<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><a class="reader-domain domain" href="https://wiki.openrightsgroup.org/wiki/ORG_policy_update/2018-w18">https://wiki.openrightsgroup.org/wiki/ORG_policy_update/2018-w18</a><br class=""><div class="container content-width3 font-size5"><div class="reader-header header" dir="ltr"><h1 class="reader-title">ORG policy update/2018-w18</h1>
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<div id="mw-content-text" dir="ltr" lang="en" class=""><p class="">This is ORG's Policy Update for the two week period beginning 30/04/2018.
</p><p class="">If you are reading this online, you can also subscribe to the <a rel="nofollow" href="https://lists.openrightsgroup.org/listinfo/parliamentary.monitor" class="">email version or unsubscribe</a>.
</p>
<h2 class=""><span id="ORG.E2.80.99s_work" class="">ORG’s work</span></h2>
<ul class=""><li class="">Javier Ruiz and Myles Jackman appeared before the House of Lords
Communications Committee to give evidence in response to an open
enquiry around possible methods of regulating internet platforms. The
archived live stream can be viewed <a rel="nofollow" href="https://parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/6f01a43e-dabe-4178-bffb-89fe2824ab07" class="">here</a>.</li>
<li class="">Matthew Rice delivered a presentation at St. Andrews University on
the question: “Do we need the Third Sector for Debates about Technology
and Ethics?”. A video of the presentation can be seen <a rel="nofollow" href="https://twitter.com/mattr3/status/991628899254702081" class="">here</a>.</li>
<li class="">ORG are participating in City University's summer placement scheme, and are taking on two full-time students from June 1.</li></ul>
<h2 class=""><span id="Official_meetings" class="">Official meetings</span></h2>
<ul class=""><li class="">Javier Ruiz appeared on AlJazeera to discuss the demise of Cambridge Analytica.</li>
<li class="">Jim Killock attended a meeting with Google in San Francisco.</li>
<li class="">Jim Killock attended a meeting with Wikimedia in San Francisco.</li>
<li class="">Jim Killock attended a meeting with the Electronic Frontier Foundation in San Francisco.</li>
<li class="">ORG Staff held a call with <a rel="nofollow" href="https://projectsbyif.com/" class="">Projects by IF</a> to discuss building a tool to help people take more control of their data.</li></ul>
<h2 class=""><span id="UK_Parliament" class="">UK Parliament</span></h2>
<h3 class=""><span id="Data_Protection_Bill" class="">Data Protection Bill</span></h3><p class="">The <a rel="nofollow" href="https://services.parliament.uk/bills/2017-19/dataprotection.html" class="">Data Protection Bill</a> continues its way through the House of Commons next week, with the Bill's remaining stages announced to be on 9 May.
</p><p class="">The opposition amendment for the Immigration Exemption has
support from the Labour, Lib Dem, SNP and Green parties. The Government
has not tabled any amendments related to the Immigration Exemption and
the Bill is likely to be passed with the exemption. ORG and the3million
have asked their supporters to <a rel="nofollow" href="https://action.openrightsgroup.org/after-windrush-row-immigration-data-exemption-must-go" class="">email their MPs</a> and explain their concerns with the Exemption.
</p><p class="">ORG and the3million have previously issued a pre-action protocol
letter notifying the Government that we are ready to challenge the
Exemption in courts if it is passed. If this is the case on 9 May, we
will be launching the action soon after.
</p><p class="">The Government currently hasn't conceded on Article 80(2), and
suggest that a review is needed before they will consider implementing
the power.
</p><p class="">A rebel amendment was also tabled by Conservative back-bench MPs,
and which also has some support from Labour MPs, was tabled to
introduce controls on health data sharing - and to ensure that such data
could not be shared with anyone other than the police.
</p>
<h3 class=""><span id="House_of_Lords_Communications_Committee_inquiry_into_internet_regulation" class="">House of Lords Communications Committee inquiry into internet regulation</span></h3><p class="">This Monday, ORG Staff Javier Ruiz and Myles Jackman <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/lords-select/communications-committee/news-parliament-2017/internet-regulation-digital-media-evidence/" class="">gave evidence to a House of Lords Select Committee</a>. The Committee is seeking to establish possible future methods of regulation for internet platforms.
</p><p class="">Peers asked questions about how well ORG believe current systems
of internet regulation are working, and requested ORG's input on some
specific questions.
</p><p class="">Particular issues ORG highlighted include:
</p>
<ul class=""><li class="">Age verification tools are insufficiently regulated from a
privacy perspective. Between the two bodies with responsibilities to
overview age verification (BBFC and ICO), neither are assigned the task
of considering user privacy.</li>
<li class="">When considering regulation of particular internet platforms in a
reactionary manner, for example in response to terrorist or gang
activity using the service, particular consideration should be given to
the specific features of the platform in question which gave rise to the
activity that should be prevented, and what distinguishes that platform
from others.</li>
<li class="">Article 15 of the Electronic Commerce Directive is an EU law which
generally prohibits EU Member States from requiring that internet
platforms and intermediaries monitor their users. That Article has not
been properly transposed into UK law and will be lost after Brexit if
specific action is not taken. More info on this point can be found in <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.cyberleagle.com/2017/05/time-to-speak-up-for-article-15.html" class="">this blog post by Graham Smith</a>.</li></ul>
<h3 class=""><span id="Parliament_threatens_Mark_Zuckerberg_with_formal_summons_to_give_evidence" class="">Parliament threatens Mark Zuckerberg with formal summons to give evidence</span></h3><p class="">Recently, in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Parliament
heard evidence from Facebook's Chief Technical Officer Mike Schroepfer.
The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee was unsatisfied with the
5-hour evidence session with Schroepfer and on 1 May <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-committees/culture-media-and-sport/180501-Chair-to-Rebecca-Stimson-Facebook-re-oral-evidence-follow-up.pdf" class="">issued a letter</a> reiterating their desire for CEO Mark Zuckerberg to appear before the Committee directly to give evidence.
</p><p class="">As the letter notes, as a US resident Zuckerberg does not
normally fall within the jurisdiction of the UK Parliament, but
threatens him with a formal summons to give evidence the next time he
enters UK territory:
</p>
<blockquote class="">It is worth noting that, while Mr Zuckerberg does not
normally come under the jurisdiction of the UK parliament, he will do so
the next time he enters the country. We hope that he will respond
positively to our request, but, if not, the committee will resolve to
issue a formal summons for him to appear when he is next in the UK.</blockquote><p class="">However - as Dr Hannah White of the Institute for Government told The
Guardian - when choosing whether Zuckerberg should appear as a result
of the letter, Facebook may look to the precedent set when the CEO of
Kraft <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2011/mar/13/cadbury-kraft-irene-rosenfeld-business-select-committee" class="">refused to answer questions</a> about the firm's takeover of Cadbury's.
</p><p class="">The letter contains a list of 39 questions which the Committee are seeking answers to from Facebook.
</p>
<h2 class=""><span id="Other_national_developments" class="">Other national developments</span></h2>
<h3 class=""><span id="NHS_Scotland_releases_Digital_Health_Strategy_paper" class="">NHS Scotland releases Digital Health Strategy paper</span></h3><p class="">Last week, the NHS Digital Health Strategy was announced. NHS
Scotland intend to create a National Digital Platform which would
"Deliver a capability for citizens to access and update information
about their health and wellbeing, including their records and from
personal monitoring, and to interact with services".
</p><p class="">The full report can be downloaded from the Scottish Parliament website <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.parliament.scot/S5_HealthandSportCommittee/Reports/Scotlands_Digital_Health_and_Care_Strategy.pdf" class="">here</a>.
</p>
<h3 class=""><span id="WhatsApp_co-founder_leaves_Facebook_over_privacy_concerns" class="">WhatsApp co-founder leaves Facebook over privacy concerns</span></h3><p class="">WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum has indicated plans to leave the
Facebook-owned company over concerns about Facebook's handling of
personal data on the platform. Of particular concern is the fact that <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/whatsapp-founder-plans-to-leave-after-broad-clashes-with-parent-facebook/2018/04/30/49448dd2-4ca9-11e8-84a0-458a1aa9ac0a_story.html" class="">the Washington Post article</a> covering Koum's departure noted that Koum had concerns about Facebook attempting to weaken the encryption used by WhatsApp.
</p><p class="">This news comes a few months after the other co-founder of WhatsApp, Brian Acton, co-founded a <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.wired.com/story/signal-foundation-whatsapp-brian-acton/" class="">foundation for the Signal encrypted messaging service</a> after also leaving WhatsApp.
</p>
<h2 class=""><span id="ORG_media_coverage" class="">ORG media coverage</span></h2><p class=""><i class="">See <a href="https://wiki.openrightsgroup.org/wiki/ORG_Press_Coverage" title="ORG Press Coverage" class="">ORG Press Coverage</a> for full details.</i>
</p>
<dl class=""><dt class="">2018-04-29-The Sun-<a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.thesun.co.uk/tech/6168615/facebook-send-messages-skin-device-alerts-meetings/" class="">Facebook ‘planning new device that sends messages to you SKIN to help you read them in important meetings’</a></dt>
<dd class="">Author: Charlie Parker</dd>
<dd class="">Summary: Jim Killock quoted in a story about Facebook's work on invasive body-worn technologies.</dd>
<dd class="">Topics: <a href="https://wiki.openrightsgroup.org/wiki/Privacy" title="Privacy" class="">Privacy</a></dd>
<dt class="">2018-04-27-BBC News-<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-43928147" class="">Deadline to amend UK surveillance laws</a></dt>
<dd class="">Author: BBC News</dd>
<dd class="">Summary: Javier Ruiz quoted in a judgment about Liberty's recent ruling in their 'People v Snoooper's Charter' challenge.</dd>
<dd class="">Topics: <a href="https://wiki.openrightsgroup.org/w/index.php?title=Mass_surveillance&action=edit&redlink=1" title="Mass surveillance (page does not exist)" class="">Mass surveillance</a></dd>
<dt class="">2018-04-27-BBC News-<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-43795806" class="">Porn: All you need to know about the UK's porn block for under 18s</a></dt>
<dd class="">Author: Nicholas Rotherham</dd>
<dd class="">Summary: Pandora Blake quoted and mentioned as an ORG AC member in an article about age verification for pornography.</dd>
<dd class="">Topics: <a href="https://wiki.openrightsgroup.org/wiki/Online_age_verification" title="Online age verification" class="">Online age verification</a></dd></dl>
<h2 class=""><span id="ORG_Staff_Details" class="">ORG Staff Details</span></h2><p class=""><a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.openrightsgroup.org/people/staff" class="">Staff Contact Page</a>
</p>
<ul class=""><li class=""><b class=""><a rel="nofollow" href="mailto:jim@openrightsgroup.org" class="">Jim Killock</a></b>, Executive Director</li>
<li class=""><b class=""><a rel="nofollow" href="mailto:javier@openrightsgroup.org" class="">Javier Ruiz</a></b>, Policy Director</li>
<li class=""><b class=""><a rel="nofollow" href="mailto:martha@openrightsgroup.org" class="">Martha Dark</a></b>, Chief Operations Officer</li>
<li class=""><b class=""><a rel="nofollow" href="mailto:matthew@openrightsgroup.org" class="">Matthew Rice</a></b>, Scotland Director</li>
<li class=""><b class=""><a rel="nofollow" href="mailto:myles@openrightsgroup.org" class="">Myles Jackman</a></b>, Legal Director</li>
<li class=""><b class=""><a rel="nofollow" href="mailto:mike@openrightsgroup.org" class="">Mike Morel</a></b>, Campaign Manager</li>
<li class=""><b class=""><a rel="nofollow" href="mailto:ed@openrightsgroup.org" class="">Ed Johnson-Williams</a></b>, Policy and Research Officer</li>
<li class=""><b class=""><a rel="nofollow" href="mailto:slavka@openrightsgroup.org" class="">Slavka Bielikova</a></b>, Policy Officer</li>
<li class=""><b class=""><a rel="nofollow" href="mailto:alex.haydock@openrightsgroup.org" class="">Alex Haydock</a></b>, Legal Officer</li>
<li class=""><b class=""><a rel="nofollow" href="mailto:lee@openrightsgroup.org" class="">Lee Maguire</a></b>, Tech</li></ul>
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