EU Personal Privacy Rights: New EU digital law will 'protect personal data' - by Damon Embling

On the same day as Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg was getting a grilling in the US over the Cambridge Analytica scandal, the future of digital was the focus in Brussels.

The Digital Day coming amid big questions over the use of our personal data.

One German MEP said she was clear what she would be asking Zuckerberg right now.

"My question would be why Facebook did not inform the users as soon as they learned about the data had passed on," said Julia Reda.

"Because the problem, of course they can't control the fact that somebody else illegally use data for the wrong purpose. But apparently they have known this for a long time and they didn't inform users, they didn't inform the public and there I think is the real scandal."

Zuckerberg has not yet taken up a European Parliament offer to attend a session.

Next month, a strict new EU law comes in on data privacy, which the Facebook chief has said he agrees to "in spirit," but he's stopped short of committing to it as a standard for the social network globally.

"Here is a law that will protect personal data, a regulation in which the consent of users is at the heart of it," explained Mariya Gabriel, EU Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society.

"This means that each user has the right to know how their data is used and to freely decide to give their authorisation or not."

The EU law - known as the General Data Protection Regulation - is the biggest overhaual of online privacy since the birth of the internet.

Read more: New EU digital law will 'protect personal data' | Euronews

EU Headscarf policy: European countries consider differing bans on the headscarf

It is not just in Austria where young girls could soon be banned from wearing headscarves in classrooms.

The leader of Germany's liberal Free Democratic Party, the FDP, has also proposed a ban in the North Rhine-Westphalia region - and nationwide.

A tweet quoting party leader Christian Lindner said "A ban on girls under the age of 14 is proportionate and strengthens personal development."

While the FDP wants to bring a debate on the issue to Germany's parliament, Austria's new coalition government has proposed a ban on headscarves for girls aged under 10 in schools.

Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said his goal was to confront any development of what he termed "parallel societies" in Austria.

European countries have different policies on the headscarf. While Austria's ban could come in next year, in Germany and Switzerland they already apply to some female teachers, but not to schoolgirls.

Meanwhile in France, children are not allowed to wear headscarves, kippas or larger crosses in the classroom. Only small religious signs are allowed.

But Italy, Belgium and Switzerland allow individual schools to decide.

Read more: European countries consider differing bans on the headscarf | Euronews

Green Energy- Solar Power: China outshines Europe in 2017 clean power investment ranking

Solar Power Plant in ALMERE, the Netherlands

Solar power dominated a global ranking of new renewable energy investments “like never before” last year, with China accounting for more than half of the world’s new capacity, the UN said on Thursday (5 April). Investments in Europe, on the other hand, recorded a massive drop.

The world installed a record 98 gigawatts of new solar capacity in 2017, far more than the net additions of any other technology – renewable, fossil fuel or nuclear – according to new data.

The ‘Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment 2018’ report was released on Thursday (5 April) by UN Environment, the Frankfurt School – UNEP Collaborating Centre, and Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

At $160.8 billion, solar power attracted far more investment than any other technology. China saw “an unprecedented boom” in solar that saw some 53 gigawatts added – more than half the global total – with $86.5 billion invested.

‘’China’s clean energy push is impressive and good news for the planet,” said trade association SolarPower Europe, citing “a near 80% red

Overall, renewable energies were far ahead, at $279.8 billion, towering above new investment in coal and gas generation capacity, which reached an estimated $103 billion.

“The world added more solar capacity than coal, gas, and nuclear plants combined,” said Nils Stieglitz, President of Frankfurt School of Finance & Management. “This shows where we are heading, although the fact that renewables altogether are still far from providing the majority of electricity means that we still have a long way to go.”

Last year was the eighth in a row in which global investment in renewables exceeded $200 billion, the report said. Since 2004, the world has invested $2.9 trillion in these green energy sources.

But some regions like the United States and Europe have clearly fallen behind. In the US, investments dropped 6%, to $40.5 billion. In Europe, the fall was steeper, at 36%, to reach $40.9 billion. The biggest drops were recorded in the United Kingdom (down 65% to $7.6 billion) and Germany (down 35% to $10.4 billion).

“In countries that saw lower investment, it generally reflected a mixture of changes in policy support, the timing of large project financings, such as in offshore wind, and lower capital costs per megawatt,” said Angus McCrone, Chief Editor of Bloomberg New Energy Finance and lead author of the report.

Read more: China outshines Europe in 2017 clean power investment ranking – EURACTIV.com

Facebook and Privacy Concerns: Deleting a Facebook account is almost impossible, says expert - by Marta Rodriguez Martinez & Cristina Abellan-Matamoro

 Cambridge Analytica scandal that has plagued Facebook for weeks has pushed a number of platform users to consider closing down their accounts.

However, even if people choose to delete their Facebook profiles, it is almost impossible to do so without leaving a digital footprint.

Juan Carlos Lara, a lawyer specialised in new technologies, explained to Euronews to what extent a Facebook account can be deleted.
How to eliminate a Facebook account – step by step

“Facebook is obliged to delete personal data for those who wish to terminate their accounts in most countries. However, there are two things to consider,” said Lara.

Deactivate

“The first thing is that the platform offers the option to 'deactivate' the account, which suspends it but does not erase all the personal data. This option is very easy — all you need to do is go to the general settings tab and click on ‘Manage account,’ which will give you the deactivate option."

Erase

“But this does not mean that your account has been erased. To do this, the process is quite easy but hard to find,” said Lara.

“In the same ‘Manage account’ option, you can click on a ‘More information’ link, which sends you to a graphic explanation of the deactivate option.

"In the ninth page of the document appears a new link with more detailed information on what erasing your account means (this option is also accessible through the frequently asked questions page). This link gives you the option to permanently delete the account."

You can find the link to delete your account here.

Read more: Deleting a Facebook account is almost impossible, says expert

The Facebook and Google Files: Here’s What Google and Facebook Know About You—And What You Can Do About It - Mehreen Kasana

If you use Google or Facebook, you may have wondered just how much of your personal data these big internet giants have access to. This is a good question to ask in our modern era of Big Data, constant connectivity and rapidly decreasing personal privacy. Some people, like Washington State Chief Privacy Officer Alex Alben, even argue that your personal data isn’t really “personal” at all. In other words, you may have unwittingly agreed to give your deepest information to third-party vendors through websites and apps simply by agreeing to their lengthy and frequently skimmed Terms of Service.

By the looks of it, Google seems to have some of the most invasive amounts of data on its users. This isn’t to say the company is using personal data on people for malicious and nefarious purposes. But the frequency, detail and amount it has amassed over the years are beginning to put people on edge. Let’s start off with location. If you have Google maps enabled (like many of us), your physical movements and the time you take to get from Point A to Point B, wherever that may be, has been logged into its search database. If you want to see proof of this activity, look at your Google timeline.

Then there’s your search history. Google maintains a database of your search entries as a way to learn more about you and your preferences. But if you fear that this constant logging of your personal search history is a dash too deep for your taste, you need to delete your search history from all the devices you own. That’s not all. Ads, too, factor into Google’s profiles of its users. To give you an example, Google has an advertisement profile on me; its algorithm asserts that I'm a female between the age of 25-34 and that I might like computers, hair care and politics. Google presents ads based on the personal information you give the website, including your age, gender, location, and other metrics. Plus, Google stores your YouTube search history and maintains a log of information on the apps you use. From the amount you spend on these apps to the people you talk to, Google stores that information in its database.

Then there’s Facebook. Amid the Cambridge Analytica scandal, the social network giant is under massive fire from observers who say its practices on privacy are reprehensible. With many people joining the #DeleteFacebook sentiment, the company recently shared an update in its security settings, saying that access to it would be more readily available for users. But if you’re interested in knowing just how much Facebook has on you in terms of personal data, check out its download feature. Go to your general account settings and look for “Download a copy of your Facebook data” at the bottom of the option

It might be slightly jarring to see just how much Facebook logs about its users. From personal conversations, phone numbers, apps, photos, videos, events, locations, and a whole lot more, Facebook’s data can be converted into tons of documents on individual users. I’ll give you my example. Since 2008, Facebook has 430.1 megabytes of personal data on me. To make sense of such a colossal amount, conversion to a Word document helps. Since one megabyte is almost 500 character-filled pages, that's about 215,050 pages of text on yours truly. To make matters less uncomfortable, that’s several novels.

While Facebook tries to figure out how to respond to growing concern over its privacy settings, you can do your (small) part in tightening your profile. You can opt out of Facebook’s API sharing feature so that third-party websites, games and applications don’t have access to your data.

For the complte report click here: Here’s What Google and Facebook Know About You—And What You Can Do About It | Alternet

Islam: The (Silent) Revolution of Muslim Women - Andrés Ortega

There is much speculation as to whether liberalizing moves, such as the ones undertaken in Saudi Arabia, are for real. To be sure, despite recent, very encouraging signs, the jury is still out on that matter.

But in a broader context, there are definite signs of progress across the Muslim world. Indications are that a veritable revolution is underway among women in such societies.

Of course, it is not an overt revolution, but a profound transformation that has great scope: Since the turn of the century, 50 million women in predominantly-Muslim countries have entered the labor market.

As Saadia Zahidi, a Pakistani member of the World Economic Forum’s Executive Committee and head of its initiative on Education, Gender and Work, argues in her well-researched book packed with concrete examples, Fifty Million Rising: The New Generation of Working Women Transforming the Muslim World, what is happening is a real “tsunami.”

It is true that working women still account for only one quarter of the female population of these societies. But as Saadia Zahidi states, “the increase in their numbers represents an economic and cultural shift of enormous magnitude. Fifteen million women are renegotiating their own and their families’ norms and values.”

To give one example, in Pakistan, only four million women worked out of a population of 107 million 1990. By now, while the population has since doubled, the number of women workers has risen fourfold.

We should also remember that the United States and Europe only managed this transformation half a century ago. Some decades ago, in countries like in Germany, women still needed the consent of their husbands to take up work. Sound familiar?

Research suggests that, once women reach a 30% share in a nation’s labor force, this constitutes a tipping point where things start to change. They now account for 31% of the workforce across the Islamic world.

Clearly, there are major differences among Muslim countries. Only six of them have laws protecting against discrimination on the grounds of sex in employment contracts: Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Mauritania, Morocco and Tajikistan.

And very often, although they can now study and work, these freedoms are not accompanied by basic freedoms for women. For example, rates of mobile phone ownership are significantly lower among women than among men in the majority of these societies.

In other words, it is a revolution that is by no means assured. It is “exponential, but not inevitable,” as Saadia Zahidi puts it. The forces of conservatism may push it back – as has already happened in some countries. Armed conflicts may thwart progress as well, as has occurred in Syria.

The type of education these young women are choosing also matters considerably. There are only five countries in the world with a higher proportion of women than men studying science, technology and engineering.

Two of them, Kuwait and Brunei, are predominantly Muslim. Half of the 18 countries where women constitute 40% of such students are Muslim, according to Zahidi.

Recent academic years in Egypt have seen almost 34% of the places in these subjects being taken by women, many of whom go on to pursue careers in the same fields, often as tech and online retailing entrepreneurs.

But if the trend continues, it will change many things. Just recall that in 2004, the sociologists Ronald Inglehart and Pippa Norris had convincingly argued that the real clash today’s world has to contend with was not one between civilizations, as Samuel Huntington had argued. They cast it as a clash between sexes, because of the often subservient role played by women, especially in the Muslim world.  

Note EU-Digest: Great progress indeed for Muslim women, but unfortunately it also is a matter of the equality of men and women that needs to be addressed. The Koran was never modernized to reflect the equality of women in relation to men. In contrast to what was done during the Reformation for the Christian religion by Martin Luther against the doctrinal and oppressive Catholic Church based in Rome.

For the complete report click here: The (Silent) Revolution of Muslim Women - The Globalist

The Netherlands: Dutch Lawyer linked to ex-Trump campaign chairman sentenced to 30 days in jail - by Sarah N. Lynch

Alex van der Zwaan (left) sentenced 
for lying to Special Counsel Mueller

The Dutch son-in-law of one of Russia's richest men was sentenced on Tuesday to 30 days in prison and fined $20,000 for lying to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigators about contacts with an official in President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign.

Alex van der Zwaan, a lawyer who once worked closely with Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, was also sentenced to two months of supervised release and said he was sorry for what he did.

He pleaded guilty on Feb. 20 as Mueller intensified his investigation into potential collusion between the president's campaign and Russia, and told prosecutors he lied to FBI agents about previous communications with Rick Gates, a Manafort protege who held a senior position in the Trump campaign.

"What I did was wrong. I apologize to this court, and I apologize to my wife," van der Zwaan said at the hearing.

Van der Zwaan, 33, previously worked for the law firm Skadden Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom and is married to the daughter of prominent Russian billionaire German Khan, founder of the privately owned Alfa Bank.

The couple is expecting their first child later this year.

Read more: Lawyer linked to ex-Trump campaign chairman sentenced to 30 days in jail