Your data protection mission … should you choose to accept it

A new data protection regulation is being pushed through by the Commission, and it isn’t fighting fair. This is a regulation, not a directive like the one it replaces, and will be implemented word for word into national law, overwriting years of carefully developed legislation that protects consumers and science.

The regulation frankly sucks, and could have been written by a bunch of monkeys with typewriters. It potentially restricts access to data on a huge scale for research, and displays a profound lack of legal clarity or understanding of data use in science. It is so badly written that it will create legal uncertainty around any research carried out using pseudonimised or sensitive data, threatening products or processes from such research – a real killer for investment and exploitation. It will affect all research, so don’t feel smug if you are reading this from a university.

The ’ugly face’ is the strange situation where amendments from worried national governments appear to be sliding out of text prepared by the European Commission, which is very kindly helping out the current Presidency with some extra admin ’support’. Parliament is also confusing the scandal of data access by government security agencies with the use of data in research, and will vote through a draconian regulation that does nothing to stop the NSA reading your email and everything to stop you using data derived from patients, biobanks, etc.

Many governments oppose this, but run the risk of generating headlines about failing to protect their citizens. As we are close to elections, there is an almost tragic resignation to the fact that this regulation will come into effect, and efforts are being aimed at damage limitation rather than creating something genuinely useful. It is like replacing a brain surgeon with a child holding a blunt spoon. It didn’t always go right before, but it sure as hell is going to go wrong now.

This is a ridiculous and dangerous situation. European Commission, please listen to national concerns and improve this regulation. Make it legally strong, bring in specific, more sophisticated reference to the use of data in science, and listen to the countries that have spent years developing exactly this kind of legislation – they know what they are talking about. You are supposed to serve Europe, not impose your own underdeveloped opinions through a misuse of process.

And you, my fearless warriors, contact your MEP, your national government and your newspapers and tell them what this regulation will do to science in Europe. Make them bold enough to do something about it while they still can. If not, then the last one out of the lab should turn out the lights.