POLITICO Europe reports that an algorithm transparency bill that made its way through the upper chamber of France’s legislature has “fairly little chance” of becoming law. “There is no European legislation on this subject, and that’s the whole problem,” said the French Senate Culture Commission Administrator Jean-Pascal Picy. If passed, the law would make search engines explain how they rank search results to the public and allow telecommunications regulator ARCEP to inspect the algorithms involved. Though he said there was almost no chance of passing, Picy added, “The idea of pushing a law on the national stage is to awaken minds and to show that it’s possible, perhaps ultimately to serve as a foundation for a European text.” Meanwhile, Google has provided users with a tool to export their entire search history.
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