tl;dr
The EU’s “consultation season” remains well on track during lockdown, despite some delays. We are currently working on the Data Strategy and Artificial Intelligence consultations and are expecting the European Commission to open the Digital Services Act consultation by the end of May. Meanwhile, three MEPs have published their draft opinion reports on the latter.
This and previous reports on Meta-Wiki: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/EU_policy/Monitor
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Digital Services Act: The European Commission is committed to update the liability rules for digital platforms and services, with a new Digital Services Act. [1] This piece of legislation, either a Directive or a Regulation, is seen as a reform of the current E-Commerce Directive. [2]
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Consultation: Latest news from Brussels has it that the public consultation will be opened mid or end of May. We expect a longer consultation period, perhaps until after summer, because of the pandemic. As relates to content the Commission is very likely to ask about the adequacy of liability protections, binding notice-and-action procedures and the enforcement of rules including the creation of new European agency and the definition of platforms. We also expect questions on the proactivity of platforms in relation to liability. Currently platforms hosting user-generated content enjoy liability protections if they don’t actively engage with content. Which leads to a situation where they might lose protections if they actively police their sites for illicit uploads. Conversely, providing liability protections for platforms that police their user uploads may not be a desired policy goal. A double-edged sword.
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MEP Wölken (S&D DE) draft report: As part of almost any new legislative initiative by the Commission, the European Parliament works in parallel on opinion reports that serve as a first attempt to draft a position. German Social-Democrat MEP Tiemo Wölken released his draft opinion report for the Legal Affairs (JURI) committee. [3] The short text puts a strong focus on fundamental rights, calls for a binding notice-and-action system and for a European Agency to supervise platforms. Committee debates on this and other reports could happen in May, but voting can’t be expected before September, at the earliest.
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MEP Charanzová (RE CZ) draft opinion: Earlier this month the Czech Renew Europe MEP published a draft opinion of the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) committee on the JURI report (NB: Yes, almost everyone who wanted got to write a report...). [4] She argues that the main principles of the E-Commerce Directive should remain intact, namely the country of origin principle and the limited liability regime, albeit deeming it necessary to redefine who is an “active platform”. She also emphasises that the prohibition of general monitoring must remain.
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MEP Saliba (S&D MT) draft report: The actual IMCO draft report was written by newly elected Maltese Social-Democrat Alex Agius Saliba. [5] He too wants to keep the country of origin principle, like Charanzová, and also wants a European Agency to supervise, like Wölken. He calls on the Commission to define what “expeditious means”. An interesting aspect is that he coins the term “systemic platforms” - specific platforms that would endanger the internal market if they exclude new entrants - and suggest special ex-ante rules should apply to them.
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Consultation on Data Strategy: Which datasets should be considered “high-value” and thus opened? What defines a high-value dataset? Is there such a thing as “data altruism”? You can draft answers together with several of us on Meta. [6] Submission deadline is end of May.
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Consultation on AI: Several people on this list showed up and will try to draft our answers to the European Commission consultation on Artificial Intelligence. [7] The current consultation submission deadline is 14 June. We will probably have a call, it is not too late to join.
This topic is likely to remain relevant for years. Topics we need to think about include: AI & intellectual property; ethical standards in AI; data access & digital infrastructure; skills & talent, scientific research.
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Terrorist Content Regulation (TERREG):
It is official now - the trilogue negotiations are stalling. According to Netzpolitik[8], the LIBE Committee assessed that the negotiations are not feasible now for technical reasons - that is until physical convening is possible again. In the meantime the issue seems to get more attention in the press. Our Wikimedia Deutschland, together with Reporter Ohne Grenzen, the German Association of Journalists, the German Union of Journalists, and Whistleblower Network, sent an open letter to the German government[9]. The letter calls on Interior Minister Horst Seehofer and Justice Minister Christine Lambrecht to take a stronger stand for basic communication rights at European level in the context of negotiations on the EU Regulation on preventing the dissemination of terrorist content online. Also EDRi published a great analysis of the regulation proposal in Euractiv[10]. As the issue is not debated nearly enough, the time gained should be used for a public debate over this legislation.
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Calling Croatia: There is a public consultation on copyright reform (implementing the CDSM Directive) in Croatia until 17 May and we would like to participate. But we lack Wikimedians from Croatia. If you know someone who might be interested in this, please ping us! :)
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[1] https://ec.europa.eu/commission/sites/beta-political/files/political-guideli...
[2]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_Commerce_Directive_2000
[3]https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/JURI-PR-650529_EN.pdf
[4]https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/IMCO-PA-648645_EN.pdf
[5]https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/IMCO-PR-648474_EN.pdf
[6] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/EU_policy/Consultation_on_a_European_Strateg...
[7] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/EU_policy/Consultation_on_the_White_Paper_on...)
[8]https://netzpolitik.org/2020/uploadfilter-gehen-immer/
[9] https://www.wikimedia.de/presse/offener-brief-zu-eu-massnahmen-gegen-terrori...
[10] https://www.euractiv.com/section/digital/opinion/blind-faith-in-technology-d...
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