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Friday, 28 December 2018

Tech became 'darker and more muddy' in 2018

Margethe Vestager
Margrethe Vestager ordered Google to pay a record-sized fine this year
Data abuse has "darkened" technology's potential, the EU's Competition Commissioner has warned.

In an interview for the BBC's Today programme, Margrethe Vestager criticised the tech giants for misusing data and failing to respect citizens' rights.
Baroness Martha Lane Fox
Baroness Lane-Fox of Soho co-founded Lastminute.com before becoming a crossbench peer
New EU rules governing what could be done with data provided some protection, she said. But she added that the need for more concerted action was becoming pressing.
Amazon boxes in New York City, 29 March 2018
The European Commission is also looking into Amazon's business practices
"Over these 12 months our relationship with tech has both been darker and more muddy because it becomes increasingly clear that all the bright and shiny positive potentials of tech are at the risk of being darkened by forced misuse of data, manipulation, supervision, no respect of the citizen, no respect of individual rights," she told Martha Lane Fox who carried out the interview.


"There is an increasing awareness of the fact that we really need to do something and to do that together."

Baroness Lane-Fox, who is a board member of Twitter, is guest editor of this morning's Today radio programme on BBC Radio 4.