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”control of the use that is being made of his data[10], or competence to prevent unwanted
situations/interference. The principle of data subjects’ free will plays a crucial role since
it informs their intention to permit or not to permit the further use of their data by the
data controller operating and intelligent (AI) system[11].
For data subjects to be able to give consent, they must be aware of almost everything
related to the fate of their data. It is the data controller, surely, who shall inform them
prior to obtaining consent (point 3 of Article 5 of the GDPR), so they could assess the
risks properly and make a decision. Data controllers information obligation is placed in
several parts of the GDPR, but we will focus only on Article 12 in following analysis. If
data controllers fail to present true and complete information about the data processing
activities, they obviously fail in fulfilling their legal obligations, firstly, the transparency
principle.
2.1.1. Transparency Rule
Pursuant to Article 12 of the GDPR explaining the conditions of transparency, data sub-
jects are given the right to obtain information, for example, on the purposes of the pro-
cessing; to request erasure (better known as right to be forgotten), and meaningful in-
formation about the logic involved with automated decision making, including profiling
activities that data controller processes data for. Presenting meaningful information is an
important case since it orders data controllers to somehow explain to the data subjects
how the AI system works. Although there are many issues related to purpose limitation
by data controllers and data subjects right manage personal data within AI systems, we
exclude both instances in order not to extend the scope of this paper.
2.1.2. Meaningful Information
Articles 13, 14 and 15 of GDPR entrust data controllers with presenting meaningful in-
formation related to data processing activities they carry out including such activities in
which the decision is made algorithmically. What constitutes meaningful information has
been discussed in literature from several points of view. Wachter et. al. firstly argues that
right to be informed within the GDPR is an ex post right which would contravene the the
essence of consent, and further stresses that the right to explanation should be inserted in
the GDPR to make the rule more consistent and clear [12]. Selbst and Powles [13], on the
other hand, strongly emphasize that explanation of meaningful information already is the
right to explanation, and meaningful information refers here to any information regard-
ing system functionality. Although both views cannot be easily and clearly understood
neither from the related articles, nor Recitals, and nor from the EDPS opinions, we think
that the GDPR is practically unclear on explaining the concept of meaningful informa-
tion. We question, firstly, who should determine the meaningfulness of information the
data subject in a personalized (subject-specific) fashion, or other standards should be ap-
plied to assess meaningfulness in the eyes of the general public. [14] (This again brings
about the issue of relevance interpreted as meaningful what is meaningful information
in a particular context, it is also relevant to it.) If the answer is subject-specific mean-
ingfulness, then we argue that data subjects have no interest in any complex technical
terms specific to the applied AI, and would prefer the simplest and clearest explanation
(laymens terms); while other data subjects might prefer more detailed information in line
with their level of AI knowledge. (This necessitates a context and subject-dependent as-
G.GultekinVarkonyi /Operability of theGDPR’sConsent Rule in Intelligent Systems 209
Intelligent Environments 2019
Workshop Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Intelligent Environments
- Title
- Intelligent Environments 2019
- Subtitle
- Workshop Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Intelligent Environments
- Authors
- Andrés Muñoz
- Sofia Ouhbi
- Wolfgang Minker
- Loubna Echabbi
- Miguel Navarro-CĂa
- Publisher
- IOS Press BV
- Date
- 2019
- Language
- German
- License
- CC BY-NC 4.0
- ISBN
- 978-1-61499-983-6
- Size
- 16.0 x 24.0 cm
- Pages
- 416
- Category
- Tagungsbände