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The Data Act – Control over your devices & your data

In recent years, we have seen an explosion in the development of “smart” and “connected” devices: from home appliances to industrial machines and medical equipment to cars. 

The EU wants us to be able to make better use of this data, which will benefit us and the economy. In my negotiations in the Legal Affairs Committee on behalf of Renew, I worked to ensure the data economy is fair, doesn’t harm businesses, puts citizens in control of their data, and prevents data abuse, be it by governments or companies.

Reacting to public emergencies

When the COVID pandemic struck in 2020, member states desperately tried to get data that would help them predict the location of the next cluster. Data from mobile phones, sewerage plants, and roads was used and helped governments respond better to the pandemic. However, this sharing was entirely voluntary, and many people asked about the impact on privacy and fundamental rights. That is why the Data Act has a chapter on how public authorities can ask companies for data in emergencies.

However, their proposal didn’t provide enough protection from abuse by governments: governments could declare an emergency and force companies to hand over personal data to citizens, with only “best efforts” to keep your identity secret. For me, it was essential to strike a proper balance: this tool wasn’t supposed to be used to snoop on citizens but rather to give public authorities general data to solve crises.

This is why I proposed amendments to solve these issues on behalf of the Renew group. After tough negotiations, we finally agreed on strong limits to what governments can request and an obligation to anonymise the sent data!

This would give governments the tools they need to address crises without giving them more powers to snoop on our private lives.

Putting citizens in control of their data

With increasingly connected devices in our homes, we believe citizens must remain in control of the data generated by devices and the data they share. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case so far: Smart fridges that will automatically order groceries but are locked to a single supermarket, smart appliances that only work with one home assistant, heating and cooling systems that won’t turn on because a server somewhere in the world has been switched off, and insecure smart bulbs that leave you frequently in the dark.

All of these issues come down to how your smart devices share data and instructions with remote services. The Data Act will give citizens back control over data sent to the manufacturer and the right to access and share their data with third-party services in a usable way.

I also fought for the right to use devices anonymously and the prohibition of profiling individuals using their smart devices because when you buy an appliance, you shouldn’t be the product!

Protecting consumers in the era of the Internet of Things

Finally, consumers have experienced issues with “connected” and “smart” devices that rely on remote services: for instance, in 2022, major smart device manufacturer Insteon shut down their servers, essentially rendering all the smart devices they had sold useless, and they are not the only ones: we are also seeing manufacturers discontinue a specific model of a product and shut down associated services, forcing consumers to upgrade, and creating e-Waste.

The Data Act will guarantee users access to their devices and the data they produce even if the manufacturer no longer provides the necessary services, cutting e-waste and giving citizens more certainty about the products they buy!

Despite the EU’s longstanding commitment to equality, we still see how gender equality lags behind in the labor market, how some parents lose their parental rights when crossing borders within the EU, and how women have for years been excluded from research trials, ranging from car safety to medicine. We also observe that the rights and safety of minorities and LGBTQ+ individuals are threatened in certain parts of Europe.

In 2021, women only made up 30.6% of board members in the largest listed companies in the EU-27. While trying to combat violence against women and domestic violence in the EU, gender-based cyber-violence has equally increased. In 2020, one in two young women experienced gender-based cyber-violence, while violence against women remained widespread in the EU.

In Poland, we saw how municipalities created LGBTQ+ free zones, while abortion laws were restricted to almost banned, similar to Malta.

For me, equality means equality for everyone. It means that everyone should have equal rights and equal opportunities regardless of their gender, religious beliefs, age, or profession. This is why I have fought for these values in the European Parliament:

  • Ensuring that women’s needs and experiences in the transport sector are being taken into account when developing new policies. For instance, by creating more gender-disaggregated data to better tailor transport policies and services to all women, and by listening to input from women when designing transport infrastructure and in decision-making at the policy level.
  • With the Women on Board Directive: I made sure to give women the same chances as men in top positions with responsibilities, and end the unjustified discrimination they face when applying for a board position.
  • We urged all member states and the EU to improve healthcare access and legal protections for sex workers across Europe.
  • With a European Certificate of Parenthood, we have taken a crucial step towards preventing discrimination against LGBTQ+ families.
  • Adopted the first-ever EU-wide directive to combat violence against women. This directive sets out common standards to criminalise different forms of gender-based violence, prevent it, protect victims, and ensure equal access to justice, support, and prosecution across the Member States.
  • Called on the Commission to close the digital gender gap and promote women’s participation in the digital economy.
  • Called on the Commission to take steps to include abortion as a fundamental right in the Charter of Fundamental Rights.