The arrival of Lorenzo Cotino to the Spanish Agency for Data Protection (AEPD), at the beginning of last March, was already involved in the controversy. The one that was proposed by the Government to be its number two at the beginning, Antonio Troncoso, had to resign and sent a tough letter to the Minister of Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Cortes, Félix Bolaños, to which the reason has had access, in which he warned him of alleged irregularities.
The main one, who had proposed to Cotino, in front of him, without this having any experience in the direction of public bodies. In addition to the fact that in the process of valuation of the Cotino candidacy in front of theirs, to head the public body that ensures the safeguarding of citizens’ private information, this career was equated, which includes more than nine years as director of the Data Protection Agency of the Community of Madrid, with “the university management of research projects and contracts” with public administrations.
He also denounced that, as a justification for framing in this requirement, his participation for 16 years had been compared in personal data protection advice with that of Cotino in other advice of “other nature”, such as transparency.
Sources that knew Cotino at the time of their previous position, as manager of the Observatory of the Social and Ethical Impact of AI (Odiseia), transfer to La Razón the possible existence of a conflict of interest by a contribution of Google to a joint project in which the way in which the budget was distributed is suspected.
Fundamentally, because Cotino and the other three responsible for the project would have taken, based on the documentation known by this newspaper, a total of 360,000 euros – a mean of 90,000 euros each – which, in relation to the market, is a amount much higher than the one that as a high percentile is perceived in our country for project management work (or, as it is usually called, of “Project Manager”), which is placed in the 50,000 euros.
While Odysseaia researchers participating in the study received a total of 5,000 euros. Which means that the destined cotino and the rest of the coordinators are superior to what will be invested in paying the work of the 64 members who made the project possible, located approximately 320,000 euros.
In an internal document, known for this newspaper, it warned that, in this case, the percentage of the economic resources dedicated to management tasks would be dedicated to 65% of what is reserved for research itself. «As done in the past and is currently done in other projects in Odiseia, the ‘Management’ (address) usually occupies between 10 and 20% of the research works.
A part of the financing of one million euros contributed by Google in which “they see that the usual coordination costs of any project of this type are exceeded and do not rule out that it could coincide with an unfair administration. In fact, a member of the Department of Responsibility and Ethics, appealed in an internal chat to make a “joint and agreed reflection on the Google project budget.”
On the other hand, the internal sources consulted do not hide their surprise that they have been chosen to be the head of the AEPD and see in the case of Moscoso an example that the appointment has been cooked with intention.
In this sense, they also do not rule out the possibility of a conflict of interest in which a person who has had a professional relationship with a technological giant such as Google, and has charged in projects financed by this, ends up directing the state authority of independent control responsible for ensuring compliance with the regulations on data protection.
As an example, since last September the European Union investigates its regulation (RGDP) to enter its AI model.