IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

Website operators and online advertisers may be given carte blanche to process people's personal data with approval provided by just the tick in a box on a web browsers' settings, according to leaked European Union data protection proposals.

The proposals form part of the negotiations over a new EU General Data Protection Regulation, which will apply across the European Union and which circumvents the conventional directive approach to pan-EU law-making. A regulation is required, argues the EU, because directives are interpreted too widely in different countries when they are translated into national laws.

Konkrete Vorgaben macht der Entwurf nicht. Er verlangt, die Websites müssten es Nutzern ermöglichen, "die Inhalte wahrzunehmen, zu handhaben und zu verstehen." Gegebenenfalls sei eine barrierefreie elektronische Alternative bereitzustellen. Die "Interoperabilität mit verschiedensten Benutzeragenten und assistiven Technologien auf Unionsebene und internationaler Ebene" müsse "erleichtert" werden.

The European Commission released today the 11th Benchmark Measurement of European eGovernment Services, carried out by Capgemini Group and its partners. The study, Delivering on the European Advantage ‘How European governments can and should benefit from innovative public services’, provides insight on where Europe is on ICT delivery and uptake whilst delivering a call to action going forward. This year marks Capgemini’s ongoing partnership with the European Commission, after recently being awarded the mandate to deliver eGovernment benchmarking insights for a further four years.

The adoption of cloud computing in the public sector across the European Union is being held back by worries over how sensitive data can be secured, according to a report by the European Union Agency for Network and Information Security (ENISA).

The report notes that, while some EU states have adopted comprehensive cloud strategies and encouraged public-sector organisations to shift services to the cloud, where appropriate, others have made little or no headway.

European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society Mariya Gabriel here on Friday said ensuring cyber security and developing IT skills are crucial for the digitalization of the European Union (EU).

"Security is a top priority for European citizens, but digitization adds one more dimension to it -- cyber security," Gabriel said while addressing a conference on e-government.

The Digital Expo, held during the Tallinn Digital Summit, has highlighted the importance of cybersecurity in Europe's efforts to realize its digital future.

Along with e-governance and 5G, cybersecurity has become a key word of the expo.

"E-governance will not work unless people have trust in e-services and digital devices. So we need to strengthen cyber security. The safety can only be achieved if we safeguard European cyber security as a whole," said Estonian Prime Minister Juri Ratas.

Interinstitutional declaration on digital rights and principles for the digital decade: Member States, Parliament and Commission concluded the negotiations on EU values in the digital world.

Member States, the European parliament, and the Commission negotiated the European declaration on digital rights and principles for the digital decade. The declaration aims to promote European values within the digital transformation, putting people at the centre, with digital technology benefiting all individuals, businesses, and society as a whole.

The EU Digital Single Market is a regulatory framework that will help the region remove national barriers to online transactions. It builds on the concept of the common market, intended to eliminate trade barriers between member states.

The strategy, dubbed Unleashing the potential of cloud computing in Europe, aims to deliver a net gain of 2.5 million new jobs across Europe and a total GDP increase of €160bn (£127bn) a year, by 2020.

It said that the economic benefits of pan-European action were far better than individual initiatives but encouraged EU countries' efforts with their own cloud programmes.

A harmonised fully functional Digital Single Market could contribute €415bn per year to the European economy and create hundreds of thousands of new jobs, says the European Commission (EC). The Digital Single Market Strategy adopted today includes a set of targeted actions to be delivered by the end of next year. The plan is built on three pillars: better access for consumers and businesses to digital goods and services across Europe; creating the right conditions and a level playing field for digital networks and innovative services to flourish; and maximizing the growth potential of the digital economy. - See more at: http://www.ftseglobalmarkets.com/news/ec-unveils-single-digital-market-plans.html#sthash.bwk3hu67.dpuf

According to results, the most technologically-skilled GPs are from Denmark, Norway and Spain. The least from Czech Republic, Latvia and Lithuania.

Four indicators taken into account: electronic health record, health information exchange, telehealth and personal health records.

New technologies require more risk-taking and the ability to launch new products with speed and scale. There is no doubt that Europe is poised to embrace the new, digital world.

With Britain missing its turn for the European Union presidency in light of Brexit, the rotating six-month duty has fallen into Estonia’s lap earlier than planned.

Until the end of the year, the northernmost Baltic country will lead the EU through a complicated period: On top of difficult divorce negotiations between Britain and the 27-nation bloc, Estonia will also oversee talks on the Russian Nordstream 2 gas pipeline across the Baltic Sea to Germany, an issue over which several diverging interests are likely to face off in Europe.

15 years after Estonia started to work on e-governnance, time has come for all EU member states, along with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries of Liechtenstein, Norway, Iceland and Switzerland to establishes common goals for the development of e-government over the next five years.

“The Tallinn Declaration does not translate into innovation for Estonia, as we have already complied with the guidelines agreed upon today with other European countries,” said the Minister of Entrepreneurship and Information Technology Urve Palo after the Tallinn Declaration was signed. According to Palo, it is the other EU member states that the Tallinn Declaration will bring about significant changes.

Irish citizens who received Covid-19 vaccinations in Northern Ireland and other non-EU countries will be able to obtain a digital Covid certificate online from later this week.

The Republic's government is creating an online portal after the initial roll-out of the EU digital Covid certificates began in July.

The portal is expected to go live later this week, RTÉ said.

According to the European Union e-government report 2016, other countries should follow the steps Estonia has taken in e-governance and the availability of online services to the public.

Even though the report ranks the small Mediterranean nation of Malta as first in Europe for e-government services, it notes that Estonia has been capable of increasing its internet penetration in 2014-1015 and the awareness of its e-government services, “which were of high quality already”.

Patients living in remote areas or suffering from chronic diseases that need continuous monitoring should have better access to medical treatment delivered, for example, over the internet, the European Commission said today.

In a communication, an early stage in a process that could eventually lead to legislative proposals, the EU executive pressed member states to draw up national action plans aimed at broadening the provision of telemedicine, which pilot projects suggest could improve public health and lower costs.

EU ministers call for harmonised data flows within the EU

Recently ministers from many of the EU member states including the UK and Ireland urged the European Commission to remove regulatory and non-regulatory barriers in the digital single market particularly as regards data protection, telecommunications and e-privacy.

As regards data transfers whilst transfers within the EU are allowed in relation to personal data the reality is that there are still local restrictions that impact the digital economy.

The "one-stop-shop" was to have been be a cornerstone of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which is currently being negotiated by the member states and is expected to be ratified this year, or early 2016. However, reports have emerged that these plans are to be abandoned for all but a few serious data protection cases.

The one-stop-shop idea would allow companies that processes EU residents' personal data to deal with one data protection authority, rather than up to 28. So, if a company had its main European base in the UK, it could be supervised by the UK data protection authority (DPA), and all necessary paperwork and administration could be filed with that authority to cover activities in all of the EU Member States in which it operates. The UK authority would adjudicate on any disputes around data protection within the whole EU.

The European Commission has highlighted the three main areas of focus in its digital single market strategy, including improving EU digital networks and creating a European digital economy.

Barriers such as geo-blocking, lack of cross-border delivery initiatives and other technical issues currently prevent many citizens from using cross-border digital services, such as online shopping or sharing digital goods.