The European Commission is preparing amendments to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to facilitate the activities of companies working in the field of artificial intelligence. The relevant initiatives will be included in the “Digital Omnibus” package, which is planned to be published on November 19. This is reported by Politico.
Despite the official wording about “technical corrections”, documents reviewed by the publication indicate large-scale changes. In particular, it is proposed to allow companies developing AI to process sensitive personal data – such as political beliefs, religious affiliation or health.
It is also planned to revise the definitions of personal and “special” categories of data, and the rules for using cookie banners want to be made more flexible so that sites can track users without having to obtain explicit consent.
Experts warn that this could be the most profound revision of the GDPR provisions since its adoption in 2016. The author of the regulation, Jan Philipp Albrecht, described the initiative as a “blow to European data protection standards”. The founder of the human rights organization Noyb, Max Schrems, said that the European Commission is “secretly bypassing the rulemaking process” and warned of potential risks to civil rights.
The proposals have already sparked controversy among EU member states. Estonia, France, Austria and Slovenia oppose the relaxation of the rules, while Germany supports the changes, considering them necessary for the development of innovation. The debate between supporters of technological progress and defenders of privacy is expected to be particularly heated in the European Parliament.
