Data

Data protection, privacy and new technologies

More of our everyday lives are online — both at work and home. Meanwhile, terror attacks intensify calls for more surveillance. Concerns grow over the safety of our privacy and personal data.

FRA helps lawmakers and practitioners protect your rights in a connected world.

Highlights

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Artificial intelligence (AI) already plays a role in many decisions that affect our daily lives. From deciding what unemployment benefits someone gets to where a burglary is likely to take place. But we need to make sure to fully uphold fundamental rights standards when using AI. Drawing on the ‘Getting the future right – Artificial intelligence and fundamental rights’ report, FRA explores the potential benefits and possible errors that can occur focusing on four core areas – social benefits, predictive policing, health services and targeted advertising.
29
January
2021
All language versions now available
26 July 2021
FRA’s report on artificial intelligence and fundamental rights presents concrete examples of how companies and public administrations in the EU are using, or trying to use, AI. This summary presents the main insights from the report. These can inform EU and national policymaking efforts to regulate the use of AI tools in compliance with human and fundamental rights.
Artificial intelligence (AI) already plays a role in many decisions that affect our daily lives. From deciding what unemployment benefits someone gets to where a burglary is likely to take place. But we need to make sure to fully uphold fundamental rights standards when using AI. Drawing on the ‘Getting the future right – Artificial intelligence and fundamental rights’ report, FRA presents a number of key considerations to help businesses and administrations respect fundamental rights when using AI.
This is a recording from the morning session of the high-level virtual event "Doing Artificial Intelligence the European way" which took place on 14 December 2020.
This is a recording from the afternoon session of the high-level virtual event "Doing Artificial Intelligence the European way" which took place on 14 December 2020.
Artificial intelligence is here. It’s not going away. It can be a force for good, but it needs to be watched so carefully in terms of respect for our human fundamental rights. The EU Fundamental Rights Agency is deeply committed to this work.Our ambition is not just to ensure that AI respects our rights, but also that it protects and promotes them.
Will AI revolutionise the delivery of our public services? And what's the right balance? How is the private sector using AI to automate decisions — and what implications
might that have? Are some form of binding rules necessary to monitor and regulate the use of AI technology - and what should these rules look like?
How do we embrace progress while protecting our fundamental rights? As data-driven decision making increasingly touches our daily lives, what does this mean
for our fundamental rights? A step into the dark? Or the next giant leap? The time to answer these questions is here and now. Let’s seize the opportunities, but understand the challenges. Let’s make AI work for everyone in Europe…And get the future right.
14
December
2020
Artificial intelligence (AI) already plays a role in deciding what unemployment benefits someone gets, where a burglary is likely to take place, whether someone is at risk of cancer, or who sees that catchy advertisement for low mortgage rates. Its use keeps growing, presenting seemingly endless possibilities. But we need to make sure to fully uphold fundamental rights standards when using AI. This report presents concrete examples of how companies and public administrations in the EU are using, or trying to use, AI. It focuses on four core areas – social benefits, predictive policing, health services and targeted advertising.
29
July
2020
As we enter the second half of 2020, the constraints on our daily lives brought about by the Coronavirus pandemic have become a firm reality. New local lockdowns and the reintroduction of restrictive measures prompted by fresh outbreaks of the virus are a stark reminder that COVID-19 continues to shape our lives – and our enjoyment of fundamental rights – in profound ways. There is compelling evidence of how the pandemic has exacerbated existing challenges in our societies. This FRA Bulletin outlines some of the measures EU Member States adopted to safely reopen their societies and economies while continuing to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. It highlights the impact these measures may have on civil, political and socioeconomic rights.
22
July
2020
This paper presents people’s concerns and experiences relating to security. It covers worry about crime, including terrorism and online fraud; experience of online fraud; experience of cyberharassment; and concern about illegal access to data.
What are the next steps in the digitalisation of justice and of access to justice? This impulse video statement by FRA Director Michael O’Flaherty was recorded for the online conference “Access to Justice in the Digital Age”. The conference takes place on 16 July and is organised by the German Federal Ministry for Justice and Consumer Protection during the German Council Presidency.
18
June
2020
This document presents data from the FRA Fundamental Rights Survey. It includes data on opinions and experiences of people in the European Union (EU) linked to data protection and technology.
11
June
2020
Now available in Macedonian and Serbian
13 November 2020
The year 2019 brought both progress and setbacks in terms of fundamental rights protection. FRA’s Fundamental Rights Report 2020 reviews major developments in the field, identifying both achievements and remaining areas of concern. This publication presents FRA’s opinions on the main developments in the thematic areas covered, and a synopsis of the evidence supporting these opinions. In so doing, it provides a compact but informative overview of the main fundamental rights challenges confronting the EU and its Member States.
11
June
2020
FRA’s Fundamental Rights Report 2020 reviews major developments in the field in 2019, identifying both achievements and areas of concern. It also presents FRA’s opinions on these developments, including a synopsis of the evidence supporting these opinions. This year’s focus chapter explores how to unlock the full potential of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.
28
May
2020
The Coronavirus pandemic continues to interrupt everyday life in the EU in unprecedented ways. But the way it affects our societies is shifting. As governments gradually lift some of the measures put in place to contain the spread of COVID-19, new fundamental rights concerns arise: how to ensure that the rights to life and health are upheld as daily life transitions to a ‘new normal’. This Bulletin looks at declarations of states of emergency, or equivalent, and how they came under scrutiny. It considers the impact on fundamental rights in important areas of daily life, and includes a thematic focus on the processing of users’ data to help contain COVID-19, particularly by contact-tracing apps. It covers the period 21 March – 30 April 2020.
In this vlog Michael O'Flaherty outlines fundamental rights considerations when developing technological responses to public health, as he introduces the focus of FRA's next COVID-19 bulletin.
8
April
2020
The outbreak of COVID-19 affects people’s daily life in the 27 EU Member States. As the number of infected people in the EU territory began to mount rapidly in February and March, governments put in place a raft of measures – often introduced in a period of only a few days – in an effort to contain the spread of the virus. Many of these measures reflect how, in exceptional emergency situations, the urgent need to save lives justifies restrictions on other rights, such as the freedom of movement and of assembly. This report outlines some of the measures EU Member States have put in place to protect public health during the COVID-19 pandemic. It covers the period 1 February – 20 March 2020.
Michael O'Flaherty talks in his vlog about the human rights aspects in the context of the Coronavirus epidemic and introduces FRA's new report.
In the latest edition of his video blog, FRA Director Michael O'Flaherty speaks about the importance and power of hope accompanying the work of FRA in 2020. Particularly after a troubled start of the year.
The Agency’s Director, Michael O’Flaherty, took part in a meeting of the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) on 9 February.
FRA took part in the third plenary meeting of the Council of Europe Committee on Artificial Intelligence (CAI).
Artificial intelligence is everywhere and affects everyone. A new report from the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) looks at the use of artificial intelligence in predictive policing and offensive speech detection. It demonstrates how bias in algorithms appears and how it can affect people’s lives. This is the first time FRA provides hands-on evidence on how biases develop. The Agency calls on policymakers to ensure AI is tested for biases that could lead to discrimination.
FRA joined a round table discussion on the EU Digital Services Act, fundamental rights, and civic space on 8 November.
FRA took part in several events at the Web Summit 2022 in Lisbon from 2 to 4 November.
FRA was part of the second plenary meeting of the Council of Europe Committee on Artificial Intelligence (CAI).
FRA took part in the second Quo Vadis AI conference in Athens on 17 June.
The pandemic triggered unprecedented EU financial support to counter the social impact of Covid-19. Many people in the EU, especially vulnerable people, faced reduced access to healthcare, childcare, education and the internet. This has led to excess mortality, poverty, unemployment and social exclusion. FRA’s Fundamental Rights Report 2022 outlines the pandemic’s wide-ranging impact on social rights. It also suggests how to address increasing inequalities and threats to societal cohesion.
FRA took part in a conference on responsible AI in the Hague from 12 to 13 May.
FRA joined a hearing on 20 April on a draft French AI Act and its fundamental rights implications.
FRA took part in the inaugural meeting of the Council of Europe Committee on Artificial Intelligence (CAI) from 4 to 6 April.
FRA participated in the conference on AI and the Future of Europe in Brussels on 30 March.
FRA Director was on mission in Brussels from 9 to 11 February 2022 to speak at the conference “Safeguarding fundamental rights in the digital age” organised by the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and the European Commission, DG Justice and Consumer Protection.
On 8 and 10 December, FRA participated in two panels at the 16th Internet Governance Forum 2021.
The Handbook on European data protection law is designed to familiarise legal practitioners not specialised in data protection with this emerging area of law.
FRA participated in the eu-LISA Annual Conference 2021, ‘Towards a Digital Schengen Area,’ on 27 October.
FRA’s Director addressed ‘The Challenge of Artificial Intelligence for Human Society and the Idea of the Human Person’ conference on 21 October in Rome.
The FRA Director addressed the 7th EDEN conference on data protection in law enforcement in Rome on 18 October.
FRA provided a keynote presentation on 1 October to a business workshop on trustworthy AI.
On 14 September 2021, eight international organisations joined forces to launch a new portal promoting global cooperation on artificial intelligence (AI). The portal is a one-stop shop for data, research findings and good practices in AI policy.
FRA will give a presentation on the challenges of implementing procedural law from the perspective of safeguards and guarantees during a cybercrime legislation workshop at this year’s Octopus Conference.
FRA will join a panel discussion at the high-level conference on Balancing fundamental rights in data protection on 16 November.
FRA will join the eu-LISA agency’s annual conference on 27 October. It will take stock of current developments in the Justice and Home Affairs area.
FRA will participate in a public webinar on ethnic profiling.
FRA will speak at a conference on public policies related to profiling.
FRA will introduce findings from its Getting the future rights – artificial intelligence and fundamental rights report during the ENISA Annual Privacy Forum.
FRA’s Director Michael O’Flaherty will speak on 10 June about freedom of expression protection frameworks in times of crisis.
FRA will join round-table discussions on identifying and preventing the discriminatory impact of artificial intelligence.
During this year’s annual computer, privacy and data protection conference (CPDP 2021), FRA will host a panel on getting AI right.
Rights International Spain is hosting a webinar on public policies to eradicate ethnic profiling.
On 9 December, the FRA Director will address the EU-NGO Human Rights Forum. This year the focus is on the impact of new technologies on human rights. The forum provides a platform to elaborate recommendations on how the EU can further foster human rights compliance in the digital sphere.
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This year, FRA again teams up with the This human world international human rights film festival.
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FRA will take part in this year’s Internet Governance Forum (IGF), which runs virtually from 2-17 November. It will join the session on the role of the private sector in developing guidelines on the use of artificial intelligence.
How can we balance the importance of promoting technological, economic and social innovation with the need to protect individuals and society from its potentially harmful effects? This is one of the areas that will be explored during a high-level virtual event on 14 December on doing artificial intelligence the European way.
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FRA will take part in the annual closed session of the Global Privacy Assembly (GPA) as an observer.
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FRA will discuss the fundamental rights considerations of using Artificial intelligence during a meeting of the European Commission’s Digital Criminal Justice Expert Group.
Artificial intelligence and encryption will feature during a virtual meeting of the Council of the EU’s Standing Committee on Operational Cooperation on Internal Security (COSI).
Remote biometric identification systems, such as facial recognition, are regularly identified as a candidate for regulation.
The annual summer school on EU policy making organised by the Institute for European Studies (IES) and the Diplomatic Academy in Vienna is this year organised online.