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the Data Protection Officer (DPO) believes that some information is not strictly required for publication and should not be published to protect the interest of the data subjects.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

Weaponisation of For-Profit Dockets - Part I: Hiding Behind Lawyers (or Guns for Hire) After Abusing Many People and Even Strangling Women While Microsoft Paid Salaries
This whole thing is very typical of the Microsoft and Bill Gates mindset
From EPO to "MAGA Regime": A Shift Away From Reality to Fake News and False Metrics
Disbelief in itself isn't a bad thing; but the problem is that people are taught to believe rich people in suits more than they believe others
Skype is Officially Dead Today and This is Why People Should Use Free Software Instead (Goodbye, Microsoft)
It's also a good reminder of why people should move to GNU/Linux
'Simple Articles' in MyGemini Just One of Many New 'Sites' in Geminispace
Geminispace has grown fast lately; it's turning 6 next month
 
Making Site Archives More Easily Accessible (Approaching 50,000 Blog Posts)
Efforts to censor us have always backfired badly
Weaponisation of For-Profit Dockets - Part II: Hiding Behind Lawyers and Barristers Who Lack Standards so as to Engage in Classic Corporate Extortion
They're trying to scare people and they misuse their licence to operate
Links 06/05/2025: LLMs/Chatbots Attract More Scrutiny (Getting Worse Over Time), PwC Has Many Layoffs
Links for the day
Thanks for listening. How can this Morse feed be further improved?
Right now any and all feedback on the audio would be helpful
statCounter: Bing's Market Share Lower Right Now Than It Was When LLM Hype Began (With "Bing Chat")
If anybody gains at Google's expense in search, it is BRICS' alternatives such as Yandex
Gemini Links 06/05/2025: Failure and Proxmox Cluster
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, May 05, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, May 05, 2025
Links 05/05/2025: TikTok Still a Romanian Woe/Foe, Signal Perils Showing
Links for the day
Gemini Links 05/05/2025: Debian and GNOME and a "Welcome to Simple Articles"
Links for the day
Links 05/05/2025: US Economy Shrinks, US Presidency Spreading Deepfakes
Links for the day
Links 05/05/2025: Breaches, Environment, and Conflicts
Links for the day
SUSE the Company Now Uses LLM Slop to 'Write' Its Blog, What Does That Tell Us About SUSE?
There are many giveaways
Richard Stallman is in Alicante Today to Give a Talk, Czech Republic in Two Days (Wednesday)
Of course he can deliver the talk in Spanish
Gemini Links 05/05/2025: XL Bullies and Luddites
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, May 04, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, May 04, 2025
Links 04/05/2025: Science, Conflicts, and Monopolies
Links for the day
GNU/Linux Above 7% in Bulgaria, Rising Just Like in Most of Europe
Up to 7%, not counting Chromebooks
Data Shows Largest EU Economies Shifting to GNU/Linux
all-time highs
statCounter Says Only One in 6 Web-Connected Clients in Hungary Are Using Windows, iOS Almost Bigger Than Windows Now
Hungary is a cautionary tale in the world of European (or Russian) politics
Many Reports About Microsoft's Financial Report/Performance Are False, Fake News, Churnalism/Parroting, and LLM Slop (Machine-Generated Lies)
Even if you see a thousand sites saying that Microsoft is performing well ask yourself why the company is rushing to fire tens of thousands of workers and cancelling datacentres
Links 04/05/2025: FCC Turning Into MAGA’s Censoring Machine, SEC Pressured to Delist Chinese Companies
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/05/2025: Historical Artifacts and Date Calculations in POSIX Shell
Links for the day
In the First 3 Months of 2025 GAFAM Debt Rose by More Than $14.4 Billion
That's based on their official statements
10-Step Strategy to Get BRETT WILSON LLP ("Gun for Hire"), Microsoft's Serial Strangler, and the Serial Defamer to Compensate Techrights and Tux Machines for Years of SLAPPs and Abusive Litigation
There's no room or capacity for forgiveness here; enablers and protectors of crime need to be scuttled and pay up in full
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, May 03, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, May 03, 2025