Irish Examiner view: EU simplifies digital rules
It has been reported that the European Commission is to allow tech firms to access users’ personal data to train AI models — based on legitimate interest and without asking for consent. File picture
The EU is to take a significant step in easing restrictions on tech companies accessing the personal data of their users, a move which may be hugely beneficial for such companies’ artificial intelligence (AI) interests.
According to Reuters, the European Commission is to allow tech firms to access users’ personal data to train AI models — based on legitimate interest and without asking for consent.
Specifically, commissioner Henna Virkkunen — responsible for tech sovereignty, security and democracy — will present a 'digital omnibus' which would bypass laws ranging from AI-specific and privacy-oriented legislation to the well-known General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
These laws aim to protect the personal information of the citizens of the EU, and it is surely significant that they have been the target of criticism and pushback from tech giants such as the owners of both Google and Meta.
The Trump administration in the US has also attacked European regulations, framing its criticism around the alleged targeting of American companies.
Is it too glib to say that any regulations which are generating opposition from these quarters is inherently worthy of support?
If the ‘digital omnibus’ is adopted, Google, Meta, and OpenAI could be allowed to use European citizens' personal data to train their AI models, even though some of those companies have been fined billions of euro for data breaches in the past.
It is worth pointing out that the ‘digital omnibus’ proposals would need to be approved by EU countries before being implemented, and they are likely to be scrutinised closely by the European Parliament as well.
The proposals are already the subject of strong criticism, with an open letter from 127 civil organisations calling the proposals “the biggest rollback of digital fundamental rights in EU history”; the opposition will hardly finish there.
It is extraordinary that we have even reached this stage, however, when companies guilty of large-scale data breaches are now to be accommodated by the EU’s own legislative framework.
Irish scrutiny of the digital omnibus will need to be rigorous and uncompromising.
Jeffrey Epstein died six years ago, but the child sex trafficker continues to cast a long shadow over public life in the US and beyond.
Readers will be well aware that his long-time friend and associate Prince Andrew was stripped of his royal titles in the UK recently — while in the last week, Larry Summers, formerly Bill Clinton’s treasury secretary and president of Harvard University, has stepped back from his public roles after fresh revelations about the depth of his ties to Epstein.
Those revelations emerged last week, after a congressional oversight committee released nearly 23,000 documents relating to Epstein, some of which included correspondence with dozens of public figures such as Summers.
This week there was another twist in the Epstein saga, when both the US House of Representatives and Senate agreed on legislation ordering the US justice department to release its files on Epstein.
US president Donald Trump has said he will sign off on the legislation — to the surprise of many, given his lengthy opposition to releasing the files.
He appeared to change his stance as recently as last weekend, a change that came about as more of his Republican Party colleagues indicated they were in favour of the release.
Transparency is welcome when it comes to the litany of vile crimes and abuse committed by Epstein and his enablers.
Is there a wider political significance here to Mr Trump’s change of mind?
It was notable that some of his staunchest political supporters were vocal in calling for the release of the files — such as firebrand congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene.
When Mr Trump expressed his displeasure with her stance by calling her a “traitor” on social media, Ms Taylor Greene did not back down, stressing the strength of public interest in the files being released.
It was an unusual show of independence in a political party which generally displays slavish deference to Mr Trump.
While it may not constitute evidence of an overt rebellion of Make America Great Again adherents, Mr Trump’s acolytes learned this week that they do not always have to accept his agenda without question.
Fans who enjoyed Roy Keane’s exploits in the green of Ireland and red of Manchester United could hardly have foreseen his reinvention as a social media phenomenon, the originating point of a thousand memes, clips, and TikToks.
Still, his new status as a food influencer was surely not expected by anyone.
Recently on The Overlap’s podcast, Keane offered some boiled sweets to his colleagues, including co-host Jill Scott: “Sweets from Cork — Shandon Sweets, the best you’ll get.”
"I’ve plenty of stock, so I can just drive on into Christmas.
"We would usually be extremely busy from maybe the last week in November until about December 20, but now feels like Christmas for me with the amount of online orders coming in.”
It’s great to see a business so rooted in the community get such a boost.
But it’s hardly a surprise Shandon Sweets has been thriving for almost 100 years when you dig into a bag of their apple drops.
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