Our Individual Data: The Overlooked Casualty In The European Elections

Turn on the TV, open a newspaper, log on to the social networks – faces you have barely seen over the last five years have suddenly reappeared like ghosts from elections past. There’s no mistaking it, the European elections are upon us.

Elections are strange; European elections even stranger. Where they should be an opportunity to openly debate and decide the issues that affect Europe as a whole, they are often left to meaningless rhetoric, shadows of the same issues seen at local and national level with only a nod towards our collective future in Europe.

EU has a vital role to play in protecting the future integrity of the Internet and democratic communication. The recent ruling of the European Court of Justice in favour of Mario Costeja Gonzalez to have search results referring to past financial difficulties erased demonstrates how powerful Europe can be as an instrument for upholding not just Europeans’ digital rights, but those of the wider world.

Ignoring the obvious

The upcoming European elections will have a huge bearing on our digital future. And yet, this future is far from the top of the agenda in the campaigning and media coverage leading up to the elections. Instead politicians focus on populism and vote grabbing while ignoring some of the most important issues facing us.

It’s been less than a year since we were told that we are fully exposed to mass surveillance; and yet, the issues surrounding our right to privacy remain unresolved. There is a need for this topic to be brought back to the top of the news agenda and prevent it from being buried by this political carnival, unaccountable babble and lack of direction.

Voices raising the issue around data protection laws are few and far between. Jan Phillip Albrecht of the Green Party in Germany is a notable exception, and he has worked tirelessly to bring these problems to the fore. But there is only so much impact one voice can have in an ocean of different agendas.

This is not to suggest that other topics that currently affect Europe aren’t important, far from it. Finance, employment, currency and the environment are all deserving of a place at the top of the agenda. However, our digital rights are being ignored, which means that large corporations with massive amounts of reach and power over our data, will ultimately be able to hold us to ransom.

Make it count

When many of Europe’s most powerful politicians are personally being spied upon – ‘for the sake of global security’ – it is obvious that there is a problem. But when the same politicians, i.e. Angela Merkel, describe the Internet as ‘virgin territory’ can we expect anything less? The ruling political class is disconnected from the hyper-connected reality that we all live. There is a severe lack of understanding of the issues around data and this in itself is dangerous for our shared future.

A free and open Internet is vital for business, growth and prosperity. Businesses and individuals need to be assured of secure and private communications and services. If any national postal service was opening customer envelopes, it would cause a scandal of epic proportions. But since the Internet is young, and governance far from hardened – because it is constantly evolving and can disrupt so many industries – a laissez-faire attitude persists where we are accepting that our information can be scanned and stored for eternity.

Our politicians need to better understand what is really at stake here, and legislate based on that understanding. The lack of communication or campaigning on the digital issues that will affect all of us speaks volumes: they don’t understand it, and they don’t want to talk about it. That’s why we should demand every politician to make public their position on data privacy: silence can no longer be accepted.

There is also a need for the public to engage on these topics – not just the political parties and the media, but the electorate too. Speak about these issues with your colleagues and friends. Examine the manifestos of the candidates in your constituency to see what they propose for protecting our digital rights. If it’s a topic they have ignored, ask them why, or for greater impact just don’t give them your vote.

Europe must become a leader in setting the standards for data integrity, thus establishing the trust needed to preserve an open, valuable and secure Internet. We need to demand that our representatives deal with this promptly and effectively. A shared, democratic future depends on it.

This opinion was contributed by Rafael Laguna, CEO of open source software developer Open Xchange.

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