We live in the digital era: European Parliament to reshape its rules

The European Parliament voted yesterday on three seperate reports on the Digital Services Act. The reports were adopted by a large majority, showing a clear position towards the European Commission. The commission plans to present a first draft law in December 2020. With this legislative package, the EU wants to create a clear legal framework to regulate the power of the big internet platforms and the monopolies of the American tech industry in Europe.

Patrick Breyer (Pirate Party), Rapporteur for the opinion of the Committee on Legal Affairs, comments:

“The European Parliament supports our demands to protect privacy online and offline, to guarantee the right to use digital services anonymously and to end the dominance of tech monopolies. In a tight vote, we asked the EU Commission to look into banning targeted advertising, which relies on unacceptable pervasive tracking and profiling of our digital lives.

Online content should not be filtered, too often upload filters have proven to be prone to errors. Facebook and Twitter must give up their communications monopoly and allow communication with users of alternative platforms and contacts to be maintained when switching between providers.

The protection of freedom of expression and privacy brings us a step closer to digital self-determination and is a clear economic advantage for small and medium-sized digital enterprises in the European Union.”

Patrick Breyer, MEP, Pirate Party