to the 
     CyberTipline, with more than 3,000,000 of these images, 
     videos, and files related to an offender or child victim in 
     the European Union (referred to in this preamble as the 
     ``EU'');
       Whereas in a Communication to the European Parliament, 
     dated July 24, 2020, the European Commission noted, ``the EU 
     has become the largest host of child sexual abuse material 
     globally (from more than half in 2016 to more than two thirds 
     in 2019)'';
       Whereas in 2018, an EU Directive extended the scope of 
     prohibitions on processing personal data in the electronic 
     communications sector to cover interpersonal communications, 
     such as messenger services and e-mail;
       Whereas this EU Directive caused ESPs to lose the legal 
     basis to use hashing, PhotoDNA, and anti-grooming 
     technologies to detect and report CSAM and online enticement 
     of children to the CyberTipline;
       Whereas this EU Directive took effect on December 21, 2020, 
     without any derogation to exempt the voluntary practice of 
     using these technologies to detect and report distribution of 
     CSAM and enticement of children for sexual abuse;
       Whereas the prohibition on the use of hashing, PhotoDNA, 
     and anti-grooming technologies will have dire consequences 
     for children in Europe and globally;
       Whereas, since the EU Directive took effect, reports to the 
     National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's 
     CyberTipline from the EU decreased by 51 percent during the 
     6-week period immediately following the Directive's 
     implementation compared to the same period in 2020;
       Whereas it is unclear whether ESPs--
       (1) will be able to partition the use of hashing, PhotoDNA, 
     and anti-grooming technologies to carve out users in the EU; 
     and
       (2) will decide to abandon the voluntary use of these 
     technologies in the United States and globally;
       Whereas since children in the United States can be harmed 
     by online predators in the EU through grooming, enticement, 
     and the dissemination of CSAM images among EU offenders, such 
     material should be detected, reported, and removed;
       Whereas if the use of hashing, PhotoDNA, and anti-grooming 
     technologies for detecting CSAM and grooming is stopped, the 
     exploitation of children globally will largely go undetected 
     and continue to proliferate; and
       Whereas Congress agrees with the European Commission that 
     ``immediate action must be taken to address this issue'':
       Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) finds that hashing, PhotoDNA, and anti-grooming 
     technologies are essential in detecting child sexual abuse 
     material and exploitation online, including known and new 
     CSAM, and grooming of children globally; and
       (2) urges the European Parliament to enact legislation that 
     amends the EU Directive to allow electronic service providers 
     to continue their current voluntary activities of using 
     hashing, PhotoDNA, and anti-grooming technologies for the 
     purpose of detecting child sexual exploitation.

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