Proposal 22

Require each citizen’s explicit consent in order to subject their data to any automated procedure.

Detailed explanation

According to Article 5-1 of the GDPR, personal data processed must be "relevant and limited to what is necessary for the purposes for which they are processed".

Artificial intelligence on the 5G network will collect data continuously, which goes against this principle of data minimisation.

The European Economic and Social Committee has published the Opinion called Secure 5G deployment– EU toolbox . Point 4.16 states:
"The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) should be supplemented with clear implementation guidelines in order to achieve uniform implementation and a high level of data and consumer protection in view of the interconnectivity of machines and objects, and the rules on civil liability and product insurance should be revised to cater for a situation where decisions will increasingly be taken by software in a fully secure environment."

In the point 4.18 is stated:
"The conversations on technical standards are a necessary clarification that will allow companies to compete once again and to carry out these key activities in order to implement advanced technologies such as 5G and artificial intelligence (AI) in all markets."

Various studies have shown that artificial intelligence actually automatically reproduces previous discrimination in machine learning processes. The machine "learns" according to the choices it has already made in the past by systematising them - therefore artificial intelligence is a powerful engine for reproducing and aggravating discrimination.

Therefore, automated procedures should be allowed only after each individual citizen's explicit consent.

Legal arguments for our proposal are:

— Article 22 of the GDPR, formulated as the "right to human intervention in an automated decision", gives the right to refuse that a decision concerning the individual be subjected to an algorithm.

— UN report - Artificial intelligence and privacy, and children’s privacy:
"...both the data processing and the decision made as a result of that processing have potential risks for the data subject."

(Updated in August 2022: States should place moratoriums on the sale and use of artificial intelligence systems until adequate safeguards are put in place, UN human rights chief, Michelle Bachelet said in 2021. She expressed concern about the "unprecedented level of surveillance across the globe by state and private actors", which she insisted was "incompatible" with human rights. The Pegasus spyware commercialized by the NSO group affected thousands of people in 45 countries across four continents.)

(Updated in January 2023: Open letter signed by 14 organisations worldwide was sent to the governments and parliaments of the world urging to create legislation to protect people's brains and bodies against attacks by neurotechnologies.

"Once we have algorithms that can understand us better than ourselves, they could predict our desires, manipulate our feelings, and even make decisions on our behalf. And if we're not careful, the outcome may be the rise of digital dictatorships" Juval Noach Harari, World Economic Forum in Davos, 2018

Letter available in german https://schutzschild-ev.de/offener-brief-zur-schaffung-von-rechtsvorschriften-zum-schutz-vor-angriffen-durch-neurotechnologien/
and in english https://schutzschild-ev.de/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Open-letter-to-create-legislation-to-protect-against-attacks-by-neurotechnologies.pdf

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