A long stagnant bid to strengthen European Union regulations on online tracking technology and set penalties on a similar footing to Bloc’s data protection framework, GDPR, committee members after co-scholars failed to reach a plan agreement It was withdrawn by the meeting.
The original proposal to update the ePrivacy directive and turn it into a full-fledged PAN-EU regulation dates back to 2017. So writing is on the wall for quite some time. However, the effort was formally dead as of Wednesday – the committee will give a “no foreseeable agreement” to a list of legislative initiatives that have been withdrawn via the 2025 work programme.
The EU also stated, “This proposal is outdated considering recent legislation in both technology and legislative landscapes.”
As the official title of the document reads, the move to withdraw “things on “regulation proposals and respect for personal life and protection of personal data in electronic communications” is surprising given the efforts have stagnated for years. Not that. The file attracted intense lobbying from both tech giants and telcos, where businesses fall into scope.
In 2021, documents not sealed through US antitrust lawsuits include attempts to mobilize other tech giants. , suggesting that there was an attempt to participate in efforts to delay and ultimately derail reform. The 2020 Politico report, named Amazon, is also involved in efforts to undermine support among EU co-scholars for the proposal.
The advantage of the behavioral advertising business model, which relies on web user tracking and profiling to attract attention, has raised commercial stakes for reform of the EU EPRIVACY regulations.
If Congressional efforts in this direction were won, it could potentially have given them a legitimate tooth to track the path. The eprivacy regulations could have overturned the script and made online privacy more convenient for European consumers.
Still, the committee’s proposal to replace the eprivacy directive with modernized regulations has now been withdrawn, but the block’s existing eprivacy rules remain in effect. It is noteworthy that in recent years some tech giants have faced sanctions for the administration’s violations.
For example, both Google and Amazon face fines that violate the cookie consent rules. CNIL, the French data protection agency, was penalised about $120 million in December 2020 and fined about $170 million in January 2022, and agreed to drop tracking cookies. I couldn’t get it, so I attacked Google. Amazon was stabbed by CNIL at the end of 2020 with a cookie consent of about $42 million. Others facing penalties include Facebook (aka Meta) and Tiktok.
Discussing the end of the Eprivacy regulation proposal, Dr. Lukas Oreznik, an independent researcher and consultant who has been tracking policy areas for many years, told TechCrunch: Writing was on the wall long ago. This was a slow motion funeral. ”
Orezhnik believes he has been caught up in a time when the proposal to reach a compromise between legislators and the council is not likely to reach. GDPR suggests a surge in scremoning expansion of privacy rules, as BLOC passed its flagship updates to data protection rules.
“The fear of the unfair GDPR has killed it, and the current climate against hostility towards regulations is not a good time to edit data protection-related files.
Similar analysis was given to sources within the committee. “[Commissioners Viviane] Edit and [Neelie] Kroes should have done GDPR together with Eprivesy… The momentum was lost when everyone was exhausted at the end of the GDPR negotiations,” they told us on condition of anonymity.
Our sources also suggested that the original proposal was not well thought out, dubbing it as “a relic of an era when only carriers were available.” “The flaw is that telecom operators and large-scale surveillance technology are completely different animals. […] If the GDPR can’t tame a billionaire, why is there an epprivacy? The problem is the business model, market power and police efforts to kill E2EE [end-to-end encryption]. ”
So, what’s next for regulating online tracking in the EU? There could be more uncertainty and more wiggling room for the evolution of the approach that technicians claim to be sitting outside the increasingly dated Eprivacy rulebook.
“New technology will be developed and used, and we will be leaving the radar,” Oreznik said. “The GDPR can’t cover it all. There are also limitations to the need to reinterpret the old ePrivacy directive. Therefore, we should expect interpretation and guidance from the ECJ. [European Court of Justice]it would build a legal acquisition…and maybe sooner or later someone will come up with improvements. ”
TechCrunch asked the European Commission that “recent laws” protect citizen electronic communications and the privacy of spokesman Thomas Leisure and point out the Digital Services Act (DSA). In the case of minors (Article 28).
The online governance framework includes measures aimed at regulating the use of data for advertising. This prohibits the use of minors’ data to target advertising and generally prohibits the use of personal data in sensitive categories of advertising. The platform also makes it clear that you must agree to use people’s data for advertising. This is a measure that forced the meta to shift the regional model to “payment or consent.”
And the choice of meta binary in ADS faces scrutiny of regulations under the Digital Markets Act, a sister regulation of DSA. Last fall, I will pay to access ad-free versions of Facebook and Instagram of my social networks, heading for a tech giant’s offer to display “unpersonalized ads” to users who don’t agree to tracking or wishes.
Leisure also sent a statement written by the committee: Trust and security in the digital economy and society are essential for Europe to fully grasp the possibilities of the digital age. To achieve that, European laws must keep up with rapidly evolving services and ensure a high level of privacy for all electronic communications. ”
The EU added that it is “fully committed to ensuring a high level of privacy protection while promoting innovation.”
EU’s 2025 Work Plan Priorities
Meanwhile, the committee has a lot of other technology-focused legislative work to keep it busy this year after the leadership reboot. It also switches Gear to the foreground, with a clear goal of fostering economic growth through support for innovations like AI, and it aims to appear to be more closely aligned with private sector interests.
It is also included in the list of legislative proposals in which the AI liability directive aimed at updating safety regulations for EU products to cover AI and automation will be withdrawn. In this regard, the EU said, “There is no foreseeable agreement. The committee will assess whether another proposal should be submitted or whether another type of approach should be chosen.”
Meanwhile, the 2025 work programme will support startups, scale-ups and “innovative companies” and operate them with simplified rules, allowing them to simplify startups, scale-ups and “innovative companies.” It includes plans for innovation laws aimed at supporting. “28th Legal Regime” [i.e., rather than 27 different ones apiece for each EU Member State].
The committee says the reforms “hopefully simplify applicable rules and reduce the costs of failure, including related aspects of corporate law, bankruptcy, labor and tax law.”
Cloud and AI Development Acts are also planned, and the committee hopes to increase access to data to accelerate homemade AI.
There is also the AI Continent Action Plan and the application of AI strategies, dealing with efforts to marshall resources and skills under the EU’s existing AI factory scheme.
Another focus is improving biotechnology. The EU writes that “we want to use European life sciences to drive innovation to break barriers to biotechnology, pool resources and regulatory, and make the most of our data potential.
It will boost artificial intelligence and deployment. ”
Support for large-capacity digital infrastructure is also part of the plan, with the Digital Networks Act stating that the EU will “create opportunities for cross-border network operations and service delivery, increasing industry competitiveness and improving spectrum adjustments “He says.
The work programme also lists EU quantum strategies that will follow quantum action targeting the EU as a “critical” strategic sector. “This strategy will contribute to researching and developing quantum technologies and building unique capabilities to produce devices and systems based on them,” he said.
Space Act is also on the slate, with efforts to better protect submarine communications infrastructure when accidents or sabotages appear to increase the risk of local submarine cables.
When it comes to consumer protection, the EU 2025 work plan will provide thinner picking.
The committee said that the upcoming Consumer Agenda 2025-2030 “includes new action plans for consumers in the single market, ensuring a balanced approach to protecting consumers without burdening excessive companies in the deficit I will.” However, the phrase suggests that its priorities are skewed towards business interests in driving economic growth. Consumer interests are “balanced” against its comprehensive order.
On the topic of online disinformation/misinformation hot buttons, the EU repeats that the “shield of democracy” comes. The initiative “spiring to tackle the evolving nature of democracy and the threat to election processes.”
This report was updated after the committee answered our questions
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