About: GDPR
Privacy activists on COVID-19 surveillance: Either ineffective or questionable
In Germany and Austria, there are concrete ideas to monitor their citizens using Big Data, but to be truly effective, the methods would have to be deeply invasive. EURACTIV Germany reports.
EU’s Breton defends COVID-19 telecoms data acquisition plans
The European Commission's Internal Market chief Thierry Breton has defended plans to obtain mobile data from EU telecom firms during the coronavirus outbreak, saying the acquisition of certain datasets allows for a clearer reading of "the impact of the confinement measures taken by member states."
Employers accused of abusing EU data privacy rules to hinder trade unions
The EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is being misused by employers across Europe as trade unions are denied access to information required to recruit and organise workers, a new study has found.
EU privacy rules no obstacle to coronavirus fight; smartphone tracking a no-no
Europe’s privacy rulebook does not create obstacles to taking action to curb the coronavirus epidemic but mass tracking of people’s movements and contacts using smartphone location data would represent a clear violation.
The ePrivacy Regulation saga three years on
EURACTIV takes a look at what has happened during the three years while the Commission’s proposal has been stuck in the legislative process. The Croatian Presidency is the latest member state with responsibility to resolve the ePrivacy Regulation conundrum. The...
Ensuring data sovereignty ‘major challenge’ for European farmers
The virtues of digital farming have been extolled by many, including the European Commission and industry voices. But, as a recent situation in the US demonstrates, digital farming carries concerns which requires careful consideration.
‘Prepare for all eventualities’ on UK-EU data transfers, EDPS says
There could be a series of 'obstacles' in terms of securing an EU-UK adequacy agreement on post-Brexit data transfers and the bloc should therefore 'take steps to prepare for all eventualities,' the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) has said this week.
Microsoft ‘in discussions’ with Germans on Gaia-X participation
Microsoft has revealed it has been holding talks with the German Economy Ministry over whether the company could be contracted as a supplier for Gaia-X, the ambitious European cloud network infrastructure initiative.
Google confirms plans to move UK users’ accounts outside EU jurisdiction
Google is planning to move its British users' accounts out of the control of European Union privacy regulators, placing them under US jurisdiction instead, the company confirmed late on Wednesday (19 February).
Von der Leyen opens the doors for an EU data revolution
The EU is set to exploit the "untapped potential" of vast troves of industrial and sectoral data, allowing public and private actors "easy access" to huge reserves of information, the European Commission announced on Wednesday (19 February).
Google users in UK to lose EU data protection – sources
Google is planning to move its British users’ accounts out of the control of European Union privacy regulators, placing them under U.S. jurisdiction instead, sources said.
High-risk Artificial Intelligence to be ‘certified, tested and controlled,’ Commission says
Artificial Intelligence technologies carrying a high-risk of abuse that could potentially lead to an erosion of fundamental rights will be subjected to a series of new requirements, the European Commission announced on Wednesday (19 February).
After Clearview AI scandal, Commission ‘in close contact’ with EU data authorities
The European Commission is in consultation with EU data protection authorities following the news that US technology firm Clearview AI has scraped more than three billion facial images from social media sites including YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, without obtaining the permission of users.
Xiaomi president: ‘We invest substantial amounts to be fully compliant with GDPR’
Amid security concerns surrounding Chinese tech giant Huawei, its smaller telecoms rival Xiaomi has been attempting to distinguish itself by focusing on consumer products and non-critical infrastructure.
Google hit by Irish data protection probe
The Irish Data Protection Commission has announced that they have launched a formal investigation of Google due to concerns over the way the company processes user location data.
UK to diverge from EU data protection rules, Johnson confirms
The United Kingdom will seek to diverge from EU data protection rules and establish their own 'sovereign' controls in the field, the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday (3 February). His comments came despite the EU affirming that the UK should "fully respect EU data protection rules.
European Data Protection Day: are EU citizens really protected?
European Data Protection Day aims to raise awareness and promote privacy and data protection best practices. However, according to Julia Kloiber, activist and founder of Superrr Lab, European data protection is deficient and it remains questionable if citizens have the necessary know-how to assert their rights. EURACTIV Germany reports.
Europeans should control their B-to-B data, says EU commissioner
The United States and China are the world's leaders in harvesting and exploiting personal data and the European Union must make sure the same thing does not happen when it comes to business-to-business data, the new EU commissioner for the internal market said.
Clear standards required for development and use of AI in healthcare
With digital technologies set to irrevocably change the face of our healthcare systems, the ethical concerns surrounding the use of artifical intelligence (AI) are increasingly gaining prominence in policy circles.
EU needs to focus on legislation in the digital sphere, MEP Angelika Niebler says
The EU has proven to be successful in legislating in the digital age but it needs to keep up the work to avoid being left behind, because "the digital revolution has been moving faster than legislation", MEP Angelika Niebler (EPP, Germany) told EURACTIV in a written interview.
Should the EU embrace artificial intelligence, or fear it?
Advances in machine learning are progressing rapidly, and governments are struggling to keep up. The EU has emerged as the world’s regulator in this space, but some fear it's stifling European innovation.
Facebook renews calls for EU regulation in ‘fight for the soul of the internet’
An ideological 'fight' is tacking place worldwide between those who want to restrict open access to the internet and those who want to maintain a free and open web within necessary regulatory frameworks, Facebook's VP for Global Affairs, Nick Clegg, has said.
‘Suspicious’ cyber attacks hit UK Labour’s election campaign
The UK's opposition Labour Party have been subject to several "sophisticated and large-scale" cyber-attacks across its digital platforms emanating from an unknown source, the party have revealed. The news comes as UK political groups jockey for influence in the run-up to the general election on December 12.