Bonum Certa Men Certa

EPO Management Consciously Breaking European Union Laws: Staff and Stakeholders Subjected to Illegal Tactics and Practices, Now Exam Takers As Well

Orwell's nightmare, now with diplomatic immunity and no oversight whatsoever

Mirrored objective



Summary: The EPO routinely breaks privacy laws, knowing that there's not even an attempt to enforce the law against the EPO's dictators; we've lost count of the instances/number of privacy scandals at the EPO, but we keep adding more to our list

Staff and stakeholders have their privacy rights violated, as we noted last month and again this morning. Under normal circumstances, Benoît Battistelli, António Campinos and their ilk would risk arrest for what they do at the EPO. But they have diplomatic immunity and half a decade ago we saw Battistelli getting away with very serious crimes, e.g. visitors subjected to illegal surveillance on EPO premises (it was all over the media at the time, back when the media actually bothered covering EPO scandals).



Wall of MirrorsThe Commission's whitewash of corruption at the EPO means that EU law won't be enforced and rules won't be honoured; just like that... more abuse, more immunity, more impunity...

Rose Hughes (AstraZeneca and EPO apologist) has just been advertising a sham exam (EQE) with extra surveillance now added to it. The corruption associated with EQE was covered here in a series earlier this year. Nobody was held accountable. Nobody.

Based on this post, the EPO adopts more spyware; basically malware. It's as if COVID-19 makes 'magic' and renders the illegal "excusable" ever so magically. To quote: "The EPO has released the first detailed information for candidates on the arrangements for the online pre-EQE and EQE next year. Full details can be read here. The examinations are scheduled to take place the week of 1 March 2021. The online exams will be taken using the dramatically named "LockDown browser", which candidates are being advised to log in to 20 minutes before the exam."

"A lot of things like the "LockDown browser" are being imposed on students despite being in violation of human rights."So the data is going to Microsoft's next-door neighbours at Respondus, who are flirting with GDPR violations and looking for cleverly-worded excuses. A lot of things like the "LockDown browser" are being imposed on students despite being in violation of human rights. Lack of actual enforcement is a very serious problem. Laws without enforcement are toothless tigers.

We'd like to bring up an old document (2019) [PDF] in which staff representatives at the EPO named several GDPR violations. Here's the full document for the PDF-hostile/averse folks.

EPO GDPR p1

EPO GDPR p2

EPO GDPR p3

EPO GDPR p4

EPO GDPR p5

EPO GDPR p6

Notice the part about the UPC: "In the near future the EPO might be entrusted by the EU to process patent application in the framework of the Unitary Patent. It is unlikely that member states and applicants would accept a situation in which the EPO would process personal data of EU citizens in the name of the European Union without respecting EU legislation for data protection."

Here's the corresponding and more concise message to EPO staff:

Data protection @ EPO, quo vadis?



Data protection guidelines at the EPO should be aligned to European regulations

[...]

New EU Data Protection Regulations

New regulations for data protection have been introduced by the EU in 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation[1] (GDPR). It safeguards EU citizen’s fundamental right to protection of their data and it is directly binding for all EU member states. However, it is not binding for the EPO.

EPO has its own data protection policies

The EPO follows its own data protection policies: the Data Protection Guidelines[2] (DPG). Staff representatives pointed numerous times to the gap between the DPG and the European regulations. Commenting on the GDPR, former VP5 Raimund Lutz stated that the EPO is very close to EU legislation, because the EPO always has applied the “highest level of data protection [...] including the nomination of an independent Data Protection Officer (DPO)”. Furthermore, a recent audit report (2017) has been cited which “has confirmed a close alignment with the GDPR legal framework.”[3]

Data protection and the Unitary Patent

In the near future the EPO might be entrusted by the EU to process patent application in the framework of the Unitary Patent. It is unlikely that member states and applicants would accept a situation in which the EPO would process personal data of EU citizens in the name of the European Union without respecting EU legislation for data protection.

EPO data protection guidelines do not meet EU standards

An independent and external legal analysis[4] in 2016 concluded that the DPG did not meet the standards of data protection laws in the EU at that time. The analysis further stated that there is a lack of independent oversight, of an effective system of checks and balances to prevent abuses, and of effective means of redress in circumstances where the rights of individuals are infringed.

Staff representation proposes to align EPO policies to EU policies

Staff representation finds that the introduction of the new European guidelines is an opportunity to re-open the discussion on data protection at the EPO: The data protection policies at the EPO can be improved in order to better protect the data of staff and applicants/users alike. The EPO used to have a long tradition to strive to comply with the highest standards in data protection[5]. The last reform in 2014 can only be seen as deterioration in this matter[6]. An alignment of its data protection guidelines to EU regulations would be a step towards a modern data protection framework and would contribute to establish the EPO as the leading patent office.

Staff representation suggests to:

The EPO policies on data protection should be aligned to the EU regulations, which present at the moment the most comprehensive and modern legislation in data protection matters.

The role of the Data Protection Officer, who is responsible for the implementation of the EPO data protection, should be enforced and its independence should be assured.

An external and independent oversight body should be appointed with the task to monitoring the application of data protection policies at the EPO.

Separate data protection policies should be defined for investigative procedures (e.g., misconduct or fraud). Its implementation should be the responsibility of a distinct Data Protection Officer nominated, e.g., by the Administrative Council.

Rules to safeguard data processing should be mended. For example, transfer of personal data to third countries and the change of purpose, e.g., using personal data for purposes for which the user has not consented to, should be tightly regulated.


[...]

[1] GDPR, link

[2] Guidelines for the protection of personal data in the European Patent Office, link

[3] VP5 announcement on Intranet, 25.05.2018, link

[4] See section 9 “Data protection framework”, Breaches of basic and fundamental rights at the EPO, Bretton Woods Law, Legal Opinion, 2016, link

[5] Data protection – Current situation in the EPO and in Europe, Gazette 15/95, 03.07.1995, page 8, link

[6] GAC/AV 4/2014, Opinion of the CSC about Data Protection Guidelines, link


It is hardly shocking that "EPO data protection guidelines do not meet EU standards" and to think they're now subjecting people who merely take an exam to the same low (and non-complying) standards is the cherry on the cake. We await -- whilst expectations are admittedly low -- EU enforcement action/s. Maybe the German ministry of injustice can once again come up with a bunch of nonsense (lies) about why this is perfectly acceptable.

Recent Techrights' Posts

When Abusive Law Firms (Working for Microsofters Against Us) Assert That Someone Writing in Social Media About Himself is Confidential Information
There was no reason to throw "GDPR" into 2 SLAPPs; they know it, but the goal was to increase the cost of a Defence and lessen the incentive to challenge the SLAPPs
Throwing Money at Lawyers Can't Stop Us (It Never Did)
Even just trying to censor things can result in the opposite of the desired outcome
BetaNews Has More or Less Died After Experiments With LLM Slop, Is Linuxsecurity Next?
It doesn't seem like BetaNews knows what it's doing, let alone what it talks about
 
Gemini Links 15/06/2025: "AI Fatigue and Crappiness"
Links for the day
Microsoft Attack Dogs Against Watchdogs and Guard Dogs in Software
Last year Microsofters hired attack dogs or "guns for hire"
Slop Cannot Replace Domain Expertise
All this "AI" hype (it's not even intelligence, it's all a misnomer, as many of us have insisted all along) will fizzle and be written off as a failed experiment
IBM's Fresh 'PIPs' (Action Before Layoffs)
At times like these, even once-reputable employers resort to PIPs and other procedures/tricks for denial of workers' rights
Microsoft is a Problem Not Just for Denmark
Every country should consider what Denmark is doing, why Denmark is doing it, and then do the same
The Slopfarms' Self Detonation
If more sites like BetaNews go under, then maybe we can still salvage some of the Web
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, June 14, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, June 14, 2025
Links 14/06/2025: FDA Changes Priorities, Cassette Data Storage From The 1970s
Links for the day
Gemini Links 14/06/2025: Steam Next Fest and Thoughts on Gemini
Links for the day
Site/Datacentre Maintenance Next Week
speed things up
Bulgaria: GNU/Linux Near 10%
The Bulgarian market seems to be changing
I Never Spoke to BetaNews. But BetaNews Wants to Ensure I Never Will, Either.
Sometimes just the reluctance to talk about it can say a great deal
Online Search or Large Search Engines Aren't Working Anymore
business models that directly compete with interests of Web users
Holidays and Breaks
I've hardly taken any long breaks since I got married
Danish OpenDocument Freedom
"year of Linux"
Links 14/06/2025: Wars and L.A. Distortion Effect
Links for the day
Gemini Links 14/06/2025: Historic Ada Design and GeminiSpace.Club to Expire
Links for the day
Links 14/06/2025: India Plane Crash and Middle-Eastern War
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, June 13, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, June 13, 2025
Gemini Links 13/06/2025: (Not)virtues and Project Yeet Broadband
Links for the day
Links 13/06/2025: Journalists Targeted by Cracking, China-Japan and Israel-Iran Tensions Grow
Links for the day
Links 13/06/2025: US Reduces Nonessential Staff at Baghdad Embassy Ahead of Strikes in Iran, Invasion of California Debated
Links for the day
X11 is Free Software
Whether you agree (e.g. on politics) with the person/s forking it doesn't matter
The More Time Passes, the Better Our Advice on Social Control Media Seems
At the end of the day, any platform you do not control yourself is working for someone else
Twitter (X) is Dying, Now It's Just Like a Mafia-Type Operation of the Man Who Does Nazi Salutes in Public
a form of extortion
UK High Court Blasts Brett Wilson LLP for Misusing "GDPR" After Failed Efforts to Censor Critics Using 'Libel' Claims
No wonder this firm is rapidly shrinking
Recent Blunders in Microsoft GitHub (e.g. Slop-Generated Bug Reports or GPL Violations 'as a Service') Taking Their Toll?
Put bluntly, if you still use Microsoft GitHub, then you're slave to Microsoft
American Imperialism and Microsoft Plagiarism
Techrights will therefore do what Microsoft does not want it to do: it'll write even more about Microsoft
When They Have Nothing Left to Help Advance Abusive Litigation for Microsoft People... Other Than Throwing ~500 Pages of Someone Else's Work Into a PDF
Microsoft is having a very tough year
The Price of Exposing Corruption in Poland (and Elsewhere)
It's easier to participate in corruption than to merely do the right thing and oppose it
Slopwatch and Yet More Holes in 'Secure Boot' (as Usual!), Promoted Inside Linux by the Man We Are Suing
Today's Slopwatch will be short
Gemini Links 13/06/2025: People You've Left Behind, Life Update and OS Changes
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, June 12, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, June 12, 2025