Privacy Group Slams EU for Changing the Data Rules to Cater to AI

Arthur T Knackerbracket writes:

Schrems campaign raises specter of another legal challenge as legislators propose changes to GDPR:

The campaign group which forced the EU's highest court to strike down past US-EU data sharing deals has slammed the latest changes to European data protection laws designed to accommodate AI.

Led by Austrian lawyer Max Schrems, None of Your Business (noyb) claims the proposal to alter the data protection legislation "in the context of AI" amounts to an abandonment of data protection principles.

In September, the Commission said it would launch an "ambitious program" to strengthen the EU's competitiveness and "radically lighten the regulatory load for people, businesses and administrations." It proposed "immediate adjustments" to digital legislation to the boost competitiveness.

Earlier, the EU had proposed changes in the legislation governing the processing of personal data, governed by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

"Where the processing of personal data is necessary for the interests of the controller in the context of the development and technical operation of an AI system ... or an AI model, such processing may be pursued for legitimate interests," a briefing note said.

Noyb argues the amendments to Article 88c (original here) proposed by the European Commission (a leaked EU Council compromise draft renames it as article 88bis) would allow Big Tech to use all personal data collected over the past decades with virtually no restrictions, as long as this happens "in the context" of AI.

Schrems said: "Under these proposals, the profits of AI companies would trump Europeans' fundamental right to privacy. This is nothing but a digital expropriation of Europeans."

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