Privacy and AI fears, in EU bonfire of digital red tape

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

67% : Now is the time for real ambition and decisive action," said CCIA Europe's vice-president Daniel Friedlaender.
63% : And amid fears that protected rights are being disregarded to increase companies' profits, they also warn against 'deregulation in the name of simplification'.
59% : Their agenda involves a Berlin Digital Sovereignty Summit on 18 November, led by the two powers, bringing together public and private stakeholders.
56% : "We want an innovation-friendly rulebook: both in the way we apply the rules, and in simplifying the laws where our objectives can be reached at lower costs," said EU digital commissioner Henna Virkkunen in a press release on 16 September.
54% : "We aim for less paperwork, fewer overlaps and less complex rules for companies doing business in the EU," she said.
54% : " But big-tech lobbying is pushing politicians for simplification measures to go even further.
53% : The joint agreement also seeks steps beyond what the EU is to proposed, such as looking even deeper into GDPR to identify additional adjustments.
52% : Mistral and Black Forest Labs, along with 56 other European companies, signed an open letter calling for simplification and a pause on implementing regulations to commission president von der Leyen.
50% : "With ePrivacy dismantled, Europeans are left with nothing but the Charter to defend their right to privacy, while US tech giants enjoy a carte blanche to exploit our data for profit," German social-democrat MEP Birgit Sippel told EUobserver. Global AI race Despite the surge in tech investment in recent years, Europe still lags global giants like the US and China, which could keep the EU reliant on others to innovate.
49% : Simplification isn't inherently bad, and could streamline processes that currently overlap, but experts see a thin line between simplification and deregulation.
48% : But experts warn that merging and amending such a wide range of digital rules could reopen contentious debates on enforcement, regulatory fragmentation, AI liability, and the scope of platforms' responsibilities and capabilities.
46% : Academics from the University of Amsterdam's highlighted changes in cookie requirements as an example of questionable change, in remarks to EUobserver. "Simplification of the e-Privacy Directive rules on cookies and 'other tracking technologies' is liable to affect rules that have been providing safeguards against arbitrary or disproportionate state or commercial surveillance," said Plixavra Vogiatzoglou, a PhD candidate, studying digital sovereignty.
41% : Rewiring current regulations, "jeopardises the EU's credibility and strength in a very uncertain geopolitical landscape," said Jakubowska.
34% : "There's no doubt that this is really about deregulation," Jakubowska said to EUobserver. EDRi does not want the EU to strip protections for short-term economic gain.

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