The European Union has agreed on the controversial “Data Act”. The law is intended to give users the right to determine how the data their devices generate is used.
Data from modern cars, networked household appliances and industrial plants such as wind turbines should be better used in Europe in the future. During the night, the countries of the European Union (EU) and the EU Parliament agreed on a so-called data law.
The “Data Act” is intended to clarify legal, economic and technical issues relating to access to data. In addition, in exceptional cases – such as flood disasters or forest fires – authorities should be allowed access to data owned by the private sector.
dominance of technology giants contain
The EU law is intended to give consumers and companies more control over data. It aims to curb the dominance of the US technology giants: Large cloud providers such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft and Google are therefore obliged to prevent illegal access to data and to establish standards for easier provider switching.
So far, it has often been unclear who is allowed to do what with the data that is generated when using a dishwasher or an industrial machine with internet access.
“Building a single market for data”
In addition to regulations on the handling of consumer and company data, protective measures against illegal access by non-EU governments should also be guaranteed. “The entry into force of the Data Act will unleash the economic and societal potential of data and technology and help build a single market for data,” said Erik Slottner, Sweden’s Minister for Public Administration.
German companies such as Siemens and SAP had warned of the possible forced disclosure of trade secrets. Big US technology companies have also criticized the “Data Act”, arguing that it could affect international data transfers. The agreement still has to be confirmed by the EU Parliament and the Council of Member States.