While parties grab more of your data, the EU is getting tough on tech giants

Party leaders want to change the law to see more of your online data. Meanwhile the European Commission reveals plans to tax tech giants...

It’s a tale of two responses to the rise of uncontrollable tech giants. On the one hand, political parties seizing the chance to grab even more of your data. On the other, parties deciding it is time to clamp down on tax dodging by digital firms. 

The first case: parties in the UK are set to change Data Protection Laws to gather personal data about how people are likely to vote – despite the Cambridge Analytica scandal, according to revelations in the Independent today.

Yes – in the face of mounting concerns over data privacy and information breeches, leaders are keen to get their hands on yet more personal information in order to target us better.

Reports state that: “All the major parties have agreed to the exemption from new data protection laws, arguing it clarifies their widely recognised right to canvas voters in order to target possible supporters.”

It’s an astonishing move given the ongoing furore – with tougher regulations on our privacy needed, not a partisan data-grab.

Yet at the same time, new EU regulations on data protection (known as GDPR) are due to come into force in May – while the European Commission has just unveiled new tax policies to ensure tech giants pay their fair share of tax in Europe.

For a long time, digital companies have got away with paying almost no tax in Europe because they often lack a ‘physical’ presence here. The average tech giant pays less than a 10% tax rate in the EU at present – way below the average for non-tech firms.

But under the ‘interim’ plans, major companies with significant online revenues will pay an extra 3% tax on overall turnover for online services. It is predicted to raise €5bn (£4.4bn) a year for member states – much needed at a time of ballooning profits for web firms while EU states cut back services.

And the proposal will of course hit Facebook and Google, as well as other companies with global annual revenues above €750m and taxable EU revenue above €50m. Around 120-150 companies are expected to face the tax.

Taxable sales will now be registered where the customer is based – rather than where the company claims the transaction took place.

As the Economist note: “The firms have become so adept at tax avoidance that the European Commission is not going to hang around until the argument is settled.”

So – party leaders at home want to change the law to see more of your online data, while the European Commission reveals plans to tax tech giants.

Just what exactly are we breaking ourselves free from again?

Josiah Mortimer is Editor of Left Foot Forward. Follow him on Twitter.

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