AI: EU Member States approve “digital expropriation” of Europeans for AI companies
On Wednesday, the EU Council — representing member states — approved a provision (Article 88bis of the Digital Omnibus proposal) that lets companies use personal data “in the context of AI” by default as an overriding “legitimate interest”, without asking for consent. That would cover even data from people who were never customers, or posts and chats from decades ago. Privacy NGO noyb calls it the biggest rollback of European data protection since the GDPR era began and a gift to US Big Tech. Why it matters: the text is not final — the Council must still negotiate with the European Parliament, which has not yet taken a position — but if adopted, vast troves of already-collected data could suddenly become fair game for AI training.
SOURCES
- Hacker News (AI)2026-10-23 13:19