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The French Data Protection Authority (CNIL) has published a resolution on the 31st of January explaining its decision to greenlight the hosting of the French “Health Data Hub” by Microsoft, acknowledging the absence of an immediate alternative that aligns with the project’s technical and functional requirements. According to Contexte, the CNIL has itself underscored the potential risks of the project’s hosting solution, cautioning that American authorities may compel Microsoft to transmit data hosted in the project, thereby raising concerns about data sovereignty and privacy.
The Health Data Hub is a public structure whose aim is to facilitate access to data hosted on a secure platform, in compliance with regulations and citizens’ rights. The new insights allowed by this sharing of data aims to improve the quality of care and support for patients.
As European countries all grapple with the dilemma of balancing the benefits of increased data sharing with sovereignty, this decision underscores the imperative for strategic investments in digital public infrastructures at the European level, in order to build credible alternatives safeguarding the digital values and autonomy that Europe aspires to. You can read more about this in our proposal for a European Public Digital Infrastructure Fund.
