Welcome to the European Centre for Democracy and Technology’s Technology Policy Brief. In this issue, we look at the most pressing technology and internet policy issues being debated in Europe, the US and internationally, and provide CDT’s perspective on the implications for digital rights. To sign up for CDT Europe’s AI newsletter, please visit our website. Please feel free to contact our team in Brussels (Silvia Lorenzo Perez, Laura Lazaro Cabrera, Aimée Duprat-Macabies, David Klotsonis):
CDT Europe Appoints Digital Rights Leader Asha Allen as Director and Executive Director
Photo by Asha Allen, Executive Director of CDT Europe.
We are pleased to announce the appointment of Asha Allen as our new Executive Director and Director. Previously Deputy Director for CDT Europe and Programme Director for Online Expression and Civic Spaces, Asha Allen is a leading expert on digital rights and has extensive experience in human rights and digital policy. For three years Allen led the CDT’s work on the Digital Services Act and the European Democracy Action Plan, building collaborative civil society engagement in such debates.
With over 12 years of experience across business, law and civil society, Allen has dedicated her career to promoting human rights in EU and international technology policy. Prior to joining CDT, she led advocacy on gender equality and digitalisation at Europe’s largest women’s rights organisation, published several analyses for organisations such as the OSCE and the Council of Europe, and managed international projects in collaboration with UN Women.
“I am delighted that Asha will be leading the important work of CDT Europe at a pivotal time for the future of technology and human rights,” commented Peter Hastings, former European Data Protection Supervisor and Chairman of the Board of Directors of CDT Europe.
“Asha is an experienced and strategic advocate who has played a leading role in strengthening the voice of civil society in EU policy debates. Asha’s expertise on fundamental rights and technology policy is unmatched,” said Alexandra Reeve-Givens, president and CEO of CDT Global.
👁️ Security, Surveillance, and Human Rights
In June, the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union made a final effort to find common ground on regulating child sexual abuse material (CSAM) before the end of its term. The new approach proposed by the Belgian Presidency in March sought to overcome many of the proposal’s problems, particularly around the disproportionate impact of content detection mandates and the unreliability of the detection technology they rely on.
The latest text calls for classifying services based on risk, with content detection orders only applying to services classified as high risk. End-to-end encrypted services remain within its scope, and it mandates “upload moderation” (a form of client-side scanning) to scan images and videos before they are encrypted and transmitted, and requires users to consent to upload moderation in order to access certain services.
CDT Europe has been proactive in pointing out that this new approach is inconsistent with EU law and relevant case law. In widely publicized briefings, we expressed serious concerns about the Presidency’s proposal. Just days before the final vote on 20 June in the Committee of Permanent Representations, responsible for preparing the Council meetings at ministerial level, CDT Europe sounded the alarm about the risks of going ahead with this approach. We called on the Council to reject this proposal and return to the negotiating table to reach a more balanced position under the auspices of the Hungarian Presidency. CDT Global has also signed a statement by the Global Crypto Coalition calling for the proposal to be rejected.
Following overwhelming criticism from the public, including privacy advocate Edward Snowden, and protests calling for the proposal to be rejected, the Belgian presidency was unable to muster the necessary support from member states and decided to suspend the vote.
The incoming Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union has announced its intention to resume work on this file as soon as possible, with the aim of adopting a common approach by the end of its term in December 2024. CDT Europe has joined EDRi and 46 civil society organisations in calling on the new Presidency to withdraw the proposed CSA Regulation. We will continue to monitor the negotiations and offer our expertise to all parties in order to reach a compromise that properly respects everyone’s fundamental rights online.
Recommended reading: The Guardian published an interview with Signal president Meredith Whittaker about encryption regulation, titled “‘Mass surveillance can never be private’: Signal president criticizes government move to gut encryption.”
💬 Online expression and civic space
In June, the European Council announced that the EU had opened accession negotiations with Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova, meaning that both countries must work to transpose EU laws such as the Digital Services Act (DSA) into their national laws.
In this context, and ahead of the UNESCO-sponsored International Conference on Digital Platform Governance, which was also attended by representatives of the candidate countries, CDT Europe hosted two expert study groups at its Brussels office, bringing together government, media and civil society representatives from Georgia, Armenia, Moldova and Ukraine. The groups traveled to Brussels to meet with the European External Action Service’s Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology, as well as selected civil society organizations, to learn more about the complexities of digital regulation in the EU.
Pictured here is Policy Research Officer David Klotsonis explaining CDT Europe’s work.
David Krotsonis, Policy and Research Officer, introduced CDT Europe’s mission and activities and provided an update on the role of civil society in EU platform regulation and digital policy. This was a great opportunity to learn about the challenges these countries face with regards to the DSA transition, in particular the complexities of fighting legal and illegal disinformation, and providing resources to under-resourced national regulators.
CDT Europe also participated in a multi-stakeholder event hosted by the Global Network Initiative and the Digital Trust and Safety Partnership (DTSP) bringing together business and civil society on the DSA’s risk assessment and risk mitigation provisions. The two-day in-depth workshop focused on past and ongoing risk assessments. The event was an important step in the right direction towards strengthening civil society engagement as mandated by the DSA.
Recommended reading: The article The promises and perils of human rights in governing digital platforms: an introduction to the symposium. This is part of a symposium on the promises and perils of human rights in governing digital platforms.
⚖️ Fairness and Data
Ahead of the Artificial Intelligence Law’s publication in the Official Journal of the European Union in July 2024 and its entry into force in early August, CDT Europe hosted a closed civil society workshop on June 18 to discuss advancing fundamental rights in the implementation of the AI Law. Representatives from leading civil society organizations came together to discuss opportunities and strategic approaches to ensure that human rights remain at the forefront of the implementation roadmap.
Civil society workshop participants presenting their findings during the final session.
Moderated by Laura Lázaro Cabrera, General Counsel and Program Director for Fairness and Data at CDT Europe, the event provided in-depth discussions on lessons learned from AI law negotiations, the political landscape following the EU elections, the regulatory ecosystem surrounding AI law, key areas for leveraging fundamental human rights expertise, and key milestones and opportunities for civil society oversight and engagement. Participants identified and discussed key areas going forward, including prohibited AI systems, high-risk AI systems, fundamental human rights impact assessments, and future codes of conduct for general-purpose AI models.
Laura also participated in a panel event for local decision-makers, discussing the legal impact of artificial intelligence law on cities, regions and communities. The event was organized by Living-in.EU, an EU initiative investigating the use of technology by towns, cities and regions. Laura focused on the role of local governments in classifying AI law and elaborated on the obligations placed on both providers and adopters of high-risk AI systems. Noting that local governments are likely, but not necessarily, to fall into the adopter category, Laura highlighted the key obligations applicable to local governments, in particular the importance of conducting fundamental rights impact assessments before introducing high-risk AI systems, documenting foreseeable risks and harms, possible impacts on people and communities, and the internal governance measures taken to address them.
Overall, public authorities considering deploying AI should ensure they have a robust infrastructure in place to address the requirements of the law, including ensuring adequate human oversight of AI systems prior to deployment and effective mechanisms for receiving and responding to complaints and individual requests for information relating to deployed high-risk AI systems.
Recommended reading: MLex journalist Luca Bertuzzi’s analysis of the AI Liability Directive, “OpenAI, Meta and Anthropic could face civil liability in the EU for their AI models.”
🗞️ Press Corner
Contexte Media reported on our briefing on the CSAM bill and mentioned our joint letter with EDRi calling for the proposal to be withdrawn. MLex quoted Silvia Lorenzo Perez of CDT Europe (paid) about the Belgian Presidency’s latest proposals on the CSAM bill: “It is clear that the language changes introduced by the Belgian Presidency are not enough to protect encryption in the way France intends. Article 1.5, when read together with Article 10a, essentially means that the majority of detection orders will weaken or circumvent encryption.” Politico’s EU Influence newsletter mentioned the appointment of Asha Allen as Director and Executive Secretary of CDT Europe.
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