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    Artificial Intelligence (AI)
    In onze huidige informatiemaatschappij speelt kunstmatige intelligentie (AI) een steeds belangrijkere rol. AI is een verzamelnaam voor machines, software en apparaten die zelfstandig complexe taken kunnen uitvoeren, zonder direct menselijk denkvermogen. Deze zelflerende systemen worden in tal van sectoren gebruikt, van het bedrijfsleven en overheden tot gezondheidszorg en de rechterlijke macht.

    Interview Aleid Wolfsen: President calls for constitutional review

    During the celebration of the 15th anniversary of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, Aleid Wolfsen, chairman of the Personal Data Authority, called for a constitutional review. He sees this as an opportunity to re-establish the core values of the rule of law in society. His call did not come out of the blue. Wolfsen placed a somber note to the celebration and pointed to large-scale violations of fundamental rights, such as in the allowance affair and the DUO scandal. In an interview with PONT | Data & Privacy, he talked about the increasing pressure on the rule of law, the risks of erroneous profiling and the importance of revising the constitution.

    Christian Cordoba Lenis
    February 2, 2025

    Interviews

    Interviews
     

    'Fundamental rights under pressure'

    Algorithms and personal data thus play a huge role in today's interpretation of fundamental rights, according to the president. He argues for broader awareness among society and politicians by internalizing the core values underlying fundamental rights. The way we talk about fundamental rights is therefore important, for example, the relativizing tone that politicians sometimes adopt when it comes to fundamental rights is misplaced, according to Wolfsen. Wolfsen: "When fundamental rights were strengthened in the Netherlands, which started with the European Convention on Human Rights, they were discussed in the House of Representatives in a very relativistic way. Like: 'This is actually nothing, it has no effect in the Netherlands, and has hardly any added value. Yes, maybe someday in the future.' They keep it a bit small, while it is actually much more appropriate to say: 'Fantastic we are going to secure our rights better!' When you talk about fundamental rights in such a relatable, almost apologetic way, you downplay their importance." After all, proclaims the president, "Fundamental rights are at the heart of the rule of law."

    Constitutional Review

    Constitutional review in the context of data protection has been on the agenda since the "Commission on Fundamental Rights in the Digital Age" (Franken Committee) on the agenda. Even then, the committee's conclusion and recommendation was that broader protection than the current Article 10 Constitution was needed. Thus, even then the committee advocated a data protection concept, which to date has only been enshrined at the constitutional level in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.
     
    Partly in light of the various "massive" land law violations the government has been guilty of in recent years, a review is important precisely now, according to the president, so as to reaffirm the core values of our rule of law. Hence Wolfsen compliments the Minister of the Interior and the State Secretary for Legal Protection for putting the strengthening of the rule of law on the agenda. Although the president admits that there are no concrete proposals on the table yet, he sees the removal of the review ban and the addition of a restriction clause as a step in the right direction. Wolfsen: "There are no concrete proposals on the table yet other than scrapping the review prohibition of article 120 of the Constitution, and including a limitation clause in the Constitution. Because at the moment the Dutch legislator can restrict fundamental rights without limitation. At the European level, for example, it cannot."
     

    Privacy versus weighty interests

    Increasingly, the right to privacy clashes with other weighty interests, such as combating fraud and organized crime. This is the case, for example, with data exchange in collaborative arrangements between private and public parties under the Data Processing by Collaborative Arrangements Act (Wgs). According to the chairman, the new law is "the exception to the rule," after all, the AP has issued a legislative opinion on it three times. "One important element is still missing from it. That is a judicial test before proceeding with data sharing."
     
    According to Wolfsen, processing in this context will in principle be lawful if that preventive judicial test is still added, but the supervision of future collaborations is made difficult for the AP. After all, it will receive no extra budget for supervising the gigantic data sharing that will take place under the new law. Wolfsen: "We got €0.- extra for that. Just to be a little bit faint about our money."
     
    Whether the cabinet will keep its promise to amend the constitution so that it actually reaffirms our core values remains to be seen. However, in a recent debate on anti-money laundering, the Minister of Finance announced that he is looking for a "new balance" between preventing money laundering and the regulatory burden for gatekeepers on the one hand and customer privacy on the other. Let's hope that the cabinet does not take this fundamental right too lightly in finding a new balance.
     
    (1) From publications by Human Rights Foundation in Finance, p. 8; Internal documents of the Ministry of Finance, p. 30.

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