Andrei Cazacu

Get ready for the Wallets. Now it is official from the vote we had on the 21th of Nov. Commission adopts technical standards for cross-border European Digital Identity Wallets Today, the Commission adopted rules for the core functionalities and certification of the European Digital Identity (eID) Wallets under the European Digital Identity Framework. This is a major step towards Member States building their own wallets and releasing them by the end of 2026. Four implementing regulations set out uniform standards, specifications, and procedures for the technical functionalities of the wallets, such as data formats required for the cross-border use of digital documents and measures to ensure the reliability and security of the wallets. Setting uniform standards and specifications will allow each Member State to develop wallets in a way that is interoperable and accepted across the EU, while protecting personal data and privacy. Data is stored locally on the wallet, with users have control over what information they share, with zero tracking or profiling in the design of wallets. A privacy dashboard will also be built in, giving complete transparency on how and with whom information from the wallet is shared. The fifth implementing regulation establishes specifications and procedures to build a robust framework for the certification of the eID wallets, ensuring they are secure and protect users' privacy and personal data. European Digital Identity Wallets will offer private users and businesses a universal, trustworthy and secure way to identify themselves when accessing public and private services across borders. Examples of how digital wallets can be used include opening a bank account, proving one's age, renewing medical prescriptions, renting a car, or displaying their flight tickets. The implementing regulations will be published in the Official Journal in due course and enter into force 20 days thereafter.

100

9 Comments

Today, we're exactly 6 months away from the European Union's Digital Operational Resilience Act (#DORA) becoming applicable across the 27 EU Member States. Also today, the European Supervisory Authorities published their 2nd batch of secondary legislation under DORA (note that the Regulatory Technical Standard on subcontracting, which was also expected today, will be published "in due course"). The European Commission will now start reviewing these documents with the objective to adopt them in the next months. And because good things come in threes, another DORA-related important development this week is Salesforce's updated DORA FAQ including useful information on how financial institutions can get ready for the new law: https://lnkd.in/e2JmBY-z You can read the ESA's 2nd batch of policy documents here: https://lnkd.in/e8a8VycQ #financialservices #digitalregulation #tech #techregulation

25

I have joined a collection of civil society and other stakeholders in Europe, who have penned an open letter addressed to the incoming EU Commissioner for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, Henna Virkkunen about network fees, aka the attempt by the largest European telcos to transform the Internet into a telecoms network. This debate is a leftover from the Breton era and has been massively costly to Europe in terms of resources, both human and financial. For the past two years, an overwhelming majority of European stakeholders have spoken loud and clear that they think this is a very bad policy idea that will be to the detriment of the open Internet and will set the European single market for failure. The new Commission needs to listen to its stakeholders and not only the few voices of telco operators. https://lnkd.in/eFX2SQ2Y #networkfees #sovereignty #telcos #internet #netneutrality cc: European Commission

72

1 Comment

Most of us Europeans didn't learn anything strikingly new from last week's landmark US court decision against Google. The EU Android case, the UK CMA's multiple studies, and the work that's gone into devising the DMA's obligations, already hadn't just shed light, but also laid out actual solutions, to Google's abusive practices. The court decision is so important because it hits Google in its home market. As yesterday's Financial Times editorial puts it, the verdict will embolden judges in other cases, and will deter dominant companies from driving out competition. And I will add: it'll invigorate those in Europe that already have been taking action. The potential solutions are out there, so the piece doesn't stop here: what's at stake now is to "tackle Google's ability to protect its dominance going forward". And goes ahead outlining some of the critical remedies the market needs to let fair competition flourish. This is what the next months are about: making sure fair, sensible remedies to untangle search competition are swiftly and effectively implemented. Europe already has the tools in place, and can lead by example. https://on.ft.com/4dIAQ2h

21

10 Comments

8 months into the DMA: 📱 Most of the EU Android user base is yet to be given a choice for their search engine & browser defaults. 🚧It's still 15+ clicks to switch search default on Android, and search websites can't guide you to the setting on Chrome. 💾Discussions on sharing click-and-query data are going nowhere, because Google's proposal are projected to redact 99% from the dataset, making it useless. It's time Google gets investigated. Read more on DuckDuckGo's call today ⬇️ https://lnkd.in/ek5VjuF3

30

1 Comment

The term public digital infrastructure is being used more and more. This is particularly relevant as a favourable opinion was given on the European Digital Identity framework on the 21th of November. If followed up with adoption by the commission it would arguably oblige the states to provide their residents with a wallet free of charge by the end of 2026 as well as oblige any public services and most private services acceptance by the end of 2027. Obligations are of cause important but regardless of this we are seeing a voulentary roll out before schedule. Public infrastructure could imply a lack of business model and while this to some extent is true there are some very lucrative possibilities as well. https://lnkd.in/d4HTFq8M

32

2 Comments

👍 BIG MOMENT - #CSDDD approved in the European Parliament ✅ MEPs have just voted to formally adopt the final #CSDDD deal 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 ♻ This file was full value for money - spanning the entire 5 year Parliamentary cycle 🤝 Today ends a process that included 9 Parliamentary Committees, over 3000+ amendments, & closes almost 5 years of debate & negotiations on the #EU corporate #duediligence directive by MEPs 🙏 At this time there needs to be a special word of thanks & congratulations for MEP Lara Wolters for all her dedication & commitment on bringing us this far 👏 And a second word of thanks to MEPs Axel Voss & his colleague Greta Koch, MEP Heidi Hautala, MEP Barry Andrews among many others 🗣 CSOs had their first meetings with MEPs back in September 2019 to discuss (the at the time ludicrous ambition of) asking the European Commission to bring forward what was then called a "Sustainable Corporate Governance" initiative ✍ This led first to a European Parliament report with recommendations to the Commission on corporate #duediligence and #corporateaccountability ➡ https://lnkd.in/e9AbEKtH 📜 Then the initial Parliament position on the European Commission's proposal ➡ https://lnkd.in/eWajEf3s 🗳 And finally to today's vote right at the end of the 2019-2024 European Parliament 🗓 Next up - #EU member states set to give the ultimate sign off on 15 & 23 May 🤞

1,667

32 Comments

The European Commission is currently soliciting input on its White Paper "How to master Europe's digital infrastructure needs", which lays out the vision for the Digital Networks of the Future, referred to in the White Paper as “Connected Collaborative Computing” (“3C Networks”). What the White Paper does:   It does recognise the intricate relationship between connectivity and computing: connectivity has ensured the decentralized internet and computing has pushed connectivity to new heights (5G, 6G, satellite, fibre, etc.). It does a good job in asserting that, in order to ensure that this symbiotic relationship is healthy, three main factors should be in place: innovation; an appropriate regulatory environment; and, security. What the White Paper does not: The White Paper does not do a good job at recognising the complexity of internet infrastructure, often treating it as if it is the same as telcos' infrastructure. It also does not care about public and expert opinion and insists on network fees. This time around, it seeks to do that in a dishonest way, namely suggesting an unwarranted and unnecessary “dispute resolution mechanism” for the IP interconnection market, something that has been a part of the big European telcos wish list. And, finally, the White Paper is very much written under the notion of digital sovereignty and fails to take into consideration the conversations about connectivity that are right now taking place in the UN under the Global Digital Compact (GDC). Full submission here: https://lnkd.in/evnWp3_e #infrastructure #internet #networkfees #interconnection #telcos #fairshare #GDC

52

Some more details on the Italian Wallet as a precursor to the issuance of the European Digital Identity Wallet legally required to happen before the end of 2026. As one may see there are two steps one to be completed by the end of the year providing a limited but useful functionality and a much broader offering scheduled for 2025. This is one of the real life initiatives being executed now and we will see several other states issuing similar or more advanced precursors in early 2025. https://lnkd.in/dyWYYbKV

21

7 Comments

🏳️‍🌈 Foreign actors are exploiting sensitive topics such as multicultural integration, women’s emancipation and LGBTIQ+ rights to portray them as immoral and somehow detrimental to ‘traditional values’ in order to create social fractures and advance their geopolitical agendas through identity-based disinformation. 🎤 Today, the European External Action Service together with Global Affairs Canada | Affaires mondiales Canada hosted a conference on the very topic. More importantly, we released a practical guide on how to use OSINT to detect and analyse identity-based disinformation and FIMI. 📄 The guide serves two goals. First, it enhances the OSINT community’s capacity to recognize and investigate identity-based aspects of disinformation. Second, it provides victims of identity-based FIMI with tools to detect and document those heinous attacks. 🔗 Here’s a link to the guide itself: https://lnkd.in/ecSzX59C

66

1 Comment

“From François Bayrou to Marine Le Pen” - “In the case of the MoDem European parliamentary assistants, the Paris judicial court pronounced three acquittals on 5 February 2024, including that of François Bayrou. While we can only be pleased with the more lenient fate reserved for the MoDem parliamentarians, we must hope that the judges of the Paris judicial court will manage in 2025 to render an equally lenient judgment with regard to Marine Le Pen and the parliamentarians of the National Rally. We must be careful not to have double standards in court judgments. Especially since the voting method differs for electing deputies to the National Assembly. Indeed, the two-round single-member majority vote has been applied to legislative elections since the adoption of the Constitution of the Fifth Republic. The text was submitted to a referendum and approved by a very large majority on 28 September 1958. The same is not true for electing members of the European Parliament. They are elected using a single-round proportional list voting system. In fact, it must be recognised that parliamentary work requires more links for members of the European Parliament to have with their political party. The same goes for their parliamentary assistants.

1

Important reading:

16

Yet another state targets 2025 for Wallet rollout. This would be either a precursor to or the Wallet mandated by the European Digital Identity Framework. As noted we are seeing similar plans targeting 2025 from a lot of the states where as the legal obligation will come into force in 2026/2027. This is fundamentally caused by an increasing awareness of this not primarily being a legal obligation but a fundamental advantage to be captured by industry as well as important for digitalisation generally. We have previously seen major states move based on calculated positive impact of serval percent on the GDP. Now several percent is not small money.... https://lnkd.in/ddnNNZes

17

1 Comment

We must expand our prevention efforts to reach young people targeted by criminal organizations, through popular platforms. By intervening early and strategically, we can protect vulnerable youth, offering them pathways to resilience and opportunity rather than exploitation. #YouthProtection #Prevention #CommunitySafety Gregor Burkhart European Society for Prevention Research (EUSPR) POLITEIA project EUCPN (European Crime Prevention Network)

18

🇪🇺 European Commission Investigates Temu Under the Digital Services Act The European Commission has launched formal proceedings against Chinese e-commerce giant Temu under the Digital Services Act (DSA). The investigation will focus on potential DSA violations in key areas, including: ◎ The sale of illegal products on the platform ◎ The potentially addictive design elements of the service ◎ Recommendation algorithms driving user purchases ◎ as well as data access for researchers. #Ecommerce #DigitalServicesAct #Temu #EuropeanCommission #DigitalRegulation #TechPolicy #DataPrivacy

4

Curious about the DSA and Transparency? Tremau, in partnership with the Tech Coalition, created a guide that acts as an on-ramp for platforms to use or adapt their application of the TC’s pre-existing “Trust” Transparency Reporting Framework to meet (and go beyond) the 🇪🇺 DSA’s transparency requirements regarding OCSEA. Take a look #DSA #transparency #trustandsafety

5

The European Commission's 2024 State of the Digital Decade report, published earlier this week, reveals insufficient progress in reaching the EU's digital objectives and targets. In particular, businesses’ uptake of digital technologies remains a key challenge. #Cloud adoption has increased minimally, while there has been no noticeable improvement in #AI take-up. At the same time, the great majority of EU citizens consider that the digitalisation of daily services makes their lives easier. A large percentage also considers it important for public authorities to ensure that European companies can grow and become European Champions able to compete globally How can the situation improve? We can all agree that digitalisation can help immensely European companies to increase their global competitiveness. Still, more needs to be done to 1) increase trust in technology and 2) incentivise organisations of all sizes to invest in their digital transformation. The next European Commission and Parliament have a unique opportunity to work on policy solutions to address these two priorities. The complex regulatory environment of the EU should be streamlined and simplified so that European businesses are able to identify trusted technology solutions, as well as develop and deliver such solutions themselves. It is encouraging that the Digital Decade report emphasises the delivery of implementation and enforcement of existing legislation. The focus of the report on digital investments is equally important. For many businesses, digital transformation means a (inevitable?) leap of faith. Funding opportunities and government support geared towards adoption of digital solutions will boost adoption of new technologies helping to propel European businesses into their digital era. Lastly, maintaining an open and competitive digital market is a prerequisite for a successful digital transition. The report offers also a good summary of the key digital regulatory initiatives the EU undertook in the past five years. It would be interesting for the next edition of the Digital Decade report to take stock of the impact that regulation has had in advancing the Digital Decade targets. You can read the report and its accompanying Annexes here: https://lnkd.in/eZKUMidi #DigitalDecade #digitaltransformation #enterpriseAI #digitalskills #digitization #digitalization #EuropeanUnion #artificialintelligence

13

Election campaigns have always been battlegrounds for truth. For the 2024 wave of elections, including the European Elections in just two weeks, those responsible for distorting facts have a new tool to spread disinformation. AI can be weaponized to manipulate content or create deepfakes to deceive voters.    We cannot yet quantify the impact of deepfakes on elections, but individually and collectively we need to be ready to prevent the harm they may cause. At Microsoft we have committed to doing our part and in this new blog post, I outline what we are doing in Europe to support political parties, news organizations and voters to preserve the integrity of our democratic processes.    It is a key area we will be discussing over the coming two days at the European University Institute’s State of the Union #SOU2024 conference.     https://lnkd.in/dpibjtyB

105

1 Comment