We really must say congratulations to the European Union here. For they’ve made it impossible to track nutters and their nutty actions online. All in the name of privacy. They must be free to go down the rathole because to allow the internet company to track that they’re being nutty would infringe upon privacy.
The actual problem here is a little different. Facebook is, as we know, based in Ireland for the purposes of the European Union. That’s why it gets taxed there. However, this does then mean that it gets regulated there. And Ireland is a place that not only obeys the law it believes in hte rule of the law. What’s written down on the piece of paper is what is going to get enforced. All of which is exactly as it should be. But as it isn’t when EU law is more generally applied in other places. There the stupidities enacted tend to get ignored.
But that rule of law thing:
Instead, the Facebook-owned app has been locked in a privacy stand-off with the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) since March 2019 that has left key parts of its promised crackdown in limbo.
As a result, Instagram’s own recommendation algorithms continue to push users towards accounts and content which clearly break its rules against promoting and glamourising self-injury or eating disorders.
Facebook is actually trying, it has developed the technology to be able to deal with this, at least in part. But it’s not allowed to use it:
But Tara Hopkins, Instagram’s head of policy for Europe and the Middle East, claimed the company’s ability to deploy new technology to catch self-injury content in the UK and the European Union had been crippled by GDPR, which remains in force in Britain.
Ms Hopkins said: In the EU and the UK, we use image-based technology to find graphic self-harm… outside the EU, we’re able to use a more sophisticated range of technology.
There are questions about whether this more sophisticated technology is allowed under GDPR, because it’s considered to be potentially making a judgement on someone’s mental health.
We’re not allowed to track nutters – breach of privacy.
Well done to the European Union, eh?
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Do I really want them to be able to track me?
As you can see, as always, it's all about me.
If GDPR allows people to request their information from a data holder, everyone in the USA should make a GDPR request to Channel 4 news, as they have cambridge analytica data.
Would be hilarious
Finally, something +ve from the EU.