91 lines
3.5 KiB
HTML
91 lines
3.5 KiB
HTML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
|
|
<html newsdate="2022-12-06">
|
|
<version>1</version>
|
|
|
|
<head>
|
|
<title>EU Declaration of Digital Rights and Principles falls short of its ambitions </title>
|
|
</head>
|
|
|
|
<body>
|
|
|
|
<h1>EU Declaration of Digital Rights and Principles falls short of its ambitions </h1>
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
Member states, the European Parliament, and the Commission have reached
|
|
a consensus on the Declaration of Digital Rights and Principles.
|
|
Although it aims to serve as a reference point for the digital
|
|
transformation of Europe, it instead descends into murky waters,
|
|
causing ambiguity. Its wording is unclear and it overlooks existing
|
|
good proposals.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<figure>
|
|
<img src="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/big/49b5342a0da31877a6c7bb01dc5a482d.jpg" alt="failed attempt to audit the source code"/>
|
|
</figure>
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
Whereas the EU institutions claim that digital sovereignty and openness
|
|
are crucial for the digital transformation of Europe, the declaration
|
|
lacks clear definition of such values. The <a
|
|
href="https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/european-declaration-digital-rights-and-principles"
|
|
> text</a> of the declaration makes reference to promoting
|
|
interoperability, open technologies and standards. However, it is not
|
|
clear what exactly the signatory institutions mean with such wording.
|
|
By contrast, the European Parliament proposal had a clear reference to
|
|
Free Software as a way to ensure transparency in the use of algorithms
|
|
and artificial intelligence, as well as the importance of Open
|
|
Standards. Unfortunately, this wording failed to be upheld during the
|
|
inter-institutional negotiations, and the final text ended up being
|
|
rather unclear.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
<blockquote><em>
|
|
“In a fast-pace digitalised society, the importance of such declaration
|
|
of digital rights is crucial. This text will serve as a benchmark for
|
|
decision makers in the journey of shaping our digital sphere. It is
|
|
problematic for our software freedom that such declaration lacks clear
|
|
definitions and that solid existing frameworks are not being taken into
|
|
consideration”,</em> explains Lina Ceballos, FSFE Policy Project Manager.
|
|
</blockquote>
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
It is also not clear if the declaration is consistent with existing
|
|
frameworks. According to its text, it is built upon previous
|
|
initiatives such as the Berlin and <a
|
|
href="/news/2017/news-20170710-01.html"> Tallinn</a> declarations.
|
|
These aforementioned frameworks already refer to Free Software when it
|
|
comes to digital sovereignty and interoperability, while they also
|
|
require more use of Free Software, and strengthening the requirement
|
|
for its use. However, when it comes to interoperability, Free Software
|
|
is not explicitly mentioned in the Declaration of Digital Rights and
|
|
Principles.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
<blockquote>
|
|
Last but not least, <em> “the declaration misses to name reusability of
|
|
software and hardware through Free Software licenses as an important
|
|
step towards a more sustainable digital society. Having said this, the
|
|
current negotiations about the Ecodesign Directive will have to do it
|
|
right where the declaration falls short”</em> says Erik Albers, FSFE's
|
|
Digital Sustainability Program Manager.
|
|
</blockquote>
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
</body>
|
|
|
|
<tags>
|
|
<tag key="front-page" />
|
|
<tag key="pmpc">Public Money? Public Code!</tag>
|
|
<tag key="procurement">Public Procurement</tag>
|
|
<tag key="public-administration">Public Administration</tag>
|
|
</tags>
|
|
|
|
<discussion href="https://community.fsfe.org/t/945"/>
|
|
<image url="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/big/49b5342a0da31877a6c7bb01dc5a482d.jpg" alt="failed attempt to audit a source code"/>
|
|
|
|
</html>
|