Bonum Certa Men Certa

EPO Abuses 'Data Protection' to Hide Its Own Abuses

"Changes to the Staff Changes List: Less transparency at the Office"

All the things the Office does not want you to know
Vampires dislike sunshine



Summary: The EPO's overt corruption is still being concealed; under Benoît Battistelli and António Campinos data protection or privacy at the EPO was routinely violated but now they champion the term "data protection" to censor evidence of the abuse

THE EPO is still a den of lies and abuse. We respond to many of them in Daily Links. We still see European software patents getting thrown out in European courts. Of course the EPO is just trying to replace those courts, even if that's both illegal and unconstitutional. This profound abuse will cost the EU. It will damage the EU's reputation like it did the EPO's. But this isn't the subject of today's post.



Circulating in the EPO this month is the following document. It's not from the union but from staff representatives. It contains many references and it also contains some names (apparently not pseudonyms), so we've chosen to obfuscate them in this public (HTML/GemText/plain text) version, which is preceded by an introductory message:

The Office will discontinue publishing the following information on the monthly Staff Changes List. - entry grade of newcomers, - reasons for termination of service - i.e. retirement, end of contract, resignation - citizenship

In this paper, we explain why we are against this. The Office should become more transparent, not less.?


Here's the full (3-page) text:

Zentraler Personalausschuss Central Staff Committee Le Comité Central du Personnel

Munich, 28.04.2023 sc23045cp

All the things the Office does not want you to know



The Office will discontinue publishing important information on the monthly Staff Changes List. We explain why we are against this. The Office should become more transparent – not less.

What is it all about?

The “Staff changes” lists are published monthly on the Intranet. The lists include dates of appointments and confirmation thereof, promotions, transfers, unpaid/family/parental leave, and termination of service. It appears that the Data Protection Officer (DPO) believes that some information is not strictly required for publication and should not be published to protect the interest of the data subjects.

What will change? The Office proposes in GCC/DOC 10/2023 to discontinue publishing the following information:

a) entry grade of newcomers, b) reasons for termination of service – i.e. retirement, end of contract, resignation, and c) citizenship.

EPO staff changes






What is the opinion of Staff Representation?

In our view, the Office should become more transparent and accountable – not less. We are against these changes for two reasons.

First, the staff change list is based on Article 31 ServRegs. It is titled “Communication to staff” and guarantees transparency and information by providing that:

“All specific decisions regarding appointment and confirmation thereof at the end of the probationary period, promotion, transfer, determination of administrative status and termination of service of an employee shall be communicated to the staff.” (Article 31 ServRegs)


"Right to be informed infringed"We believe that data a) to c) are an essential part of the specific decisions listed in the above article. For example, the entry grade is a part of the decision regarding appointment. Not publishing data under a) to c) would breach this article and, consequently, staff at the EPO would be adversely affected as their right to be informed would not be fulfilled.

"Transparency empowers staff"Second, it is essential that staff at the EPO knows what is happening in their vicinity and their department and are in a position to be able to compare the dynamics of different departments. For example, whether the ”end of service” of a colleague was due to a resignation or retirement (hence, a choice of the colleague), or whether the end of service was due to the non-renewal of a contract (hence, decision of the Office) is information staff and their representatives should be aware of. The information in the staff change list empowers all of us and enables us to make informed judgements and decisions about our work and life at the EPO.

Why is transparency important?

Transparency is crucial for international organisations because it empowers members of the organisation to become more aware of and gain a broader and deeper understanding of what is happening. Transparency also helps to build trust, which is critical for efficient collaboration. It establishes an organisation's reliability and trustworthiness and improves internal and external relationships. It is also a barrier against favouritism.

"Staff change list: no problem for over 14 years"The staff change list as we know it today has existed at least since 2009. In over 14 years, no data protection officers ever identified any problem or breach of data protection rules or guidelines.




Mr Campinos considered changing the list for the first time in May 2019. At that time, the changes were presented “in order to enhance the clarity and readability” of the list and it did not occur to anyone to justify the changes with data protection. Employee empowerment is one of the visions, and transparency is one of the key initiatives of the Strategic Plan 2023. Article 31 ServRegs enhances the services of the EPO and has been part of the Service Regulations since they were adopted 45 years ago in 1977. The reason was to give transparency to a newly born international organisation.

Conclusions

"Data protection “abused” to render EPO less transparent?"What should be avoided at all costs is to give the impression that the EPO Data Protection Rules are used as a pretext to render the internal working at the EPO less transparent. On the contrary, it is important in our view that the EPO becomes more transparent and accountable. This is essential for the trustworthiness and reputation of the EPO towards its staff and the public. For example, the publication of step assignments and functional allowances would contribute to that goal.

For all these reasons we invited the Office to withdraw this proposal.

The Central Staff Committee

[redacted]



It's quite revealing; the EPO is run by unqualified thugs who break the law, including privacy laws, and now they leverage "privacy" to silence their critics and exposers. The problem is that to me, as an EU proponent, this seems like an embarrassment and a risk to the EU. Not only are we witnessing inaction but active facilitation (e.g. with UPC). The EPO's corruption, which is deeply connected to EUIPO corruption, puts Europe at risk, not just its patent system.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Debian GNU/Linux and Free Software Developer Daniel Pocock in Irish Elections This Month (Dublin Bay South)
Polling day in 15 days
Layoffs as Happy Stories in the Corporate Media
It's based on a longstanding pattern
 
Alexander Wirt (formorer), Wayward people & Debian censorship
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 14/11/2024: Infocalypse and "Multiple Monitorings"
Links for the day
Links 14/11/2024: The Web We Lost Coming Back, X/Twitter Crashing
Links for the day
Links 14/11/2024: Politics, Climate, and Instability
Links for the day
Links 14/11/2024: EmacsConf and Flounder
Links for the day
Links 14/11/2024: Science and the Demise of Microsoft-Connected USPTO Director
Links for the day
For "X" to Die the Media and Politicians Will Need to Quit (Then, Advertisers Will Lose Interest, Even for Political Ads)
Fewer people are still there anyway
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, November 13, 2024
IRC logs for Wednesday, November 13, 2024
Bob Should Tell Alice About What GitHub (Which Linux Foundation Outsources Code to) Does to Entire Nations, Following Donald Trump's Policies
"What's next, preventing access to Linux from non-NATO countries? Putting NSA backdoors in the kernel?"
It Took The Guardian More Than 2 Years of Musk to Realise What Twitter Was and It Took Twitter 4 Years of a President Trump to Realise What Trump Was
Trump was deplatformed only a fortnight before Biden became president anyway
[Meme] Google 80%, Windows 2%
"I'm going to f---ing bury that guy, I have done it before, and I will do it again. I'm going to f---ing kill Google."
Microsoft's Market Share Falls to 2% in Haiti
Throw in Android (now 80% of "the market") and Windows is down to 2%
Gemini Links 13/11/2024: Magic of Walking and Lest We Forget
Links for the day
Links 13/11/2024: USPTO Director Kathi Vidal ('Former' Microsoft Rep) Resigning, Censorship After Car Ramming Attack in China
Links for the day
Microsoft: Layoffs, Outsourcing, and R.T.O. as Cover for Mass Layoffs Without Severance Pay
Microsoft had mass layoffs pretty much every month this year
[Meme] The Addicted Lolicon Throwing Stones
"They've found my RMS attack site"
Jonathan Carter & Debian betrayed Joel Espy Klecker
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 13/11/2024: Red Tape War and Programming Experiences
Links for the day
Links 13/11/2024: "Make Your Laptop Last FOREVER" With GNU/Linux, 23andMe Mass Layoffs, Intel 'Resignations' Layoffs Loophole
Links for the day
In Switzerland, GNU/Linux Reaches Record Highs, But What About the Corruption?
Pocock is a disappointed citizen of Switzerland
More Than 3 Years After Vista 11's Release More Chinese Computer Users Still Use Vista 7 (Than "11")
it was "officially" released October 5, 2021
At BetaNews, "Most Commented Story" Is Not a Story But LLM Slop! (Readers Talking to Bots)
They make fake stories with provocative headlines and then boast that these get many comments
[Meme] Swiss Lawyers/Attorneys Who Fake Qualifications and Rob People
Switzerland mostly guards its reputation by censorship of media
Just How Slow Has the News Industry Become?
We're drowning in garbage from fake publishers
Things That Still Work OK (But We're Being Shamed for Using)
Using old stuff is nothing to be shamed of (or afraid to do)
Free Software is About Collaboration
WordPress limits it
Even the Managing Editor of BetaNews is Doing Slop and Spam
A Fish Rots From The Head Down
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, November 12, 2024
IRC logs for Tuesday, November 12, 2024
PERA Bill in US Senate Strives to Crush Caselaw, Making Patents on Mathematics and Algorithms 'Great Again'
Follow the money
BetaNews is Beta-Testing the Site as LLM Slop With Microsoft Propaganda Thrown In
Many of the people there are Microsoft boosters and they use slop as "filler" (for marketing)
Evolution of euthanasia & WIPO UDRP similarities exposed by W. Scott Blackmer
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 13/11/2024: Phasing Out 3G, Brian Kernighan Books, Tcl/Tk, Time to Ditch x86
Links for the day
Links 12/11/2024: A Lot of Censorship and SWNS at 50
Links for the day
BetaNews, Inc. Became a Spam Operation/Web Site, LLM Spew (Slop) for SEO Disguised as "Articles"
Published 5 minutes ago by Brian Fagioli...
Gemini Links 12/11/2024: Invidious Down and YouTube Addiction
Links for the day
Links 12/11/2024: Hey Hi (AI) Failures and COP29 Fakers
Links for the day
Latest Rumours of Red Hat Layoffs
Rumours or gossip is how almost everything starts
WordPress is for the 'Old Web'; the New Web Necessitates Static Pages
There are purely practical reasons to move away from WordPress and the likes of it
Biggest Debt Leap in Years, More Than Half a Trillion Dollars in Just One Month
We remind people (almost every year) that it's also "buynothingday"
Windows Falling to All-Time Lows and Microsoft Has Nothing to Replace It With
It's mostly Android (Linux) replacing Windows
Cybershow Has a New 81-Minute Episode on Digital Sovereignty and International Cyber-Relations
it is a high-quality show
Activism in the Digital Realm Can Never (and Must Never) Rely on GAFAM
This simply means that tech activists must completely abandon any hopes of finding allies in Google or IBM or whatever...
Golden Dawn(ald) and What GAFAM Means to Liberal Techies
In one single screenshot
IBM CEO Says Donald Trump as President-Elect is Good for IBM in New Interview With CNBC
most unprincipled CEO ever?
GNU/Linux Up to 6.1% in Finland (Almost 9% If One Counts ChromeOS Too)
Home of Linux (the kernel)
BetaNews Has Become a SPAM/Slop Factory, Brian Fagioli Publishes Fake 'Articles'
everything is now suspect in BetaNews
It's Morbid to Talk About Living People as If They're Dead
What happens to LLM slop when Brian Fagioli dies?
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, November 11, 2024
IRC logs for Monday, November 11, 2024
Free Software and Love of Nature
It's not a coincidence that many Free software activists are also lovers of nature
Silicon Valley and GAFAM Were Never Liberal
spineless CEOs and founders aren't against Trump
Windows and 'The Desktop' Floundering
Microsoft should be extremely worried
WordPress is Bad for the Planet (Even If Many Still Use It)
the costs nobody wishes to talk about