Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 7 November 2019
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Session 4: International Collaboration
Mr. Adrian Lovett:
We try to recognise that, in such a broad challenge, different approaches are needed. For example, we think the GDPR standard will be pretty much reflected in the relevant parts of the contractual web clauses because it exists, is a good start and can be built on. The contract with the web does not try to offer an overall regulatory approach. It tries to acknowledge where there are relevant initiatives and mechanisms already in place. Beyond that, we believe in the power of transparency and the public spotlight not as an answer to everything but as an important element. The reason the human rights assessments I spoke about earlier would be important is that it would put information in the public domain. Companies would be required to do that, we would then see that and those companies could be held to account. In some aspects of the contract for the web's scope, there would be regulatory and legislative means to do so. In other parts, it would be the within the power and ability of the public to scrutinise and see what companies are doing and to judge them accordingly, including where they take their business.
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