Privacy watchdog warns that ‘upload filter’ could erode fundamental rights

The European Data Protection Supervisor, the privacy supervisor in the European Union, has warned in an official commentary on the ‘upload filter proposal’ that the wording must be chosen very precisely, otherwise there is a threat of the erosion of rights, for example.

The Italian Giovanni Buttarelli is European Data Protection Supervisor and is moderately positive in his comments on the proposal. He however, the EU legislator recommends to think carefully about the practical consequences of the rules in Article 13 of the proposal for the new ones copyright directive. This article essentially amounts to an ‘upload filter’ that requires internet platforms to check material uploaded by users for possible copyright infringement.

Buttarelli describes this subject as ‘delicate’. According to him, it is therefore very important that EU law is formulated very precisely and clearly on this point, because otherwise fundamental rights could be jeopardized by the arrival of Article 13. This mainly concerns freedom of expression and the right to privacy. He also warns that the upload filter can lead to distortion of competition.

According to Buttarelli, there are already attempts in the draft proposal to prevent the violation of fundamental rights; he welcomes these attempts. In addition, he notes that the proposal is not intended to enable general monitoring of internet activities, but he does see risks here. Buttarelli believes that people are already being monitored a lot on the internet and he believes there is a chance that this will get worse if the measures are not appropriate and proportionate.

In addition, the European Data Protection Supervisor believes that the guarantees contained in the proposal must be observed in practice. To check whether this actually happens, Buttarelli wants the translation of the EU directive into national legislation to be strictly checked and that the measures that providers and rights holders take in the context of the upload filter are also checked. According to the Italian, these are additional safeguards that should be considered. He has no legal means to enforce matters, but his opinion is weighty and must be taken into account in the decision-making process.