Europe doesn't appear to be looking into communication companies' ties with Russia beyond sanctioning Russia Today and Sputnik, stakeholders said.
Dugie Standeford
Dugie Standeford, European Correspondent, Communications Daily and Privacy Daily, is a former lawyer. She joined Warren Communications News in 2000 to report on internet policy and regulation. In 2003 she moved to the U.K. and since then has covered European telecommunications issues. She previously covered the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration and intellectual property law matters. She has a degree in psychology from Duke University and a law degree from the University of Tulsa College of Law.
Ukraine's information technology sector is functioning normally despite the war, said panelists Tuesday on a DigitalEurope webinar. It may be the only expert sector in the country that continues to work, said IT Ukraine Association Executive Director Konstantin Vasyuk. Internet coverage is generally good, he said. About 2% of IT workers, those with military experience, have joined in defending against the Russian invasion, and companies respect that choice and are holding their jobs open. Others are staying put, and companies have moved them to safe locations in European countries, Ukraine or the U.S. Women, who make up 26% of the IT workforce, can transfer to Europe, while men must remain in-country. Vasyuk urged clients to support the sector by maintaining their contracts and considering new ones. Asked where the IT industry might be in 10 years, he said if Ukraine survives, its existing IT work in the global market will continue. Ukraine Avenga Managing Director Marta Romaniak said the war didn't catch her company unprepared: It transferred data and infrastructure to safe places such as the U.S. and relocated 300 female staffers and spouses of male IT workers. The firm's human resources department calls employees daily to check on them and ask if they need help. Avenga hasn't lost any clients. Grid Dynamics has moved 95%-97% of its workers to western parts of Ukraine and is shifting women and families to its offices in Poland, Moldova, Serbia, the Netherlands, Germany and elsewhere, said Senior Director Igor Tkach. In addition to continuing business support from clients, the sector needs informational support: He urged everyone to spread the word about what's really happening in Ukraine. Asked how the country's telecom network is holding up, Digital Europe Director-General Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl told us it's still up and running, but infrastructure in battle zones is suffering. DigitalEurope is trying to bring components from Europe needed to keep the networks open, and is also helping with ICT and humanitarian initiatives. In February, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a law establishing the National Commission for State Regulation of Electronic Communications, Radio Frequency Spectrum and Provision of Postal Services. Earlier this month, mobile operators Kyivstar, Vodafone Ukraine and lifecell, plus the newly created telecom regulator, government, state information protection services and the Ukrainian Association of Telecom Operators, reportedly launched a national roaming pilot to ensure continuity of communications services.
As ICANN continues to struggle with combating domain name system (DNS) abuse, it should distinguish between maliciously registered and legitimate but compromised domain names, stakeholders said Wednesday at this week's ICANN virtual meeting from San Juan, Puerto Rico. Representatives from the Registries Stakeholder Group, Registrar Stakeholder Group, Governmental Advisory Committee, Intellectual Property Constituency and Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC) also agreed that coming up with a process for dealing with compromised domains is probably harder than doing so for maliciously registered names. ICANN can play a key role, but the issues go far beyond the internet body, they said.
European operators are barred from broadcasting Russian state-sponsored media outlets Russia Today and Sputnik, effective immediately, the European Council said Wednesday. Officials adopted a regulation Tuesday prohibiting operators from broadcasting, facilitating or otherwise contributing to broadcast any content by the listed organizations, "including through transmission or distribution by any means such as cable, IP-TV, internet service providers, internet video-sharing platforms or applications, whether new or pre-installed." Meanwhile, Ukraine pressed ICANN to close down Russian top-level domains (TLDs).
Pressure is growing to revise the EU general data protection regulation as it nears its fourth anniversary, stakeholders told us. A June 16-17 European Data Protection Supervisor conference will examine "constructive improvements that exist within the current framework, but also alternative models of enforcement of the GDPR, including a more centralized approach." Technology sector stakeholders, European publishers, digital rights activists and others want changes. The U.K., no longer part of the EU, is debating how to create its own data protection regime.
The proposed EU Chips Act will boost European digital sovereignty and technological leadership, the European Commission said Tuesday. It announced several measures to ensure a secure, resilient supply of semiconductors for the digital and green transition. Chip shortages forced factory closures in many sectors, and made "more evident the extreme global dependency of the semiconductor value chain on a very limited number of actors in a complex geopolitical context," it said. The legislation will make more than 43 billion euros ($49 billion) in public and private investment available and create mechanisms to prevent, anticipate and respond quickly to future supply chain disruptions. The EU wants to double its market share of chips to 20% in 2030. The Chips for Europe Initiative will pool resources from EU members, the EU, third countries and the private sector to boost research, development and deployment of advanced semiconductor tools. A new framework will ensure supply security and more funding for startups. Under a "coordination mechanism," governments and the EC will monitor the supply of semiconductors to estimate demand and anticipate shortages, and keep track of the value chain to chart weakness and bottlenecks. The EC proposed allowing that coordination between member countries and the EC to start immediately. European Parliament Internal Market Committee Chair Anna Cavazzini, of the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance and Germany, welcomed the legislation but said it "falls short in addressing the need for circular economy by design, the reuse of chips and its raw materials" to meet the EU Green Deal's goals with diverse and short supply chains. The proposals need parliament and the EU Council approval.
Europe must boost its world-leading role in telecom and technical standard-setting by addressing the growing challenge from China, the U.S. and other non-European players, Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton said at a Wednesday briefing. The European Commission unveiled a standardization strategy and proposed changes to the regulation. The approach "aims to strengthen the EU's global competitiveness, to enable a resilient, green and digital economy and to enshrine democratic values in technology applications." EU wants to ensure its leadership in several areas, including semiconductors, and to create a Europe more open to new opportunities, Breton said. Some standards bodies, such as the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), European Committee for Standardization (CEN) and European Electrotechnical Committee for Standardization (CENELEC), have "European" in their names, but large numbers of non-European groups with voting rights unduly influenced their work, he said. The new strategy will ensure that standards meet EU needs and political strategies, and will focus on how standards bodies are governed. It will examine Europe's global leadership in international standards organizations such as ITU, and it calls for more attention to research and innovation and on encouraging skills to attract people to the field. Asked for an example of where standards were defined under pressure from non-European players, Breton cited a 2020 ETSI proposal, nixed by U.S. and Chinese companies, to set standards to ensure the compatibility of smartphones in Europe with the Galileo global navigation satellite system. Breton stressed the EU standards and rules in place for different sectors won't change but will become more visible. The problem isn't that European enterprises haven't been innovative enough, it's that "we've been too naive": Europe has always had an open standards-setting process under the belief that openness would entice companies to set up in Europe. However, he said, "we can't be open at any price." Europe needs faster approval for new standards, more inclusiveness and a clearer definition of the EC's role in the industry-led standardization process, said European Parliament Internal Market Committee Chair Anna Cavazzini, of the Greens/European Free Alliance and Germany. CEN and CENELEC cheered the strategy.
WhatsApp must clarify 2021 changes to its privacy policy and terms of service to ensure they comply with EU consumer protection law, the European Commission said Thursday. After an alert by the European Consumer Organisation (BEUC), the EC and EU Consumer Protection Cooperation Network of regulatory authorities notified the company it must explain how it complies with the law. Officials questioned whether consumers are given sufficiently clear information on their decision to accept or reject the new terms of service; whether WhatApp's in-app notifications prompting consumers to accept the terms and policy are fair; and whether consumers have an adequate chance to learn about the new terms before accepting them. They're concerned about exchange of users' personal data between WhatsApp and third parties or other Facebook/Meta companies. The platform has until Feb. 28 to explain how it will address the issues. WhatsApp "bombarded users for months with persistent pop-up messages" and was "deliberately vague" about what they were being pushed to accept, said BEUC Deputy Director General Ursula Pachl. WhatsApp looks forward to explaining to the EC how it protects users' privacy in compliance with EU law, said a spokesperson. He noted that, at the direction of the Irish Data Protection Commission, the company reorganized and added more detail to its European region privacy policy in November, several months after BEUC's July action.
The European Parliament wants tougher controls on online profiling and targeting, it said Thursday, approving its negotiating position on the Digital Services Act. The DSA proposal contains measures to tackle illegal content and requirements for very large platforms to prevent abuse of their systems (see 2012150022). Lawmakers changed the original European Commission proposal, including bans on targeting the data of minors to show them advertisements, and on profiling people on the basis of special categories of data that allow vulnerable groups to be targeted. Lawmakers wanted more transparent and informed choice on targeted ads, saying refusing consent to such marketing shouldn't be harder or more time-consuming than giving it. They said online platforms shouldn't be able to use deceiving or nudging techniques to influence user behavior through "dark patterns." The vote paves the way for "trilogue" talks with EU governments, which approved their negotiating stance in November (see 2111260016), and the EC. The parliamentary version got guarded support from some groups. "Parliament has done a mixed job," said the European Consumer Organisation: It failed to create a "clear liability regime" for online marketplaces to ensure consumers are protected and compensated if they're harmed by illegal practices on platforms; and it should have supported a full ban on surveillance ads. The Computer & Communications Industry Association urged negotiators to "consider the impact of proposed new obligations such as restrictions to personalized ads, broad 'know-your-business-consumer' obligations, user redress, and data disclosure to law enforcement and researchers." European Digital Rights said banning surveillance ads altogether "would have been a more effective strategy," but nixing the use of sensitive data and outlawing dark patterns "is certainly the next-best thing." EDRi criticized lawmakers for refusing to give users the right to choose the ranking and recommendation algorithms they prefer. The Information Technology Industry Council welcomed the decision to maintain the EU e-commerce directive's limited liability rules for online intermediaries, saying policymakers should stay focused on the measure's original intent of creating a level playing field for businesses with proportionate rules on removing illegal online content: Issue-specific provisions such as the ban on dark patterns and regulating targeted ads "are missing nuances regarding the technicality and feasibility of these issues." Asked which provisions are likely to be controversial, a spokesperson from the lead Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee said that's for the rapporteur to announce in coming days, since determining the sticking points is strategic for the negotiation.
The U.S. and EU treat Big Tech and China differently in the debate on data flows, speakers said at a virtual Progressive Policy Institute event Wednesday. From a privacy and diplomacy standpoint, Europe has painted itself into a corner, said European Centre for International Political Economy Director Hosuk Lee-Makiyama: It addressed U.S. platforms while ignoring that many people use TikTok, Zoom and similar companies, and that some personal data is going to China. While the EU and U.S. squabble, they're losing ground for future economic competitiveness, said Kristian Stout, International Center for Law & Economics innovation policy director. When the scale of NSA's Prism data collection was revealed, Europe and the U.S. demanded negotiations to scale back the practice (see 1307080059), said Lee-Makiyama: But neither party sought relief when China enacted its privacy law, so does that mean they trust President Xi Jinping? It's also inexplicable that Max Schrems has brought around 100 lawsuits, mostly against Google and Facebook, but has never sued any Chinese entity subject to that country's national security law, Lee-Makiyama said. Since the European Court of Justice struck down transfer mechanism Privacy Shield in Schrems II (see 2009100001), there's concern not only about a replacement but also about whether an alternative mechanism, standard contractual clauses (SCCs), will also be invalidated, said PPI Chief Economist Michael Mandel. The parties are essentially friendly trade partners, but the sticky question is where the EU is willing to give ground and whether the U.S. is likely to change its national security apparatus, said Stout. He said he's optimistic the EU will give some ground based on its trade commitments, because under EU law, privacy can't entirely trump national security. And if Europe has to give something, so does the U.S., he said: Overbroad surveillance data collection processes could be changed to enable the EU to grant an adequacy ruling; the lack of redress by European citizens for data misuse could come through proportional analyses in lawsuits that show that China, EU countries and other governments also engage in U.S.-like surveillance. If SCCs are invalided and there's no agreement on a revised PS, Lee-Makiyama said, he's pessimistic the EU general data protection regulation could be reversed because of its normative effect globally on cross-border data flows. The debate isn't whether there should be a GDPR, but whether it's being intertwined with trade and national security policies in a way that could lead to no trade if the discussion follows its natural conclusion, said Stout. The U.S. won't necessarily come closer to the EU position on privacy, but everyone wants a "reasonable compromise," said Lee-Makiyama.