The U.S. and the European Union reached a preliminary deal to allow data about Europeans to be stored on U.S. soil, heading off a growing threat to thousands of companies' trans-Atlantic operations.

The European Commission has already issued (and is working on) several documents that set the stage for data policies, from the basic General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) specifically looking at Personal Data, to the Data Governance Act (DGA), to the definition of European Data Spaces (Gaia-X) and the European Digital Identity Wallets (eIDAS 2.0). The EU is now starting to work on Personal Digital Twins governance as a way to protect the individual (privacy) and the whole society in accordance with western values of societal wellbeing.

The European Union agreed on Thursday to one of the world's most far-reaching laws to address the power of the biggest tech companies, potentially reshaping app stores, online advertising, e-commerce, messaging services and other everyday digital tools.

In 2021 the European Commission announced the European digital identity wallet. This article explains the basic concepts, highlights the significance of this development and provides an overview of the status quo.

The Declaration on European Digital Rights and Principles proposed by the Commission does not do enough for shaping the European online ecosystem as a digital public space, and not just a market. The "Digital Public Space" principle should be expanded upon to secure a stronger focus on societal objectives and collective rights.

The EU Commission published the long-awaited Data Act on February 23, 2022. This is a progressive legislative proposal to increase access to data for the users of connected products suchs as Iot devices and related services. It is a significant move towards realising the MyData principle of portability, access, and re-use as well as the principle of interoperability. It will potentially also move the needle towards the shift from formal to actionable rights in terms of the right of data portability. With such a progressive agenda, the proposal will certainly also face significant opposition and counter-lobbying from those who stand to benefit from the status quo.

MyData Global is supportive of the Data Act proposal as a whole. And even in a good proposal, there is always room for some improvements, and here are our top picks to make the Data Act live up to its potential to create more human-centric, fair, sustainable, and prosperous digital societies for Europe and beyond

Meta states in an SEC filing it is considering leaving Europe if it can no longer exchange data from European users with the United States, following the Schrems II decision. It's customary for regulatory filings to preemptively declare a wide variety of possible future hazards, and in that spirit a recently-filed Meta financial statement cites a ruling by the EU's Court of Justice (in July of 2020) voiding a U.S. law called the Privacy Shield (which Meta calls one legal basis for its current dara-transferring practices).

In the meantime Meta writes that it does not plan to withdraw from Europe.

The Data Act is horizontal legislation for non-personal data that the European Commission plans to present on 23 February. The new rules will apply to the manufacturers of connected products, digital service providers and users in the EU.

In 2021, the European Commission presented a vision and avenues for Europe’s digital transformation by 2030. The Commission proposes a Digital Compass for the EU's digital decade that evolves around four cardinal points: Skills, Infrastructure, Business, and Government.

Meta Platforms' WhatsApp was given a month to answer European Union concerns over new terms and services that sparked outrage among consumers and privacy campaigners: WhatsApp must provide "concrete commitments" to address EU concerns about a possible lack of "sufficiently clear information" to users, or the exchange of user data between WhatsApp and third parties, the European Commission said Thursday. "WhatsApp must ensure that users understand what they agree to and how their personal data is used," EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders said in a statement.

The draft declaration on digital rights and principles aims to give everyone a clear reference point about the kind of digital transformation Europe promotes and defends. It will also provide a guide for policy makers and companies when dealing with new technologies. The rights and freedoms enshrined in the EU's legal framework, and the European values expressed by the principles, should be respected online as they are offline. Once jointly endorsed, the Declaration will also define the approach to the digital transformation which the EU will promote throughout the world.

Europe’s digital transformation of the economy and society is framed by the European strategy for data through the establishment of a common European data space based on domain-specific data spaces in strategic sectors such as environment, agriculture, industry, health and transportation. Acknowledging the key role that emerging technologies and innovative approaches for data sharing and use can play to make European data spaces a reality, this document presents a set of experiments that explore emerging technologies and tools for data-driven innovation, and also deepen in the socio-technical factors and forces that occur in data-driven innovation. Experimental results shed some light in terms of lessons learned and practical recommendations towards the establishment of European data spaces.

EU police body accused of unlawfully holding information and aspiring to become an NSA-style mass surveillance agency.

Also to be remembered with eIDAS, it’s not only about electronic identification, but heavily on digital signing. A good analysis including ‘failures’, derogations and national deviations is available here.

Despite the European Union's highest court twice declaring that the United States does not offer sufficient protection for Europeans' data from American national security agencies, the social media giant's lawyers continue to disagree, according to internal documents seen by POLITICO. Their conclusion that the U.S. is safe for EU data is part of Facebook's legal argument for it to be able to continue shipping data across the Atlantic.

Unlocking the potential of mobility data is essential to accelerating the transition towards more sustainable and smarter mobility. Building a common European data space for mobility will facilitate access, pooling and sharing of transport and mobility data, building on existing and future initiatives.

The European Commission published three work programmes (WPs) for the Digital Europe Programme:

• Main DEP WP for 2021-2022
  
• [WP on Cybersecurity for 2021-2022}(https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/digital-europe-programmes-multiannual-work-programme-cybersecurity-2021-2022)
  
• WP on Digital Innovation Hubs for 2021-2023

The TEHDAS (Towards European Health Data Space) project develops joint European principles for the secondary use of health data. The work involves 25 countries and you can find project results here.

The European Union (EU) is a global regulatory powerhouse in the data rights space, with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) being the most well known example. The upcoming Data Governance Act may be the next globally influential, data-related regulation benefiting citizens at home and abroad. In this blog, MyData Chair, Antti “Jogi” Poikola explains the EU Data Governance Act and how it supports achieving the goals in the MyData Declaration.
As a reference here the original commission proposal (from Nov 25, 2020), the parliament proposal (from July 2021), and the current council proposal (from Sep 24, 2021).

The global battle for control of the digital economy is typically portrayed as one fought by only two titans: US and China, but that does not mean that the EU has been standing still. As this briefing documents, the EU has been making strong efforts to catch up using trade negotiations and trade rules to assert its own interests. In the process, the EU is trying to climb up on the backs of the developing countries, undermining the chance for all to equitably share in the benefits of technological development.

The Commission proposes today new rules and actions aiming to turn Europe into the global hub for trustworthy Artificial Intelligence (AI). The combination of the first-ever legal framework on AI and a new Coordinated Plan with Member States will guarantee the safety and fundamental rights of people and businesses, while strengthening AI uptake, investment and innovation across the EU. New rules on Machinery will complement this approach by adapting safety rules to increase users' trust in the new, versatile generation of products.

Today, the Commission proposed a Path to the Digital Decade, a concrete plan to achieve the digital transformation of our society and economy by 2030. The proposed Path to the Digital Decade will translate the EUʼs digital ambitions for 2030 into a concrete delivery mechanism. It will set up a governance framework based on an annual cooperation mechanism with Member States to reach the 2030 Digital Decade targets at Union level in the areas of digital skills, digital infrastructures, digitalisation of businesses and public services. It also aims to identify and implement large-scale digital projects involving the Commission and the Member States.

The legislative proposal that will define data governance rules for industrial data across the EU received the green light in the relevant European Parliament committee on Friday (16 July).
Read the European Parliaments press release and get the current version of the Data Governance Act here.

The European Parliament approved the ePrivacy Derogation, allowing providers of e-mail and messaging services to automatically search all personal messages containing material depicting child sex abuse and report suspected cases to the police. The European Pirates Delegation in the Greens/EFA group strongly condemns this automated mass surveillance, which effectively means the end of privacy in digital correspondence. Pirate Party MEPs plan to take legal action. Patrick Breyer (German Pirate Party Member of the European Parliament): “This harms children rather than protecting them”

Europe's tech chief Margrethe Vestager on Friday warned iPhone maker Apple against using privacy and security concerns to fend off competition on its App Store, reasons CEO Tim Cook gave for not allowing users to install software from outside the Store.

Two of the European Union’s leading independent data protection watchdogs, the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) and the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), are jointly calling for a widespread ban on the use of AI-driven biometric identification in public places. More than just a facial recognition ban, the proposal calls for automated systems recognizing “gait, fingerprints, DNA, voice, keystrokes and other biometric or behavioral signals” to be kept out of all of the EU’s publicly accessible spaces.

A new study commissioned by DIGITALEUROPE and conducted by Frontier Economics shows that our policy decisions on international data transfers now will have significant effects on growth and jobs across the whole European economy by 2030, impacting Europe’s Digital Decade goals: The EU can be €2 trillion better off by 2030 if we secure cross-border data transfers.

The article discusses the technical requirements needed to protect our personal data and to ensure a safer digital world. It presents solutions for creating an open and secure IT infrastructure where data privacy can always be guaranteed.

The European Digital Identity will be available to EU citizens, residents, and businesses who want to identify themselves or provide confirmation of certain personal information. It can be used for both online and offline public and private services across the EU. Every EU citizen and resident in the Union will be able to use a personal digital wallet.

Today, the EU Digital COVID Certificate has reached another important milestone with the go-live of the technical system at EU level, which allows to verify certificates in a secure and privacy-friendly way. The EU certificate was proposed by the Commission to resume safe travelling this summer. It will be free of charge, secure and accessible to all. Available in digital format or on paper, it will be a proof that a person has been vaccinated against COVID-19, tested negative, or recovered from an infection.

We are keen to share our thoughts on how the Data Governance Act (DGA) can help to advance Europe’s digital economy in practice. Therefore, we organised a live webinar on 25 May 2021.

The Irish DPC (Data Protection Commissioner) acknowledges in Irish Parliament hearing it "handles" GDPR complaints by not deciding about them, in violation of EU law.

The long-standing miracle of "self-resolving" GDPR complaints was then lifted by Helen Dixon: The DPC simply interprets the word "handle" to mean that the DPC can also simply dispose of complaints on the fundamental right to privacy. She openly argued “In fact, there is no obligation on the DPC under the 2018 Act to produce a decision in the case of any complaint.”

Discussions amongst EU member states on how to approach plans for digital vaccination certificates are taking place in a new "ad-hoc working group", a format that is not likely to foster transparency - particularly given that the group has said it will not be keeping "minutes as such".

Electronic Identification and Trust Services for Children in Europe. Creating a safer digital world for children throughout the European Union.

The use of facial recognition for surveillance, or algorithms that manipulate human behaviour, will be banned under proposed EU regulations on artificial intelligence.

Covid has given Peter Thiel’s secretive US tech company new opportunities to operate in Europe in ways some campaigners find worrying.

An EU funded 24-month project developing a service platform that lifts the barriers between different mobility solutions and ecosystems.

As the vaccination roll-out accelerates around the world, many countries are starting to think about how they can enable vaccinated citizens to travel and visit public places such as restaurants and sports stadiums. The EU has unveiled its proposed digital vaccine passport in time for the summer tourism season.
Other Vaccine Passport articles this week were:

• The “vaccine passport” zemblanity
  
• EU's proposal for "Digital green certificates"
  

In only a few months the European Commission is set to present a regulation on artificial intelligence (AI). Despite numerous statements from civil society and other actors about the dangers of applying a risk-based approach to regulating AI, the European Commission seems determined to go in this direction. The Commission already said in its 2020 White Paper on Artificial Intelligence that it wanted to apply a risk-based approach.

However, a risk-based approach to regulation is not adequate to protect human rights. Our rights are non-negotiable and they must be respected regardless of a risk level associated with external factors.

The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) and the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) published their joint opinion on the proposal of the European Parliament and of the Council on Euorpean Data Governance (Data Governance Act). In a nutshell: they don't like it. And here also a great summary of the critique points by Zohar.

On 16 July 2020, the European Court of Justice issued the Schrems II judgement with significant implications for the use of US cloud services. Customers of US cloud service providers must now themselves verify the data protection laws of the recipient country, document its risk assessment and confer with its customers. This article will explain what the Schrems II judgement entails for your business.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Monday said the EU executive would propose a digital vaccination passport later this month. Members states will then decide whether to press ahead with the scheme to allow each other to recognize citizens' proof of vaccination.

As governments roll-out mass COVID-19 vaccination programmes, debate has grown on the issue of vaccine passports and status apps.

The long-awaited report "Assessment of the EU Member States' Rules on Health Data in the Light of GDPR" has finally been published. Based on a string of workshops and consultations in the first half of 2020, the report provides a comprehensive overview of the fragmented approach on the use and re-use of health data across Member States. (also available: Country fiches for all EU member states)

Towards interconnected and human-centric data intermediaries: MyData Global response to Data Governance Act on February 8th 2021.

The proposed new EU Data Governance Act (DGA) is a positive step towards to enabling data-driven innovation. It has the potential to revolutionise data sharing between organisations to the benefit of businesses and society more generally.

It looks like big platform operators will have to give both business users and endusers the right to port their data in realtime through APIs - third parties will be also allowed to do this on behalf of (at least) business users.

With eIDAS, the EU has laid the foundations and a predictable legal framework for people, companies (in particular SMEs) and public administrations to safely access services and carry out transactions online and across border. Despite undisputed achievements, the potential of electronic identification and authentication under eIDAS remains underexploited.

Several members of the Privacy Icons Forum (PIF) participated at the session “From Strategy to Practice – Data Intermediaries in the EU” held during the MyData 2020 online Conference on December 11, 2020 and hosted by Zohar Efroni.

Electronic Frontier Foundation: The European Commission has released its public draft of the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which, along with the Digital Services Act (DSA,) represents the first major overhaul of EU Internet legislation in the 21st Century. Like the DSA, the DMA takes aim at the monopolisation of the tech sector and proposes sweeping pro-competition regulations with serious penalties for noncompliance.

GAIA-X was envisioned as data infrastructure and an open digital ecosystem “initiated by Europe, for Europe” to support the global competitiveness of European companies and in November 2020, Palantir joined GAIA-X. One might ask why a company like Palantir Technologies, founded in Silicon Valley with global headquarters in Denver, Colorado, should consider its participation in the project as important, appropriate, and consistent with the stated goals of promoting European “data sovereignty and data availability.”

Declaration signed at the ministerial meeting during the German Presidency of the Council of the European Union on 8 December 2020.

Say welcome to the EUeID - a GDPR-compliant verifiable credential of citizenship anywhere in the EU.

A new approach to data sharing outlined by the European Commission (EC) last week could accelerate smart city initiatives. Potential benefits include more advanced solutions to climate change, health and mobility challenges; better ability to port innovation between cities; and new personalised services for residents.

This article takes a look at the key takeaways from the Data Governance Act and elaborates on how a MyData operator satisfies the functional and governance needs of a transparent and trustworthy data economy.

And there are multiple statements about this Data Governance Act: Euractiva, Sitra, Brussels Morning newspaper with a statement of Teemu

The view of AccessNow (and others) on the Data Governance Act.

The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) published it's Preliminary Opinion on European Health Data Space.

The European Medicines Agency and national regulators will monitor data from a wide range of sources.

Leaked copy of the European Commission’s Data Governance Act reveals key insights into how the Commission will seek to implement its European Strategy for Data.

National apps whose backends are now linked through the gateway service are Germany’s Corona-Warn-App, the Republic of Ireland’s COVID tracker, and Italy’s Immuni app.

More than 20 experts from the MyData community compiled a collective response to the act. Many of them representing personal data intermediaries. The official publication of the European Commission proposal is expected within a few weeks.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) orders the credit reference agency Experian Limited to make fundamental changes to how it handles people’s personal data within its direct marketing services. The enforcement notice follows a two-year investigation by the ICO into how Experian, Equifax and TransUnion used personal data within their data broking businesses for direct marketing purposes.

The EU’s Digital Services Act is likely to become a battlefield for European digital policy and could be a standard-setting law for the global digital sphere.

To exploit the full potential of contact tracing and warning apps to break the chain of coronavirus infections across borders and save lives, the Commission, at the invitation by EU Member States, has set up an EU-wide system to ensure interoperability – a so-called ‘gateway'. After a successful pilot phase, the system goes live today with the first wave of national apps now linked through this service: Germany's Corona-Warn-App, Ireland's COVID tracker, and Italy's immuni. Together, these apps have been downloaded by around 30 million people, which corresponds to two-thirds of all app downloads in the EU.

In order to achieve the goals of the European data strategy it is necessary to make data sovereignty a design principle and develop a soft infrastructure for data sharing ...

Data protection as a pillar of citizens’ empowerment and the EU’s approach to the digital transition - two years of application of the General Data Protection Regulation.

The European Commission understands the key role that APIs play in the digital sphere, and it is gaining deep understanding aspects of its adoption in organizations. This JoinUp collection presents a series of outputs that investigate on these aspects.

Also check out this publication. Application Programming Interfaces in Governments: Why, what and how

A European Union privacy regulator has sent Facebook a preliminary order to suspend data transfers to the U.S. about its EU users, WSJ reported Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter, an operational and legal challenge for the company that could set a precedent for other tech giants.

The EU’s draft data strategy set out its aim to promote a European data economy, while protecting individual rights and embedding ethical considerations in data governance. Data trusts offer a tool for bridging the gap between aspirations to share data and concerns about individual rights.
And Viivi shared an article with the US view on the EU funding personal data spaces as a trust: The EU is launching a market for personal data. Here’s what that means for privacy.

The EU's Court of Justice has just invalidated the "Privacy Shield" data sharing system between the EU and the US, because of overreaching US surveillance.

Member States, with the support of the Commission, have agreed on a set of technical specifications to ensure a safe exchange of information between national contact tracing apps based on a decentralised architecture. This concerns the vast majority of tracing apps that were already – or are about to be – launched in the EU. Once the technical solution is deployed, such national apps will work seamlessly when users travel to another EU country which also follows the decentralised approach. This means an important additional step towards interoperability of mobile apps for tracing coronavirus infections, as Member States begin to lift travel restrictions across borders in time for summer vacation.

Listen to the first public conversation between Shoshana Zuboff and Margrethe Vestager about: The European way to shape the digital age and many other interesting topics.

This report by the Centre on Regulation in Europe (CERRE) provides recommendations on how to make personal data portability more effective. The authors warn that the current legal framework requires clarifications to better empower European citizens in a data-driven society.

Now is your chance to help tackle coronavirus! #EUvsVirus

European Commission and the High Representative have set out plans for a robust and targeted EU response to support partner countries' efforts in tackling the coronavirus pandemic.

Covid-19 is a game changer. Thinking about the EDPS’ strategy for the next five years, we have to look again at our text.

The European Commission is calling for startups and SMEs to apply urgently to the next round of funding from the European Innovation Council

The fourth edition of EU Datathon, the open data competition, has been launched on 19 February and you can submit your project description until March 3rd.

New proposals around data and artificial intelligence will be subject to restrictions that rivals in China and the United States do not face.

The proposal to link the EU’s facial recognition databases would likely connect them to the U.S. as well, in a massive consolidation of biometric data.

The European Commission unveiled its data strategy to make EU a global leader in AI & data economy. Notably, MyData was referenced as an example to give individuals the tools and means to decide at a granular level what is done with their data.
Teemu also compiled a list of key documents: EU Data Strategy PDF, AI White Paper PDF, MyData Notes on Data Strategy and AI, MyData Comments on Data Strategy and AI, MyData Blogpost

As we stand at the start of a new decade, and look ahead to that digital future, the one thing we can say for sure is that none of us – not even the greatest experts – knows exactly how technology is about to change our lives. That’s partly because the digital world is so innovative – and innovation is uncertain by its very nature. But it’s also because the digital future will be powerfully shaped by our own choices and actions.

A statement from the European Data Protection Supervisor (lead by Wojciech Wiewiorówski) about personal data protection and scientific research.

EU regulators must make more effort to stop tech companies from transferring data to countries with weaker data-protection standards, an advisor to the European Union’s top court said Thursday. It’s the latest in a lengthy and complex legal case involving an Austrian privacy campaigner and Facebook.

DAPSI goal is to make significantly easier for citizens to have any data which is stored with one service provider transmitted directly to another provider, addressing the challenge of personal data portability on the internet as foreseen under the GDPR.

The digital revolution is radically changing every aspect of human life in the 21st century and it’s essential that regulators address the challenges this transformation brings. The new European Commission should look beyond digital single market issues, and focus on creating new rights-based policies and regulations based on freedom, democracy, equality, and rule of law to ensure that existing offline rights are protected online.

Today, President-elect of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, revealed the list of nominated commissioners who will constitute the new College of Commissioners of the European Union for the next five years. The least we can say is that she has set the bar very high when it comes to regulating the digital economy. None less than three commissioners have been tasked with overseeing the digital economy within the European Union: Margrethe Vestager (digital watchdog), Didier Reynders (data protection commissioner), and Sylvie Goulard (promoter of the Digital Single Market)