Outside Looking In: Approaches to Content Moderation in End-to-End Encrypted Systems

Speaker: Mallory Knodel, Emma Llanso, Lucy Qin(*), Dhanaraj Thakur, , Center for Democracy & Technology and Brown University(*)

Date: Wednesday, November 03, 2021

Time: 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM Note: all times are in the Eastern Time Zone

Public: Yes

Location: https://mit.zoom.us/j/97527284254

Event Type: Seminar

Room Description:

Host: Srini Devadas, CSAIL

Contact: Kyle L Hogan, Zack Newman, klhogan@csail.mit.edu, zjn@mit.edu

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Speaker URL: None

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Reminders to: seminars@csail.mit.edu, mknodel@cdt.org, ellanso@cdt.org, dthakur@cdt.org, lucyq@brown.edu

Reminder Subject: TALK: Outside Looking In: Approaches to Content Moderation in End-to-End Encrypted Systems

Abstract:
In this paper, we assess existing technical proposals for content moderation in end-to-end encryption (E2EE) services. First, we explain the various tools in the content moderation toolbox, how they are used, and the different phases of the moderation cycle, including detection of unwanted content. We then lay out a definition of encryption and E2EE, which includes privacy and security guarantees for end-users, before assessing current technical proposals for the detection of unwanted content in E2EE services against those guarantees.
We find that technical approaches for user-reporting and meta-data analysis are the most likely to preserve privacy and security guarantees for end-users. Both provide effective tools that can detect significant amounts of different types of problematic content on E2EE services, including abusive and harassing messages, spam, mis- and disinformation, and child sexual abuse material (CSAM), although more research is required to improve these tools and better measure their effectiveness. Conversely, we find that other techniques that purport to facilitate content detection in E2EE systems have the effect of undermining key security guarantees of E2EE systems.

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Research Areas:
Security & Cryptography

Impact Areas:
Cybersecurity

See other events that are part of the CSAIL Security Seminar Series 2021.

Created by Kyle L Hogan Email at Tuesday, October 19, 2021 at 12:05 PM.