Back in January we published a blogpost explaining what to expect from the UN Cybercrime Convention negotiations in Vienna, Austria.
CC-BY-4.0: (c) European Union 2019 - Source: EP. Remixed by epicenter.works.
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A very broad coalition of stakeholders has come together to publicly warn against introducing network fees via a joint statement. This includes many industries and sectors, consumers and civil society and a very broad alliance. It is accompanied by a supporting statement signed by a few MEPs.
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The new Austrian whistleblower protection bill leaves much to be desired. A recent press briefing held by Transparency International, Forum Informationsfreiheit and epicenter.works offered context and explained the bill’s considerable shortcomings and omissions. On 1st February the bill was debated at the plenary session of the lower house of parliament.
The foundations for a Europe-wide digital identity system are just about to be laid. Will Europe get it right and lead on this important topic? Will the EU set a global standard for the protection of sensitive user information and digital identities? Unfortunately, in contrast to early promises, privacy groups had to issue a strong warning about the unprecedented risks and shortcomings of the new European digital identity system, in December last year.
The rapid speed at which digital technologies are becoming increasingly connected and penetrate all areas of life also requires constant adaptation of legal regulations. This development also extends to the fighting of crime. Despite existing regulations at the regional level (for example, the Budapest Convention of the Council of Europe), negotiations have been underway for a year at the UN level on a new, globally applicable convention to combat cybercrime (UN Cybercrime Treaty). According to the current schedule, these negotiations are to be concluded in January 2024.
Online platforms remain tricky terrain. How should we treat this quasi-public space, where anyone who has the necessary reach can speak to and mobilise thousands in the blink of an eye? To achieve something comparable in the analogue era, you needed a broadcast licence, and these licences were subject to certain rules for a reason. Now, anyone can be a sender and a receiver, and this raises new challenges.
On 6. December 2022 the Council of the European Union will adopt its General Approach to the reform of the eIDAS regulation. Epicenter.works has obtained the text and issues a strong warning about the unprecedented risk and shortcomings of the new electronic identity system of the EU. The member-states-version of this important reform creates a dangerous and uncontrolled environment for the sensitive health, financial and identity data of all Europeans.
A major attack on net neutrality is currently underway at the EU level using the slogan "Fair Share". Under this term, the telecommunications industry wants to massively increase its profits. Major telecom companies are demanding that in the future online content providers should pay for their services to be accessed on the network of telecom providers. This would mean paying twice for the same data, since we all already pay money for our Internet connections and, according to net neutrality, also have the right to access any data from anywhere in the world.
Today is a good day for the open internet and our privacy. The Austrian parliament voted in its EU committee to adopt a resolution that – given the Austrian constitution – has a binding effect on the position of the Austrian government not to agree to the proposal for the controversial child sexual abuse regulation (dubbed “chat control”), if it is not brought in line with fundamental rights.
The trend of the Czech Presidency that first became apparent with the third compromise text continues. Industry interests are ranked above fundamental rights concerns of citizens. We see a further eroding of safeguards previously introduced by the Commission and French Presidency. This will make trilogue more difficult, as we observe the opposite trend in the ongoing negotiations of the lead ITRE committee where data protection safeguards have been strengthened in the last compromise texts by the rapporteur.