Irish Data Protection Commission passes «muzzle» law
Yesterday, the Irish Parliament passed a law criminalising critical reporting on cases against resident tech companies. Using one nasty little trick.
The Irish Parliament voted on an amendment to the Data Protection Act yesterday. The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) can now classify ongoing cases against tech companies as confidential. Involved parties are then no longer allowed to speak publicly about the proceedings. Individual information may also not be disclosed. Anyone who blabs faces draconian fines.
What exactly does this mean?
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has been in place since 2018. In case this doesn’t mean anything to you, it’s why you see banners on every website asking for your consent to use cookies. The goal of the regulation is to give you, the user, more transparency about what is actually happening with your data.
Source: DPC
Unfortunately, companies have a nagging tendency to do shady, less than legal things with this data. Things they can be sued for. Usually, such procedures are public, which companies are affected, what they’re accused of and if and how they’ll be punished for it. This information is then packaged by the press in an easy-to-understand way. But they can only do this if they acquire the information themselves. This is exactly what the change in law is trying to hinder. As of yesterday, confidential information legally can’t be disclosed. With this new law, the DPC can declare any information confidential.
Various bodies, such as Amnesty International and other NGOs, heavily criticise this amendment. According to them, it curtails freedom of the press and freedom of expression while simultaneously undermining EU law. Regulations which technically supersede national rulings.
Is Ireland even allowed to do this?
Well, yes and no. Critics question the constitutionality of this provision. It’s also disputed when and how this Section 26a may be applied at all. Exceptions are usually made for freedom of expression. Now critics suspect that the DPC is trying to intimidate individuals. They fear anyone looking to pass information to the press will be threatened with criminal proceedings. No matter the reason.
Source: Pixabay
This new ruling doesn’t apply outside Ireland. The GDPR, which regulates the entire EU and Switzerland, takes precedence in Article 55, paragraph 1:
«Each supervisory authority shall be competent for the performance of the tasks assigned to and the exercise of the powers conferred on it in accordance with this Regulation on the territory of its own Member State.»
Nevertheless, there could be trouble ahead, as the law torpedoes a project headed by the European Data Science Academy (EDSA). They’re looking to standardise the procedural law of EU member countries, at least as far as disclosing information is concerned. The EDSA and DPC now plan to study the extent to which these arrangements are compatible.
Why is Ireland important?
Ireland is a small country with a population of five million. So why is this change in the law causing such a stir? Quite simply, numerous large tech companies have their European headquarters in the Republic of Ireland due to its favourable taxes. Among them are many «big players», such as Meta, Apple, Google, Microsoft and TikTok. The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation stipulates that proceedings against companies take place at their respective EU headquarters. Accordingly, Ireland takes charge.
Source: Meta
The Irish Data Protection Commission has already had to put up with criticism on several occasions in the past – including the EDSA. According to it, they were too lax and lenient in prosecuting data breaches. In a case against Meta, the European Data Protection Committee had to intervene and force the Irish to pay a fine. But at 1.2 billion euros, this remained a slap on the wrist given the fine range. Certain invested parties claim that this leniency is related to a desire to keep these companies in the country as taxpayers.
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I've been tinkering with digital networks ever since I found out how to activate both telephone channels on the ISDN card for greater bandwidth. As for the analogue variety, I've been doing that since I learned to talk. Though Winterthur is my adoptive home city, my heart still bleeds red and blue.
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