Argentina

In Argentina, the safeguarding of personal data is primarily regulated under the Law on Personal Data Protection, enacted in 2000. This legislation mandates that any entity aiming to collect and process personal data must first gain the informed consent of data subjects. Additionally, data controllers are required to register with the National Registry of Personal Databases. The law emphasizes adherence to key principles such as lawfulness and purpose limitation, ensuring that personal data is handled appropriately and transparently.

Data subjects in Argentina enjoy several rights under this law, including the ability to access, rectify, and update their personal information. Moreover, the law protects individuals from being compelled to provide sensitive personal data, bolstering privacy and personal integrity.

Beyond its borders, Argentina adopts a progressive approach to internet governance, advocating strongly for principles like net neutrality, which aims to keep the internet as an open and accessible platform for all. The country plays an active role in international forums dedicated to internet governance, such as the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), where it contributes to global dialogues on these critical issues.

Supporting a multi-stakeholder model, Argentina’s strategy involves various sectors including government, the private sector, civil society, and academia. Furthermore, Argentina is home to the South School on Internet Governance, an initiative focused on educating future leaders about the complexities of internet governance. This school places a special emphasis on the Latin America and Caribbean region, aiming to enhance regional expertise and leadership in the digital domain.

Argentina is actively pursuing digital transformation strategies to enhance connectivity, modernize public administration, and improve educational opportunities through technology. These initiatives are part of a broader commitment to ensure that internet access is a basic right for all its citizens, focusing on expanding digital access and literacy.

País Digital Initiative: This program is central to Argentina’s effort to ensure widespread internet connectivity, particularly focusing on rural and underserved areas. The initiative aims to democratize access to digital technologies, enabling citizens nationwide to participate more fully in the digital economy.

Plan Federal de Internet: A key component of the national strategy involves the expansion of fiber-optic networks to enhance the quality and affordability of internet services across Argentina. This plan is especially focused on reaching remote areas, thereby reducing the digital divide and ensuring that more citizens can access fast and reliable internet.

Aprender Conectados: This educational program integrates digital skills training into the curriculum from an early age. It offers programming and robotics classes in kindergartens and schools, aiming to equip the next generation with essential digital competencies.

Cybersecurity in Argentina is undergoing significant advancements and challenges. In response to escalating cyber threats, the Argentine government has implemented the Second National Cybersecurity Strategy. This strategy, updated from the first enacted in 2019, aims to strengthen the security of IT infrastructures and enhance protections for state administration, essential services, and the public.

To support these efforts, Argentina has ratified CoE Convention on Cybercrime (Budapest Convention) and has also become a signatory to the Second Additional Protocol to the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime, which enhances international cooperation on cybercrime and electronic evidence.​

On the ground, Argentina faces a real and growing threat from cyberattacks, with a significant number of these attacks targeting mobile devices due to high mobile internet penetration in the region​. Recognizing the critical nature of these threats, Argentina, with the support of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), has launched a $30 million Cybersecurity Program for Critical Information Infrastructures. This initiative aims to reduce the costs of cyberattacks through early detection and enhanced protective measures for public institutions and technological infrastructures​​.

The CERT.ar serves as the National Computer Emergency Response Team of Argentina. It is the central authority for coordinating cybersecurity efforts across various sectors, providing guidance, support, and incident response services to both public and private entities.

The AI landscape in Argentina is evolving with significant developments in both the legal framework and guidelines for AI development and usage. In June 2023, Argentina introduced a comprehensive legal framework to Congress specifically aimed at regulating AI. This proposed legislation mandates AI developers to register their systems and adhere to fundamental ethical principles such as human dignity, privacy, transparency, responsibility, and fairness. It emphasises implementing robust security measures and establishes a risk-based approach for assessing AI systems. This approach categorises systems based on their potential risk levels: unacceptable, high, limited, or insignificant. The proposal also outlines the creation of an AI Supervisory Authority, which would oversee compliance, issue risk-based requirements, and specify AI systems that should be banned due to their potential to violate human rights, engage in unfair discrimination, or pose serious security threats. This initiative follows a previous unsuccessful attempt to establish a Federal AI Council, which would have promoted AI awareness and research in the country.

Beyond legislative efforts, the Department for Information Technologies adopted non-binding recommendations in June 2023. These recommendations guide AI developers in ensuring the quality and adequacy of the data used in AI systems, as well as enhancing the safety and transparency of these technologies.