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EU AI Privacy

Critics Call Proposed Changes To Landmark EU Privacy Law 'Death By a Thousand Cuts' (reuters.com) 27

Posted by BeauHD from the pulling-back dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: Privacy activists say proposed changes to Europe's landmark privacy law, including making it easier for Big Tech to harvest Europeans' personal data for AI training, would flout EU case law and gut the legislation. The changes proposed by the European Commission are part of a drive to simplify a slew of laws adopted in recent years on technology, environmental and financial issues which have in turn faced pushback from companies and the U.S. government.

EU antitrust chief Henna Virkkunen will present the Digital Omnibus, in effect proposals to cut red tape and overlapping legislation such as the General Data Protection Regulation, the Artificial Intelligence Act, the e-Privacy Directive and the Data Act, on November 19. According to the plans, Google, Meta Platforms, OpenAI and other tech companies may be allowed to use Europeans' personal data to train their AI models based on legitimate interest.

In addition, companies may be exempted from the ban on processing special categories of personal data "in order not to disproportionately hinder the development and operation of AI and taking into account the capabilities of the controller to identify and remove special categories of personal data." [...] The proposals would need to be thrashed out with EU countries and European Parliament in the coming months before they can be implemented. "The draft Digital Omnibus proposes countless changes to many different articles of the GDPR. In combination this amounts to a death by a thousand cuts," Austrian privacy group noyb said in a statement. "This would be a massive downgrading of Europeans' privacy 10 years after the GDPR was adopted," noyb's Max Schrems said.

"These proposals would change how the EU protects what happens inside your phone, computer and connected devices," European Digital Rights policy advisor Itxaso Dominguez de Olazabal wrote in a LinkedIn post. "That means access to your device could rely on legitimate interest or broad exemptions like security, fraud detection or audience measurement," she said.
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Critics Call Proposed Changes To Landmark EU Privacy Law 'Death By a Thousand Cuts' More

Critics Call Proposed Changes To Landmark EU Privacy Law 'Death By a Thousand Cuts'

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  • Artificial Intelligence Act needs to follow its primary architect and be utterly removed in such a way that brings great shame on any of its defenders.

    For those not in the know, it led to its principal creator, everyone's favorite French fascist grandma Thierry Breton get removed from his Commissar post by a German with... French support.

    It was an utterly unprecedented scandal within EU, which is generally built on careful balance of Franco-German relations. For French to actually allow Germans to throw out

  • According to the plans, Google, Meta Platforms, OpenAI and other tech companies may be allowed to use Europeans' personal dataâ¦. Seriously ? American companies have the right to do whatever they want? And get the information for free?

    • According to the plans, Google, Meta Platforms, OpenAI and other tech companies may be allowed to use Europeans' personal dataâ¦. Seriously ? American companies have the right to do whatever they want? And get the information for free?

      You must worship at the Ai altar and accept that the Ai companies are not only our new gods, but they are the only direction forward. Bow and worship, mere human, for your new god is manifest. Or will be, once you give up all your data, all your privacy, and hey, maybe kick in a little donation or twenty. Never mind that last bit. We'll just give the companies direct access to your bank account. To do anything less would be to hold our new god back, and one does not stand in the way of a god.

  • ... legitimate interest.

    Who decides when the interest is "legitimate"? To put it another way: Which amoral money-grabbing entity will demand it stop its own prolific copyright piracy and data rape?

  • For whatever reason, some EU politicians think that enshittifying the union's principles and law frameworks will help the EU regain competitiveness. Fat chance.

    • Sounds about right. It feels like an arms race, and Europe feels they must play along to not miss out on the perceived benefits.

      One wonders however what if the AI bubble bursts before Europe really starts to implement the policies? They might come out ahead in many ways.

      • Given the usual inertia behind the EU decisions, the policies will be implemented anyway.

        • Most EU decisions die on the table even when "implemented". That's one of the downsides of a system that relies on implementation among all member states, three of which seemingly wish they could be part of the USSR instead of the EU.

          • Everyone dies one day. And the main thing about a personalist dictatorship is that when the dictator croaks the whole system usually follows unless the dictator manages to install their child as the successor.
            Besides, these three stooges don't want to be a part of any multinational union since that would seriously limit their power.

    • For whatever reason, some EU politicians think that enshittifying the union's principles and law frameworks will help the EU regain competitiveness. Fat chance.

      The EU politicians are no different than those of any other country. If they get enough morons to follow them, even some true dumbfucks can get elected. We've been seeing a lot of stupid proposals come through the EU parliament since the last election turned the EU government more conservative. This is what happens when the VP of the commission gets replaced by someone from the opposite side of the political spectrum.

  • It's how we do it in America (Score:5, Insightful)

    by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Monday November 10, 2025 @08:31PM (#65787092)
    You don't just take away privacy or decent wages or job security or healthcare all at once. You got to boil that frog.

    Here in America it took us 65 years. This whole mess we're in started when Barry Goldwater lost. The corporate wing of the Republican party formed in alliance with the racists and the religious extremists. We were explicitly warned about it but we ignored the warnings.

    • Is collapsing. Collapsing before our eyes. But nobody at all notice but me because people can't see clearly because people are unable of critical thinking. It's like how we blame cell phones on everything wrong with kids and not the ludicrous amounts of pressure we're putting on them because we know the entire economy and job market is collapsing and there aren't going to be enough jobs available for the number of people capable of working them so we're all hoping our kid is going to get the edge and be all

    • You don't just take away privacy or decent wages or job security or healthcare all at once. You got to boil that frog.

      Here in America it took us 65 years. This whole mess we're in started when Barry Goldwater lost. The corporate wing of the Republican party formed in alliance with the racists and the religious extremists. We were explicitly warned about it but we ignored the warnings.

      That's one narrative you can tell. Another would be that the Republican party really only thrives when their candidates are brazenly corrupt and immoral. There's a fundamental dishonesty to candidates like Goldwater, Ford, Bush Sr., Dole, McCain, and Romney, who feel duty-bound to pretend to be moral while pushing the same aristocratic bullshit as Nixon, Reagan, Bush Jr., and Trump. I would argue that the latter were much more successful because of their shamelessness.

      Constantly morphing coalitions consisti

  • After their last massive assault on privacy and freedom many years ago, the totalitarian-autocrats in Bxl have understood very well how to boil that specific frog: thin salami slice tactics but relentlessly widening their grip and destroying privacy piece by thinly-sliced piece, working towards a singular, oppressive and totalitarian goal to the point even that Russia and China become jealous.
    And somehow, nobody stops or opposes them, not in any meaningful way.. because every thin slice seems too small, too

  • Case law is the history of decisions made by judges as they interpret and apply the law. They are subservient to the law, not its equal or superior. If the legislature changes the law, it is not openly disregarding the past decisions of judges (though it may overturn them from a position of greater authority), it is changing that which they will expound upon going forward.
  • Big Tech lined some politicians pockets heavily to get this introduced.

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