European Elections and Digital Policy
Looking for an Italian ChatGPT. Company defrauded with deepfakes.
Digital Conflicts is a bi-weekly briefing on the intersections of digital culture, AI, cybersecurity, digital rights, data privacy, and tech policy with a European focus.
Brought to you with journalistic integrity by Guerre di Rete, in partnership with the University of Bologna's Centre for Digital Ethics.
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N.9 - 28 May 2024
Authors: Carola Frediani and Andrea Daniele Signorelli
In this issue:
- What European Groups Are Saying About Digital Policy
- Looking for an Italian ChatGPT
- Company defrauded with deepfake
- In Brief
EU
What European Groups Are Saying About Digital Policy
In recent years, the European Union has become the watchdog of the digital world, attempting through its laws to curb the dominance of Big Tech — albeit not without contradictions and with effectiveness yet to be proven. For these reasons, one might have expected digital policy to play an important role in the run-up to the European elections next June.
As we will see, this has not been the case. With a few exceptions — and also because of the various emergencies that our continent is facing — proposals on digital issues are sometimes confused, sometimes reduced to a thin statement of intent, and sometimes absent altogether.
More generally, it is noted that European parties traditionally positioned on the right pay less attention to digital issues than those on the left. And overall, the focus is often on artificial intelligence, neglecting fundamental issues that perhaps deserve more attention (for example, reducing the digital divide or the need to reduce the growing environmental impact of new technologies).
We ranked the European parties according to their parliamentary presence. Here are the proposals on digital issues for the upcoming European elections.
European People's Party
The EPP's position on digital issues was outlined in more detail in the "Position Paper on Digital Policy" adopted during the Political Assembly in February 2022. This document is therefore no longer new, but it still represents the most comprehensive resource we have to interpret the position of the main European group on the topic of new technologies.
One of the most important aspects highlighted in this document is the need for Europe to not just introduce new regulations: "We need to produce not simply the right set of rules but also an enabling and coherent environment for our companies to thrive and grow in the digital economy. Digital policies should therefore always be discussed with the view to strengthen, harmonize, and complete the Digital Single Market (DSM)".
What does “Digital Single Market” mean? An example of measures taken in this regard is the abolition of roaming within the EU, allowing us to navigate online at no extra cost even when we are in another EU country. Other measures include the portability of online content on a continental scale, or the need to unlock e-commerce by ending geographic blocks (for more details, you can read here).
On artificial intelligence, the European People's Party affirms the importance of the AI Act, but warns against excessive regulation: "There should be limits on the use of AI applications that risk exploiting vulnerable groups. At the same time, we caution against overly prescriptive regulation as many sectors are already using and developing AI. That could hinder EU industry’s growth, discourage investments into AI start-ups, or delay or disincentivize innovations on the EU market".
Socialists & Democrats
The goal of the main European left-wing group’s on digital issues is made clear from the title of the chapter dedicated to this topic: “Our Inclusive Digital Europe.” An interesting aspect of the European digital program is the short survey at the top, asking voters to express what they think is the priority among AI regulation, internet access for all, protection for platform workers (e.g., riders, Uber drivers), and online consumer protection. Currently, the need to regulate AI has garnered the majority of votes (57%), while protecting platform workers is in last place (only 7%).
On artificial intelligence, the program reads: “We must be vigilant of Artificial Intelligence (AI). The European Union must take action to ensure that our values are upheld and that AI is used in a responsible and safe manner. We need clear and strong rules to guarantee fairness and transparency in AI development and use. No one should have to sacrifice their fundamental rights for the sake of technological advancement. That's why we must demand that high-risk AI undergoes a thorough assessment for biases and discrimination, and if it poses a risk to our rights, it must be banned. Human oversight and transparency requirements should always be in place to ensure that AI is used ethically and responsibly. The use of AI in the workplace must be subject to strong regulations that protect workers' rights and dignity and can in no way lead to the exploitation or surveillance of workers’ performance. Any worker who has been harmed by the use of AI must have the right to seek redress and hold corporations accountable”.
All elements that, it should be noted, are often found in the AI Act.
Among other things, S&D argues that the right to Internet access should be considered a fundamental right: “Everyone should be able to use the internet to access government services, like paying taxes or applying for benefits - though no one should be forced to, especially where equal access is not yet guaranteed”.
Renew
The liberal group has recently published a paper titled “Securing the openness of a global internet.” It is a very technical paper but interesting to analyze from a geopolitical perspective. In line with its liberal positions, Renew’s priority seems to be to counter the growing "splinternet", that is, the tendency to fragment the global network into a series of small internets referring to the geopolitical area of affiliation.
Despite the lack of a dedicated digital policy section, Renew’s website indicates the group's attention to the creation of the digital euro (the European electronic currency issued by the ECB, still under study) and the need for further regulation of cryptocurrencies. Regarding artificial intelligence, Renew highlights the achievements made with the AI Act and even more the importance of avoiding Big Tech's monopoly in the sector.
The Greens
The European Greens pay particular attention to the environmental impact of new technologies, a crucial yet often underestimated issue. In the section dedicated to this topic, titled “Green our Tech”, it reads: “We all love our tech! That’s why, when our phone or favorite appliance breaks, we don’t want to be forced to throw it away and have to spend loads of money on a new one. We want to be able to repair it, replace broken parts, maybe even recycle it into something new”.
“We don’t want our appliances filling up dumpsites, and polluting the earth and water. We don’t want perfectly good raw materials to be shipped abroad in huge containers, when we could use them to relaunch a ‘repair economy’ that would create thousands of jobs”.
Between the circular economy, the right to repair, and the need to limit emissions from the tech sector, the Greens' digital priorities are clear and consistent with their environmental stance. What is perhaps missing is an overall vision for other aspects of the digital sphere.
Conservatives and Reformists
In the manifesto published last April, there are some points – although predictably secondary compared to the fight against immigration and the need to "revise the Green Deal" – related to the digital world. "We are committed to empowering small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by cutting down on unnecessary red tape, calling for a temporary halt on new EU rules for small businesses, instead directing resources towards implementing and enforcing existing legislation, and modernising the EU's digital landscape to spur innovation and investment in cutting-edge technologies like AI, 5G/6G, and quantum computing", reads the manifesto. This is about all that can be found on the site regarding digital issues.
Identity and Democracy
The situation is even worse with Identity and Democracy, the far-right group. Although ID has long published its manifesto, it contains only a very brief reference to European policies: “Defense of individual freedoms and protection of freedom of expression, in particular digital freedoms”.
The Left
Finally, the Left group. In the manifesto published for the European elections, regarding digital issues, it reads: “We welcome the European Parliament’s attempt to regulate the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and support the ban on biometric surveillance, emotion recognition, and predictive policing by AI systems. However, the EP’s draft focuses on market-based regulation and thus misses the essential issue: the need for transparency and accountability (democratic and societal control) of technological innovation with regard to its social and environmental impacts”.
The Left's proposals include: “Effective regulation of AI with the humans-in-control principle must be incorporated into EU law; any regulation of AI by the EU must take into account the impact of AI on the world of work and social systems, and exclude possible discriminatory uses of AI or racially-biased systems; the introduction of AI in high-risk areas and mega-data transactions must be identified and prohibited; the use of AI in weapons systems must be prohibited”.
This is an excerpt of the original article written by one of our authors on Wired Italy (Italian only)
AI, LLM, ITALY
Looking for an Italian ChatGPT
“A strong dataset in Italian is still missing. And this is the main problem for having a national LLM champion. The question, at this point, is clear: why has this systematization work not been done? And who is responsible?”.
“The answer is that collecting these data, adding tags and metadata, is a long and complex operation,” explains the CTO of an important company, who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity.
“No one has done this systematization work before. And to get it done, the intervention of the State is needed, but also that of private entities.”
The CTO then returns to the commercial issue: “Whoever can sign profitable contracts will have the greatest advantage in the future”.
In any case, the article lists some of the most advanced projects in Italy regarding LLMs. This is a non-exhaustive and continuously updated list, but one that offers a good snapshot.
Read the full article (Italian only).
CYBERSECURITY
Company defrauded with deepfake
The British design and engineering firm Arup has confirmed that it was defrauded using deepfake technology in February of this year. The company lost $25 million after one of its Hong Kong employees was tricked into sending money to the wrong bank account. The employee said that he transferred the money after the fraudsters invited him to a video call with deepfake versions of his colleagues and the company's CFO.
A company spokesperson confirmed to CNN that “fake images and voices” were used. The Hong Kong police also mentioned “deepfake creations.”
According to the police, the employee initially suspected that he had received a phishing email from the company's UK office, as it specified the need for a secret transaction. However, after the video call, the employee overcame his doubts because the other people on the call looked and sounded like colleagues he recognized – CNN