Thread by @CarissaVeliz

Yesterday, the Taskforce on Innovation, Growth and Regulatory Reform published a report outlining their vision to “refresh the #UK’s approach to regulation now that we have left the EU”. A thread on the life of #privacy post-#Brexit. (Trigger warning: it doesn't look good). 👇 1/

The report emphasises "#consumer #data" as "highly profitable." Something to note: the report mentions "#consumers" 52 times while mentioning "#citizens" 11 times. 2/
gov.uk/government/pub…

It then describes the #GDPR as inflexible and onerous: "In a survey by DataGrail 49% of business decision makers reported spending over 10 working days a year just to sustain GDPR compliance, with 12% spending over 30 working days a year" 3/

"A more proportionate approach would free up many businesses to provide more value to the consumers and other businesses they serve." This is a terrible argument. 4/

As an analogy: imagine if the government said that it's too onerous for restaurants to be sanitary, so we should "free them up". Privacy and safety are very important for individuals and society, and if it takes us 30 days p/y to keep our #data safe, then that's what it takes.5/

Another highlight: "Article 5 of #GDPR requires data be
'collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes,' and 'adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary'. These restrictions limit #AI" 6/

Is the recommendation then to collect as much #data as possible for legitimate and illegitimate purposes alike? 7/

The report goes on to propose scrapping Article 22 of the #GDPR. It recommends "remov[ing] human review of algorithmic decisions." (#!) If we are already seeing algorithmic disasters (remember the A-levels?) under the GDPR, brace yourselves for what's coming in the #UK. 8/

And don't get me started on digital #health and what can happen to patients' #medicaldata. If data flows like this report is recommending, confidentiality will be thrown out the window, and with it, public #trust. 9/

The parts relevant to privacy in this report read to me like they are all about #profit, and nothing to do with #democracy or citizens' rights or #wellbeing. Note: "democratic" is only mentioned once. The general gist of it is: forget about #citizens—make way for #AI 10/

Thus far, it looks like the #UK might well be on its way to becoming a #datahaven, like I predicted: theguardian.com/commentisfree/… 11/

For a critical summary by @OpenRightsGroup:

12/12
openrightsgroup.org/blog/stand-up-…

Might be of interest to @jimkillock, @alexhern, @johnthornhill, @madhumita29, @jjn1, @carlykind_, @tabithagold, @EinsteinsAttic, @cori_crider, @Foxglovelegal, @DuncanEMcCann, @1Br0wn, @yvesalexandre. H/t @Ianopolous, @DrJohnReader.