Donald Trump’s second term in office as the president of the United States has witnessed fundamental changes to how the US government operates. From the outset, Trump enacted various exercises aimed at cost-cutting and simplifying governance, then formed the Department of Government Efficiency, which he claimed would reduce the budget deficit. As part of these…
In mid-June 2025, Microsoft made an announcement about a suite of “Sovereign Cloud solutions” designed to ensure that data belonging to European customers remains stored and processed entirely within Europe. Judson Althoff, executive vice-president and chief commercial officer at Microsoft, said this “evolution and expansion” will be offered across all existing European datacentre regions, for…
European digital sovereignty: Storage, surveillance concerns to overcome Read More »
Retailers are not having an easy time. The June 2025 report from the CBI reveals that retail sales fell for the ninth consecutive month and are expected to continue their rapid decline throughout July. There was a thin sliver of light, as online retail sales volumes grew slightly and are predicted to rise again next month.…
The European Commission (EC) has been ignoring calls to reassess Israel’s data adequacy status for over a year, despite “urgent concerns” about the country’s data protection framework and conduct in Gaza. In April 2024, a coalition of 17 civil society groups coordinated by European Digital Rights (EDRi) signed an open letter voicing their concerns about…
European Commission ignores calls to reassess Israel data adequacy Read More »
Europe’s baulked attempt to curb Meta’s artificial intelligence (AI) training will persevere and culminate at the European Court of Justice (ECJ), said the data protection commissioner who is leading the challenge. Within days of European Union (EU) privacy commissioners giving Meta licence to train its popular open source Llama large language model (LLM) on public posts…
The European Commission has been accused of rigging the selection process for Europe’s next data protection watchdog in favour of its own candidate, according to a complaint submitted to the European Ombudsman and shared with Computer Weekly. Submitted by privacy experts Maria Farrell, Douwe Korff and Ian Brown, the complaint alleged “procedural irregularities” with the…
European Commission accused of rigging data watchdog appointment Read More »
The UK’s Data Use and Access Bill has become law, with the government claiming it will “save working people money and time” while injecting £10bn into the British economy over the next decade. The bill attainted royal assent to become an act on 19 July 2025, and will now amend the country’s implementation of both…
Financiers picked up the pace of funding in artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure in Sweden last month, after an urgent government AI Commission warned that a lack of private investment was hindering the country’s scientific and economic development. In the space of a fortnight at the end of May, the nation with one of the least…
Sweden gets help pulling its sovereign AI socks up Read More »
Seven civil society organisations are calling on European Commissioner Michael McGrath to rescind the UK’s data adequacy status, citing major concerns around the country’s ongoing erosion of privacy and data rights. Writing to McGrath in an open letter dated 3 June 2025, the organisations argue that current data handling practices in the UK – in…
European Commission should rescind UK data adequacy Read More »
Technical difficulties mean scores of people living in the UK have no means to reliably prove their immigration status or “right” to be in the country following the Home Office’s transition to an electronic visa (eVisa) system. Those affected by the eVisa system’s technical failings told Computer Weekly, on condition of anonymity, that the entire…
UK’s error-prone eVisa system is ‘anxiety-inducing’ Read More »
