EU mass surveillance: New data retention opinion has big implications

The European Commission just proposed the Digital Fairness Act, an EU-wide consumer protection regulation that targets a bunch of shady practices businesses use to exploit people online. Here’s what’s in the proposal, which will kick off an almighty lobbying battle across the EU.NOTE: Probably because I’m not a gamer, I completely forgot to mention the DFA proposal to limit loot boxes and pay-to-progress tactics. Apologies for that; please enjoy this Politico article on the gaming industry’s pushback: https://www.politico.eu/article/european-gaming-firms-say-new-eu-consumer-rules-will-cripple-the-industry-digital-fairness-act/Tech Gets Real is a show about staying in control at a time of rapid technological change. I'm Berlin-based tech journalist David Meyer, and I've been covering tech policy for two decades. If you like this, please hit like and subscribe, and share it with others who might find it useful.To contact me, please email [email protected] or connect on:Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/superglaze.eurosky.socialMastodon: https://mastodon.social/@superglazeFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/davidmeyerwritesLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidmeyer2/REFERENCES:Digital Fairness Act proposal https://commission.europa.eu/document/0575d59f-554f-4a9e-b54b-e6b717175809_enEuropean Commission DFA press release https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_26_2407Commission DFA Q&A https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/qanda_26_2408CCIA Europe DFA statement https://ccianet.org/news/2026/11/digital-fairness-act-overlaps-with-existing-eu-rules-despite-commissions-recent-pledge-to-cut-red-tape/Politico on DFA reactions https://www.politico.eu/article/brussels-takes-on-the-evils-of-online-commerce-digital-fairness-act-commission/

European banks really do have to refund customers who lose money in phishing scams, the Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled in a Polish case. The CJEU’s decision is a big deal for phishing victims who until now have usually been forced to take the hit themselves. Tech Gets Real is a show about staying in control at a time of rapid technological change. I'm Berlin-based tech journalist David Meyer, and I've been covering tech policy for two decades. If you like this, please hit like and subscribe, and share it with others who might find it useful. To contact me, please email [email protected] or connect on: Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/superglaze.eurosky.social Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@superglazeFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/davidmeyerwritesLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidmeyer2/ REFERENCES: My ISMG article on the Polish case https://www.databreachtoday.com/bank-phishing-refunds-should-be-easier-says-cjeu-advisor-a-30949 The European Banking Authority’s (EBA) 2025 Report on Payment Fraud https://ismg-cdn.nyc3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/asset_files/external/ecbebaecb202512en.pdf CJEU press release on Tukowiecka case https://curia.europa.eu/site/upload/docs/application/pdf/2026-10/cp260147en.pdf The Tukowiecka ruling itself https://infocuria.curia.europa.eu/tabs/jurisprudence?sort=DOC_DATE-DESC&searchTerm=%2522C%252D70%252F25%2522&publishedId=C-70%2F25

Norway is about to ban camera-equipped smart glasses such as Meta AI Glasses from many public spaces, and a Dutch eyewear retailer is dropping the category from its lineup, because of social and legal pushback. Can a company like Meta, which has many privacy scandals under its belt and which is close to the Trump administration, get around this kind of resistance? To contact me, please email [email protected] or connect on: Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/superglaze.eurosky.social Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@superglazeFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/davidmeyerwritesLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidmeyer2/ REFERENCES: Norway announces smart glasses ban proposal https://www.regjeringen.no/no/aktuelt/vil-innfore-midlertidig-forbud-mot-ki-briller/id3175516/ Hans Anders drops Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/dutch-eyewear-chain-hans-anders-halts-sale-meta-glasses-citing-privacy-concerns-2026-10-02/ Dutch privacy regulator AP on camera glasses https://www.autoriteitpersoonsgegevens.nl/actueel/ap-waarschuwt-gebruikers-camerabrillen-dat-filmen-van-anderen-vrijwel-altijd-verboden-is Hamburg bans smart glasses in many places https://www.rapporteur.com/news/hamburg-moves-to-ban-smart-glasses-on-public-transport/ German Federal Network Agency resists smart glasses ban https://www.heise.de/en/news/Federal-Network-Agency-not-banning-Meta-Smart-Glasses-11415182.html Svenska Dagbladet on Meta smart glasses imagery being annotated https://www.svd.se/a/K8nrV4/metas-ai-smart-glasses-and-data-privacy-concerns-workers-say-we-see-everything Meta’s smart glasses facial recognition patent application https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/28556604/meta-fac-rec-party-patent.pdf Wired on Muse AI agent profiling contacts https://www.wired.com/story/muse-creates-detailed-profiles-of-all-your-friends-and-family/

New British Prime Minister Andy Burnham used a major UN speech to announce a pushback against Russian online disinformation campaigns that fuel far-right unrest in the UK. We need to see the details, because there’s a risk of fueling far-right persecution claims if this is not handled with care. Tech Gets Real is a show about staying in control at a time of rapid technological change. I'm Berlin-based tech journalist David Meyer, and I've been covering tech policy for two decades. If you like this, please hit like and subscribe, and share it with others who might find it useful. To contact me, please email [email protected] or connect on: Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/superglaze.eurosky.social Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@superglazeFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/davidmeyerwritesLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidmeyer2/ REFERENCES: Video of Andy Burnham’s UN speech https://media.un.org/avlibrary/en/asset/d363/d3630670 Text of the speech https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/pm-speech-at-unga-22-september-2026 Byline Times on Russian disinformation https://bylinetimes.com/2022/03/17/putins-willing-disinformation-agents/ 2025 study on far right sharing disinformation https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/19401612241311886 Guardian on far-right violence in Portsmouth https://www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-interactive/2026/sep/08/how-a-black-clad-christian-vigilante-group-swarmed-portsmouth Guardian on far-right activist Daniel Thomas attacking dinghy https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/sep/24/police-arrest-far-right-activist-daniel-thomas-after-dinghy-slashed-channel

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday proposed a wide-ranging “alliance for the future” between his country and the European Union. It was all about self-preservation in the face of Trump’s America – and a lot of it was about tech sovereignty, particularly regarding AI and its infrastructure. (Sorry for mangling “Bruegel”…) Tech Gets Real is a show about staying in control at a time of rapid technological change. I'm Berlin-based tech journalist David Meyer, and I've been covering tech policy for two decades. If you like this, please hit like and subscribe, and share it with others who might find it useful. To contact me, please email [email protected] or connect on: Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/superglaze.eurosky.social Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@superglazeFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/davidmeyerwritesLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidmeyer2/ REFERENCES: Full video of Carney’s speech https://multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/en/video/formal-sitting-with-mark-carney-canadian-prime-minister-address-by-mark-carney-canadian-prime-minister_I294232 Official transcript (slightly different) of the speech https://www.pm.gc.ca/en/news/speeches/2026/09/17/prime-minister-carney-delivers-address-european-parliament My ISMG article on Carney’s address https://www.govinfosecurity.com/canadian-pm-floats-tech-sovereignty-alliance-europe-a-32856 Europe 2031 estimates of EU compute capacity https://europe2031.ai/compute-forecast/ Bruegel analysis of Europe’s comparative disadvantage in compute capacity https://www.bruegel.org/policy-brief/how-can-europe-address-its-pressing-ai-compute-infrastructure-shortfall Report on Canadian data center capacity https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/business/politics/2026/07/08/canada-data-centre-capacity-could-soar-to-20-gw-in-planned-projects-government-document/

Anthropic has not given UK and European AI officials access to Mythos 5.1, its latest powerful model, seemingly because the Trump administration won’t allow it. There’s no easy explanation for this – especially as OpenAI is being allowed to grant similar access to its latest model, Tech Gets Real is a show about staying in control at a time of rapid technological change. I'm Berlin-based tech journalist David Meyer, and I've been covering tech policy for two decades. If you like this, please hit like and subscribe, and share it with others who might find it useful. To contact me, please email [email protected] or connect on: Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/superglaze.eurosky.socialMastodon: https://mastodon.social/@superglazeFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/davidmeyerwritesLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidmeyer2/REFERENCES: Financial Times on UK AI Security Institute being shut out https://www.ft.com/content/560e1c8b-f163-4fd6-b604-e905550ac870 My ISMG article on Anthropic’s Mythos access promise https://www.databreachtoday.com/europe-edges-closer-to-claude-mythos-access-a-31827 FedScoop on CAISI being underfunded https://fedscoop.com/caisi-would-benefit-from-more-resources-ostp-director-tells-lawmakers/ Protect Democracy on Trump voluntary AI framework lawsuit https://protectdemocracy.org/work/uncovering-the-trump-administrations-secret-rules-for-ai-model-release/ Anthropic announcement of Mythos 5.1 and Fable 5.1 https://www.anthropic.com/claude-fable-and-mythos-5-1 Jacob Coxon’s X posts on AI risks https://x.com/hilbertspaess/status/2097476196791709843 Anthropic post on Mythos security https://www.anthropic.com/research/alignment-assessment-cybersecurity-incidents

Europe’s attitude towards data retention – seeing it as mass surveillance anytime people’s information is indiscriminately collected and stored – may be changing, judging from a new opinion from the chief adviser to the EU’s highest court, the Court of Justice. Tech Gets Real is a show about staying in control at a time of rapid technological change. I'm Berlin-based tech journalist David Meyer, and I've been covering tech policy for two decades. If you like this, please hit like and subscribe, and share it with others who might find it useful. To contact me, please email [email protected] or connect on: Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/superglaze.eurosky.socialMastodon: https://mastodon.social/@superglazeFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/davidmeyerwritesLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidmeyer2/ REFERENCES: Digital Rights Ireland ruling https://infocuria.curia.europa.eu/tabs/affair?sort=AFF_NUM-DESC&searchTerm=%2522C%252D293%252F12%2522&publishedId=C-293%2F12 Tele2 Sverige / Watson ruling https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex:62015CJ0203 La Quadrature du Net I ruling https://infocuria.curia.europa.eu/tabs/affair?lang=en&sort=AFF_NUM-DESC&searchTerm=%2522c%252D511%252F18%2522&publishedId=c-511%2F18 Irish Garda-Dwyer ruling https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex:62020CJ0140 German SpaceNet ruling https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex:62019CJ0793 La Quad II ruling https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex:62021CJ0470 Szpunar’s opinion in the present case (Académie Fiscale) https://infocuria.curia.europa.eu/tabs/jurisprudence?sort=DOC_DATE-DESC&searchTerm=%2522C%252D661%252F24%2522&publishedId=C-661%2F24

We’re used to manufacturers leaving smart devices buggy or completely abandoning them for various reasons. But AI is now proving useful for reverse-engineering firmware – which clearly presents big cybersecurity risks as well as opportunities for taking real ownership of one’s own possessions – and new European laws also promise to force manufacturers to take longevity more seriously. Tech Gets Real is a show about staying in control at a time of rapid technological change. I'm Berlin-based tech journalist David Meyer, and I've been covering tech policy for two decades. If you like this, please hit like and subscribe, and share it with others who might find it useful. To contact me, please email [email protected] or connect on: Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/superglaze.eurosky.socialMastodon: https://mastodon.social/@superglazeFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/davidmeyerwritesLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidmeyer2/ REFERENCES: The Guardian on European heatwave deaths https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/aug/25/at-least-35000-excess-deaths-europe-back-to-back-heatwaves Chaz Schlarp’s blogpost on reverse-engineering peripherals https://schlarp.com/posts/everything-i-own-owned/ Tech Radar on Spotify Car Thing’s revival https://www.techradar.com/audio/four-years-after-its-untimely-demise-spotify-car-thing-is-back-for-free-and-with-absolutely-no-help-from-the-streaming-giant-itself Mira on GitHub https://github.com/mira-thing/mira-releases/releases#release-v1.1.0 European Commission on Right to Repair Directive https://commission.europa.eu/news-and-media/news/right-repair-new-consumer-rights-easy-and-attractive-repairs-2026-07-31_en Cyber Resilience Act https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/cyber-resilience-act My ISMG article on Cyber Resilience Act guidance https://www.bankinfosecurity.net/iot-sector-given-final-eu-cyber-resilience-act-guidance-a-32349

In the wake of OpenAI’s accidental hack of Hugging Face, over 1,000 luminaries from the AI industry have called for an international agreement on slowing down the pace of AI development – signatories include Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei. That kind of deal is unlikely. But without it, unconstrained capitalism won’t allow any company to slow down unilaterally. Tech Gets Real is a show about staying in control at a time of rapid technological change. I'm Berlin-based tech journalist David Meyer, and I've been covering tech policy for two decades. If you like this, please hit like and subscribe, and share it with others who might find it useful. To contact me, please email [email protected] or connect on: Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/superglaze.eurosky.social Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@superglaze Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/davidmeyerwrites LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidmeyer2/ REFERENCES: Hugging Face post-mortem on OpenAI incident https://huggingface.co/blog/agent-intrusion-technical-timeline Announcement of AI Kill Switch Act bill https://lieu.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/reps-lieu-and-moran-introduce-bill-require-kill-switch-ai-systems-can Pacing the Frontier petition https://www.pacingthefrontier.com/ Wikipedia article on previous call for an AI development pause https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pause_Giant_AI_Experiments:_An_Open_Letter Reuters on suspicious activity of OpenAI agents https://www.reuters.com/business/its-ai-agent-spent-days-hacking-company-sources-say-openai-did-not-notice-week-2026-07-24/

China’s AI companies have become a huge threat to their US rivals with their more open models, with the likes of Kimi K3, GLM-5.2 and Qwen 3.8 now almost rivalling Anthropic and OpenAI’s best efforts. The Trump administration will soon need to make a decision about how or whether to try to control those Chinese models and the open-source AI movement in general – and China will need to consider whether the many benefits of open AI are worth the risks. Tech Gets Real is a show about staying in control in a time of rapid technological change, presented from a European perspective. I'm veteran tech journalist David Meyer, and I've been covering tech policy for two decades. If you like this, please hit like and subscribe, and share it with others who might find it useful.REFERENCES: Reuters on US-China AI talks https://www.reuters.com/world/china/us-china-hold-ai-talks-september-sources-say-2026-07-21/ Hugging Face on its hacking incident https://huggingface.co/blog/security-incident-july-2026 The Diplomat on the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization https://thediplomat.com/2026/07/chinas-new-ai-club-the-world-artificial-intelligence-cooperation-organization/ Xi Jinping’s open AI speech http://english.scio.gov.cn/topnews/2026-07/18/content_118605932.html Financial Times on China considering open AI controls https://www.ft.com/content/6049a031-9e9b-464c-97bb-414da04d5a6a?syn-25a6b1a6=1 Thinking Machines Lab on its Tinker release https://thinkingmachines.ai/news/introducing-inkling/ Ben Thompson’s Stratechery post on the US’s choiceshttps://stratechery.com/2026/whos-afraid-of-chinese-models/ David Sacks vs Dean Ball https://x.com/DavidSacks/status/2078826291638522127