The Tech Brief: Recent Episodes
EURACTIV
EURACTIV Digital & Media Editor Luca Bertuzzi gives a breakdown of the week’s biggest European tech news in the world of politics and policy.
Germany's implementation of the EU's flagship cybersecurity legislation, NIS-2 will be fully integrated into national law by 17 October 2024. We caught up with Steven Heckler, Deputy Head of Department for Digitalisation and Innovation at BDI (Federal Association of German Industry) to talk about the positive and negative effects of the NIS-2 directive on Germany and about recommendations to ensure the necessary level of cybersecurity.
The proposed regulation aiming to prevent and combat online child sexual abuse material (CSAM) would make it a requirement for digital platforms in the EU to detect and report such material.
The draft law is dividing people into either thinking it is about child protection or a violation of users’ privacy. We discuss the topic with MEP Paul Tang, who is one of the shadow rapporteurs for the file, and Emily Slifer, Director of Policy at Thorn, an NGO which was co-founded by actor Ashton Kutcher and is focused on detecting CSAM online.
The rise of generative AI models like ChatGPT and Midjourney AI, able to produce incredibly realistic content, poses an unprecedented challenge to the creative sector. We discuss what this new generation of Artificial Intelligence means for this sector and human creativity more generally with Tom Chatfield, tech philosopher and author.
The European Court of Justice recently ruled on a high-profile case with far-reaching consequences for enforcement in the fields of competition and data protection. We have discussed the verdict’s implications with Cristina Caffarra, renowned competition expert, and Johnny Ryan, senior fellow at the Irish Council for Civil Liberties.
The EU has been working on reporting obligations for private actors on actively exploited vulnerabilities and cybersecurity incidents in several legislative files while trying to establish mechanisms for sharing cyber threat intelligence, extremely sensitive information. We took stock of the different initiatives in this delicate area with Jo De Muynck, Head of Unit for Operational Cooperation at ENISA, and Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl, Director-General of DIGITALEUROPE.
Andrea Renda, a senior research fellow at the think tank CEPS, has worked on the EU’s AI Act since its conception, advised EU policymakers during the negotiations and is currently part of the discussions on the AI Code of Conduct in the context of the EU-US Trade and Technology Council. He provides an insider view on the main challenge this landmark legislation faces, points for improvement during the trilogues and technological trends policymakers should keep in mind.
The European Parliament’s recently adopted position on the AI Act includes requirements for foundation models. Kevin Klyman and Rishi Bommasani from the Stanford Center for Research on Foundation Models & Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence have published a preliminary assessment of to what extent the main foundation models comply with the AI rules. We discuss with them the main findings of their research, what provisions would be most challenging for AI developers to comply with and further improvements that could be made to the EU’s AI law.
A few weeks ago, the UN Secretary General proposed as part of its input on the Global Digital Compact to set up a one-stop-shop that would have radical implications for the current internet governance. We discuss the potential implications of the proposal and the ongoing discussions on the politicisation of the internet with Vittorio Bertola, Head of Policy & Innovation at Open-Xchange, and Lise Fuhr, Director General for European Telecommunications Network Operators' Association (ETNO).
The platform work directive is due to reach Labour ministers next Monday 12 June in the hope to agree a common position among member states – after months of a stalemate. We talk about the potential impacts of the bill on platforms with Andrew Byrne, Uber's Global Head of Public Policy.
The metaverse poses all kinds of regulatory challenges. EURACTIV discussed with Friedrich Wenzel Bulst and Sophie De Vinck, two official from the European Commission’s competition department, how they expect the metaverse to affect current enforcement trends and if the new EU’s rulebook for Big Tech, the Digital Markets Act, will be fit for the task.
Last week, the United States was called to the ballots for its mid-term elections, resulting in a more divided Congress. We discuss what this all means for Europe’s digital policy, public subsidies and the next Trade and Technology Council meeting with Tyson Barker, the head of the Technology and Global Affairs Program at the German Council of Foreign Relations.
The EU’s proposal for a Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) is the first horizontal regulation to introduce security requirements for connected devices and related services. However, the draft regulation has promoted a debate about the type of products that should be covered. We discussed the critical aspects of the proposal with Grégoire Gaonach, a cybersecurity engineer and digital policy consultant at Political Intelligence.
Last month, an executive order detailed the EU-US Privacy Shield 2.0, a new legal framework for transatlantic data flows made necessary by the Schrems II ruling. We caught up with Max Schrems, the privacy activist who gave the name to the two landmark verdicts, to discuss the new arrangement and the potential implications of a Schrems III. We also touched upon what is currently wrong with the GDPR enforcement and what more can be done to fix it in the near future.
Last month, an executive order detailed the EU-US Privacy Shield 2.0, a new legal framework for transatlantic data flows made necessary by the Schrems II ruling. We caught up with Max Schrems, the privacy activist who gave the name to the two landmark verdicts, to discuss the new arrangement and the potential implications of a Schrems III. We also touched upon what is currently wrong with the GDPR enforcement and what more can be done to fix it in the near future.
The European Chips Act is a top priority in the EU’s drive to digital sovereignty. We discussed the most controversial parts of the file, how the initiative fits into international cooperation and the thorny issue of the budget with MEP Eva Maydell.
Supply chain disruptions, information warfare and sabotage of critical infrastructure - technology is acquiring an intrinsic geopolitical value has everything becomes weaponised. We discuss with Fredrik Erixon, Director of the European Centre for International Political Economy, how the current tensions with Russia and likely future ones with China are affecting the tech sector, and what this all means for the EU’s digital sovereignty agenda.
Even though the European Court of Justice ruled against data retention a few weeks ago, in Germany, the debate on the topic does not seem to end. The government is still not in agreement on whether to follow a “quick freeze” approach or whether to store IP-addresses in the fight against crime. Konstantin Macher from Digital Courage, a German privacy and digital rights organisation, contextualised the debate and what the different approaches would mean for privacy rights.
The Netherlands is a big proponent of using open source solutions across the board. We have caught up with the Dutch Minister for Digitalisation Alexandra van Huffelen to discuss her view on the electronic digital identity, the AI Act and Data Act.
This week, the European Commission presented two legislative proposals that will introduce liability rules for Artificial Intelligence, the revised Product Liability Directive and the AI Liability Directive. We discussed the two proposals, how they will interact with each other and with the AI Act with MEP Axel Voss and BEUC’s Deputy Director General of BEUC Ursula Pachl.
The Commission has finally released its long-awaited European Media Freedom Act, but it has stirred controversy in a number of directions. Renate Schroeder, Director of the European Federation of Journalists, and Ilias Konteas, Executive Director of EMMA-ENPA, join this week’s podcast to discuss its contents and implications.
The Commission has finally released its long-awaited European Media Freedom Act, but it has stirred controversy in a number of directions. Renate Schroeder, Director of the European Federation of Journalists, and Ilias Konteas, Executive Director of EMMA-ENPA, join this week’s podcast to discuss its contents and implications.
We discussed the annual State of the Union speech by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and its implications for the tech sector with Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl, Director-General of DIGITALEUROPE, and Scott Marcus, Senior Fellow at Bruegel.
This week, the Irish Data Protection Commission sanctioned Instagram for violating children's privacy. After much waiting for the EU's data protection rulebook to bite, privacy watchdogs have started to show their teeth. Is this a sign of a new trend? And how does it sit with the ongoing discussions about potential reforms of the General Data Protection Regulation? Tune in for this discussion with Isabelle Roccia, managing director for Europe of the International Association of Privacy Professionals, and Vincenzo Tiani, a partner at the law firm Panetta.
The EU strives to set the international standard with its AI regulation. But how likely is it that the EU rules will become internationally adopted? And under which conditions could that happen? We discussed how the upcoming AI regulation is likely to shape this technology's future via the so-called 'Brussels effect' with Charlotte Siegmann, a predoctoral research fellow at Oxford University, and Markus Anderljung, head of policy at the Centre for the Governance of AI.
The internet’s multi-stakeholder model faces recurrent pressure from political actors that want to assert control over its backbone infrastructure. These tensions are generated from the accusation that the internet is too US-centric, which seems shared not only by non-Western powers such as Russia and China but also by Europe itself. We discuss the challenges for internet governance and whether there is a need to ‘democratise’ it with Goran Marby, CEO of ICANN.
As the DSA will enter into force soon, the next question is how companies will comply with it. Louis-Victor de Franssu made DSA compliance its very business model and co-founded the start-up Tremau, which supports start-ups and scale-ups in meeting the new requirements. He guides us through his work, the main compliance challenges for small as well as large companies, and the guidance that the European Commission is due to provide.
Julia Hess and Jan-Peter Kleinhans, Technology and Geopolitics experts at the German Think Tank Stiftung Neue Verantwortung, share their assessment of the Chips Act as it is proposed and explain what they would change, particularly in pillar three. Instead of supply chain monitoring, they suggest that governments should perform value chain mapping and leave the former to the industry.
The Commission’s Joint Research Centre recently published a report with a comparative analysis of the national strategies on Artificial Intelligence across the EU. We discuss the topic with Raquel Jorge, one of the report’s authors, diving into the state of AI uptake in Europe, what best practices are emerging, the challenges from the lab to the fab and potential approaches on regulatory sandboxes.
The war in Ukraine is being fought also in the cyber space. We discussed the key takeaways that can be drawn from the conflict so far with Ginny Badanes, Microsoft’s senior director of the Democracy Forward.
The Von der Leyen Commission recently passed its mid-term. With Andrea Garcia Rodriguez, the lead digital policy analyst at the European Policy Centre, we discussed what the EU executive has achieved in this first half of the mandate and potential perspectives for the future.
Scandinavian countries are well-known for having their own approach to social affairs. As regulating the working conditions of platform workers is now an hot topic in Brussels, we got a non-EU perspective to the issue in this discussion with Norway’s Minister of Labour and Social Inclusion, Marte Mjøs Persen.
Measures addressing copyright infringements are often a hot topic in EU digital policies. We discussed what is the state of play and trends in the EU with Alexandra Poch, Deputy Director of the European Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights, Julio Laporta, Head of Communication and Spokesperson at the European Union Intellectual Property Office.
EURACTIV caught up with the Czech Deputy Prime Minister for Digitisation, Ivan Bartoš, directly from Luxembourg during the Telecoms Council. We discussed the approach of the upcoming Czech Presidency to the open questions of the AI Act and Data Act, two of the main digital file Prague will have to deal with. We also discussed the telecoms’ ‘fair share’ proposal and the never-ending ePrivacy Regulation.
The European commission has unveiled on 11 May its long-awaited proposal to fight against child sexual abuse material online, or CSAM in short.
While children’s organisations have been receiving this regulation very well, it also sparked a lot on concerns for privacy defenders, worried that the provision forcing tech platforms to scan the communications of their users to detect CSAM would lead to an indiscriminate and disproportionate intrusion into our lives and would undermine encryption.
This week, Dan Sexton, the chief technical officer at the Internet Watch Foundation, a British child safety nonprofit, and Ella Jakubowska, a policy advisor at the European Digitals Rights network, joined the podcast to discuss the proposal.
Alexandra Paulus, Fellow for International Cybersecurity Policy with the German think tank Stiftung Neue Verantwortung, explains what cyber norms are, who shapes them and whether Germany is actually practising what it preaches.
The EU legislators have just reached an agreement on the revised Network and Information Security Directive (NIS2), flagship cybersecurity legislation. We caught up with the European Parliament’s rapporteur Bart Groothuis straight out of the trilogue to get all the details on the political deal.
This week, Commissioner Breton announced a new initiative to make online platforms contribute to the cost of digital infrastructure. We discuss the reasoning behind this proposal, possible precedents and main practical issues that it will need to address with Gerard Pogorel, Professor of Economics-Emeritus at Telecom Paris, and Innocenzo Genna, ICT legal expert.
A new Trade and Technology Council between the EU and India has been announced as Commission President Ursula von der Leyen visited New Delhi this week for the relaunch of long-stalled negotiations on a trade deal. We discuss what we know and can expect from this initiative with our Global Europe & Defence Reporter Alexandra Brzozowski, who was in India to cover the summit.
The DSA is approaching a final agreement in inter institutional negotiations. We discuss key aspects of the flagship legislation with Tanya O'Carroll, an independent expert coordinating the People vs Big Tech coalition. On the menu: content moderation, risk assessment, recommender systems, dark patterns and targeted advertising.
As the European Parliament is preparing to discuss the first draft of the AI Act, we took a critical look at the proposal with Lilian Edwards, professor at the University of Newcastle and expert legal adviser at the Ada Lovelace Institute. We touched upon the overall approach of the proposal, the role of users, high-risk systems and risk assessment.
China has sought to position itself as neutral in relation to the war in Ukraine but recent analysis by EUvsDisinfo notes substantial alignment with the Kremlin when it comes to the messaging being shared by the country’s state-backed media. This week’s podcast looks more closely at this alignment: the common narratives, how they’re being shared and where the two countries diverge.
Last week, the EU co-legislators reached an agreement on the Digital Markets Act (DMA), landmark legislation targeting the largest tech companies. We discuss the key points of the file with the European Parliament’s rapporteur Andreas Schwab.
London has been working on several laws and initiatives with potentially profound implications for its data protection regime. We discuss how these different pieces might come together and impact the EU’s data adequacy decision with Robert Bateman, head of content at GRC World Forums, and Wayne Cleghorn, CEO and Practice Director at Privacy Solved.
The Russian attack on Ukraine went hand in hand with coordinated attacks in the information space. We discuss the situation on the ground and the EU response with Domen Savič, CEO of Citizen D.
France, the country currently at the helm of the EU Council, is heading towards crucial elections next month. We discuss with EURACTIV France reporter Mathieu Pollet the role digital issues play in the presidential campaign, the impact of the Ukrainian conflict and any potential changes in the handling of EU files due to digital minister Cedric O stepping down.
Cyberattacks are hardly limited to one country in an interconnected world. We discuss the impact of Russian cyberattacks against Ukraine on European companies with dr Vera Demary, head of digitalization at the German economic institute, and Iva Tasheva, cybersecurity consultant at CyEn.
Google experimenting with its Privacy Sandbox, Facebook blaming Apple for a massive loss of revenues, pending EU legislation. The world of digital advertising is changing fast, with plenty of moving parts. We discuss the topic with Jason Kint, CEO of Digital Content Next.
The EU has a growing base of startups but in a market so large and diverse, accessing funding can present a key challenge. In this episode, Thanos Paraschos, co-founder of the European Startup Universe, and Robbert van der Meer, co-founder and CEO of bFlex, discuss the obstacles faced by startups and how creating networks to link entrepreneurs and investors could help to address them.
EU lawmakers are pushing to include interoperability obligations for messaging services and social media platforms in the Digital Markets Act. The proposal has been met with great interest, but also skepticism on its practical viability. We discuss the matter with Amandine Le Pape, Chief Operations Office & co-founder at messaging app Element, and one of the main architects of Matrix, a standard for open communications.
With Alessandro Gropelli, deputy director-general at the European Telecoms Association (ETNO), we take stoke of digital networks in Europe, the structural problems of the telecom market compared to international competitors and potential remedies to stimulate infrastructural investments.
The VBER revision will have an important impact on online sales for the next 10 years. We discuss how the regulation will affect digital markets with Maike Jansen, public affairs advisor at Ecommerce Europe.
As efforts to regulate digital platforms gather steam, attention to the issue of online anonymity is growing. This week’s episode looks at the arguments being made for both limiting and preserving anonymity and pseudonymity online, and how these have played out in the context of the UK’s Draft Online Safety Bill.
As the debate on digital sovereignty is as relevant as ever, we discuss with Jean-Marc Leclerc, the head of IBM’s policy lab, Europe’s position on emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, quantum computing and cloud.
As Paris has taken over the rotating presidency of the EU Council, we discuss with our correspondent Mathieu Pollet how France is expected to shape the EU digital agenda in the coming months. And how the upcoming presidential elections will influence the French presidency.
The access to data is increasingly recognized as an area of focus for competition policy in the digital space. As the DMA approached the finishing line, we were joined by Bojana Bellamy, President of the Centre for Information Policy Leadership (CIPL), to discuss how the law targeting gatekeepers is expected to interlink with the EU privacy framework.
The migration crisis at the Polish border was combined with a number of cyber attacks and disinformation offensives. Janusz Cieszyński, Poland’s secretary of state and government plenipotentiary for cybersecurity, explains how Poland is facing the situation and what Europe could do to better address these attacks in the future.
Raj Samani, McAfee’s chief scientist, walks us through the upcoming challenges in the field of cybersecurity, and how regulators, law enforcement authorities and private actors should work together to face cyberthreats.
In its new coalition agreement, the likely next German government put a special emphasis on digitalization. To shed some light on what Germany has in store for digitalisation, we spoke with Oliver Süme, Chair of the Board at eco, one of Germany’s biggest digital associations. The discussion focuses on the main challenges that the next government has to face and if the measures that are outlined in the coalition agreement are enough to bring Germany back on track to master the digital transformation.
Apple has vehemently been opposing sideloading provisions in the DMA, which would allow alternative ways for downloading apps on their operating system. Damien Geradin, legal counsel for the Coalition for App Faireness responds point by point to Apple’s argument, making the case for opening up the competition among app stores.
Tommaso Valletti had a key role in shaping EU competition policy in critical years for the digital economy. In this interview, he gives his take on killer acquisitions, the scope of the DMA, provisions on the regulatory dialogue and the potential risks that would make the new EU law less effective. Valletti concludes on a critical note, for his work and that of fellow Commission regulators.
The passage of an amendment to the proposed Digital Services Act (DSA) has stirred debate between the media sector and those working in anti-disinformation fields over just how much content moderation power online platforms should have when it comes to material produced by news outlets. In this episode, Aurore Raoux of News Media Europe explains why the media sector is placing such importance on the amendment.
The IMCO vote on the Digital Markets Act has officially been delayed, as some significant difference remain between the main political groups. To better understand where things stand, I have interviewed MEP Evelyne Gebhardt, the shadow rapporteur for the social-democratic group, and MEP Andrus Ansip, the shadow rapporteur for the liberal group. The EU lawmakers explain the main differences in terms of scope, implementation, killer acquisitions and targeted advertising.
China has been pushing an aggressive agenda on a number of digital issues. We discussed the Chinese strategy to regulate the tech sector, and its implication for European businesses, with Vera Demary, head of research unit for digitalisation at the German Economic Institute.
We have asked the European Data Protection Supervisor Wojciech Wiewiorowski about its recent proposal to organize a conference to review the enforcement of GDPR, the EU privacy law. He also provided his views on the current criticism around GDPR’s one-stop-shot, the Privacy Shield negotiations, the debate around encryption and the e-Privacy negotiations.
Digital technologies and the rise of online platforms have reshaped the way that we produce, share and consume news, but the concept of media freedom has seen comparatively little change.
As threats to journalists increase, however, authorities around the world, including the EU, are asking how protections can be updated to keep pace with digitalisation. On this week’s podcast, we hear from the authors of a new report exploring the relationship between media freedom and technological development.
After having heard the views of European tech companies on the Digital Markets Act (DMA), we have spoken to Adam Cohen, Google’s director of economic policy, to hear the perspective of what is likely to be labelled as a ‘gatekeeper’. The discussion focuses on the difference between legitimate competition and what constitutes abuse of market dominance, as well as how to conciliate technological innovation with antitrust regulation.
German elections are eventually upon us.As the EU largest economy heads to the first polls of the post-Markel era, EURACTIV’s correspondent in Germany Oliver Noyan helps us decode the positions of the main German parties in relation to key digital issues: digital sovereignty, competition policy, content moderation, data retention, biometric recognition. Will the new German government change its current approach to digital policy?
Interview with Trivago CEO Axel Hefer and the Managing Director of Visual Meta Johannes Kotte on the perspective of European tech companies on the Digital Markets Act.
We take a look at the upcoming digital trends and challenges as presented in the European Commission’s strategic oversight report.
The economic impact of the semiconductor shortage has prompt all major industrial players to ramp up their investments. We discuss what the EU done so far, and if it is working.
The green and digital transitions rank on top of the EU agenda, but as far as digital devices are concerned, they do not really go together. We take a closer look at right to repair, how tech companies are preventing independent repairs and what the EU should do about it.
The green and digital transitions rank on top of the EU agenda, but as far as digital devices are concerned, they do not really go together. We take a closer look at right to repair, how tech companies are preventing independent repairs and what the EU should do about it.
Introducing merger regulations for Big Tech is at the centre of the debate for competition policy. Yet we know very little about these ‘killer acquisitions’. A new research sheds some light on this phenomenon, and its consequences for competitors and consumers.
The French historical ambitions are now eyeing digital sovereignty as its next frontier of grandeur. We take a deeper look at the state of play of France’s tech strategy and the challenges that lay ahead.
This week Slovenia has entered the international human rights watchlist for the repeated attacks on the press. We have taken a closer look at the country’s declining media freedom.
Technology has become a key dimension of transatlantic relations. We take stock of the EU-US summit, discussing the outcome for the tech sector.
Technology has become a key dimension of transatlantic relations. We take stock of the EU-US summit, discussing the outcome for the tech sector.
What to expect from next week’s summit? International lawyer Rafi Azim-Khan walks us through the state of play for international data transfer and the key challenges ahead of the negotiations.
Contact-tracing apps have raised major privacy concerns. Jascha Galaski, advocacy officer at Civil Liberties Union For Europe, illustrates a study on how data protection was privatised, and other flaws in the overall process.
Three years since its entry into force, the data protection framework is still falling short proper enforcement.
This week, the European Parliament approved two resolutions on the data transfers between the EU and the United States and United Kingdom respectively.
The Data Adequacy debate spurred from a ruling of the Court of Justice of
the European Union from July 2020, the now famous Schrems II.
The General Court has overturned the Commission's state aid decision against Luxembourg and Amazon. The ruling is another setback for the EU executive, that is still working on an international framework for taxing web services.
This week, the Commission has announced its updated Industrial Strategy, identifying several areas of strategic vulnerability. The chip and the cloud are two key technologies for our digital future, but Europe is light-years behind its competitors.
In this week's episode we look at Apple’s new privacy feature, which might change mobile usage as we know it. Apple devices will now request app-makers to receive explicit consent for tracking users, threatening a multi-billion advertising industry.
This week, we examine the Commission’s plans to introduce a Digital Green Certificate, the aim of which is to ensure the freedom of movement within the EU during the covid crisis.
For a full breakdown of all of the most important stories over the past 7 days in this patch, sign up to my free newsletter or take a look at it online at Euractiv.com
This week, we take the examine the recent Facebook data breach that has reportedly impacted 533 million users worldwide.
Welcome to EURACTIV’s Digital Brief podcast, my name is Samuel Stolton and each week, I aim to bring you some of the most relevant and timely technology stories in the world of EU politics and policy.
This week, we take a look at the latest hearing of Big Tech's Zuckerberg, Pichai, and Dorsey in Thursday's Energy and Commerce committee session, and the different opinions at play with regards to the infamous Section 230 of the US Communications Decency Act.
This week, we take a look into the thinking behind the Commission's recently published plans for their so-called 'Digital Decade' targets, and we probe perhaps the blindspots that the EU executive hasn't yet addressed in detail.
This week we take a look at the Commission’s plans for protecting the future of platform workers in the EU. You’ll hear from Commission representatives on the EU’s future objectives in this field, and we also speak to Ludovic Voet, Confederal Secretary at European Trade Union Confederation on the need to better protect the workers of the gig economy in Europe.
This week we take a look at what’s in store for the future of 5G in the EU, with a particular focus on recent developments in France.
For a full breakdown of all of the most important stories over the past 7 days in this patch, sign up to my free newsletter or take a look at it online at Euractiv.com
This Spring, the European Central Bank will decide whether or not to move ahead with preparatory work to launch a digital euro, a project that could have far-reaching implications for the very foundations of the financial system.
Central bankers were given a wake up call in 2019, following Facebook’s announcement of its intentions to develop its own digital currency, which was called ‘Libra’ and now ‘Diem’ in Summer 2019, and since then discussions have been taking place at the ECB with regards to the notion of the ECB developing its own digital currency.
A range of private media outlets went off the air in Poland on Wednesday running blank pages and slogans such as “this used to be your favourite programme,” in protest against a proposed media advertising tax they say threatens journalistic independence and diversity.
The blackout came a day after many publishing groups objected to the planned tax in an open letter to authorities and political leaders.
The development of next generation robotics technologies, has been cited as an important part of the EU’s future economic growth and recovery. But there are also perilous pitfalls at play, should the bloc overlook various policy challenges, in terms of high-risk robotics, data protection, and consumer rights. This week will delve into the future of EU robotics, to give you an exclusive insight into what’s in store.
The EU is deploying drone technology to surveil its external borders. How ethical are practices such as these? This week Samuel Stolton speaks to an MEP who has taken the lead in making this an important issue for the EU to examine.
In this week’s edition, we take a deep dive into the European Union’s next moves in the Artificial Intelligence space by drawing on recent comments from political officials and catching up with policy experts in the field, as the European Commission readied new rules on AI to be presented in March.
Nations across the bloc only have until early June this year to transpose the EU’s Copyright Directive, adopted in 2019.
This week, we hone in on one of the countries that played host to a groundswell of opposition to the plans: Germany.
Online platform giants will be forced to abide by a broad range of obligations as part of ambitious new plans laid out by the European Commission in its Digital Markets Act (DMA) and Digital Services Act (DSA) on Tuesday.
This week, EURACTIV takes a deeper dive to see what’s in store as part of the plans.
As we edge closer to December 31st, concerns are starting to amplify over how data transfers will take place between the EU and the UK after Brexit.
This week, EURACTIV speaks to Ben Rapp, an expert on EU-UK data flows who heads the UK’s largest data privacy consultancy, Securys, to get an insight into what could be in store for the future of EU-UK digital trade.
After rumors had been circulating in Brussels earlier this week, the Commission confirmed that the publication of the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act would be pushed back to December 15th. This week, we have all the latest on the plans, including the Commission’s direction of travel with regards to the functionality of the DMA’s New Competition Tool.
This week, the European Commission has unveiled its highly-anticipated Data Governance Act. In our latest transmission, we take a closer look at the plans.
A series of EU nations have started to make their cases for the nomination as the bloc’s next cybersecurity hub. This week, take a look at the battle for Europe’s new cyber centre.
This week, the European Commission has published its draft decision on standard contractual clauses (SCCs) for the transfer of personal data to third countries, after the Schrems II strikedown earlier this year. The EDPB has also released its guidance for the transfer of EU personal data abroad.
The United States is on the brink of electing its next President has elected a new President. This week, Samuel Stolton takes a look at how the ballot may influence the future of EU digital policy as well as transatlantic elections.
There’s been lots of talk on the EU conference circuit this week, with regards to the best course of action to take as part of new competition capacities to be outlined in the Commission’s Digital Markets Act, set to be unveiled on December 2.
And talk of a potential Big Tech breakup has not gone away.
Welcome to EURACTIV’s Digital Brief podcast, where we bring you a specially curated digital and tech story from the week in the world of EU politics and policy.
The European Parliament has overwhelmingly backed a series of reports which could have a profound impact on the future of the platform economy, supporting a possible ban on targeted advertising, reporting procedures for illegal content, and better detection of fraudulent vendors.
Global technology giants including Google, Microsoft, and IBM, in addition to Chinese players in the market, are welcome to take part in the EU’s ambitious cloud infrastructure project Gaia-X, German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said on Thursday.
European Council summit where EU leaders are set to sign off on commitments made to bolster the EU's digital clout in the world, with a new series of so-called Digital Compass benchmarks for 2030.
In the Commission's digital development plans, one initiative that stands out is the notion of establishing an EU wide digital identity.
The European Commission has concerns that certain aspects of the UK’s data protection regime may change in the future and negatively impact the safety of EU personal data when transferred to the country.
Presenting her future vision to MEPs earlier this week, von der Leyen outlined three areas that have become more pertinent in the context of the coronavirus, referring to forthcoming years as Europe’s ‘digital decade’ and proposing that 20% of the bloc’s recovery fund be spent on digital initiatives.
Europe's online marketplaces should not be controlled by a handful of dominant gatekeeper platforms, the EU's digital chief Margarethe Vestager has said, referring to her bid to reign in the market dominance of tech giants through the EU's forthcoming new competition tool.
EU leaders earlier this week reached a 'historic agreement' on the new multi-annual financial framework and the recovery and resilience fund. However, in order to achieve these new agreements, substantial cuts have been made to the bloc's various funding programs, including in the digital fields. This week, we crunch the numbers.
The EU-US Privacy Shield agreement that attempts to guarantee the secure transmission of EU data to the United States, has been declared invalid by the European Court of Justice, in a ruling that will provoke major disruption to transatlantic data flows.
EURACTIV’s Digital Editor Samuel Stolton examines the issue further to find out what could happen next.
This week, 150 prominent writers and academics including Noam Chomsky, Steven Pinker, Margaret Atwood, Francis Fukuyama, Salman Rushdie, and J.K Rowling, have written an open letter calling for free speech to be preserved online, amid an ongoing trend towards 'cancel culture.' Could such a narrative have any influence on the future direction of policy in this area? EURACTIV’s Digital Editor Samuel Stolton examines the issue further.
One question that has returned to the forefront of our minds this week in the tech domain is how does Europe position itself with regards to regulating artificial intelligence?
EURACTIV’s Digital Editor Samuel Stolton draws on comments this week from the European Data Protection Supervisor Wojciech Wiewiórowski and Vice-President for Digital Margrethe Vestager, while also lighting the German government’s position on the issue of Artificial Intelligence regulation in the EU.
The European Commission has presented its first review of the application of the General Data Protection Regulation. This week, we take a look at some of the main findings, including how doubt has been cast over the UK’s future data adequacy.
Palantir. MEPs have urged the European Commission to provide more details on the EU’s relationship with controversial US big data analytics firm Palantir, following a series of revelations detailing the involvement of the company in Europe.
GAIA-X. France and Germany's bid to create a European cloud infrastructure ecosystem to stave off US and Chinese competitors in the data business was launched today, after Ministers Bruno Le Maire and Peter Altmaier revealed more on their ambitious Gaia-X project.
As Europe readies itself for a public consultation on the upcoming Digital Services Act, US President Donald Trump has adopted a no-holds-barred approach to social media this week, threatening to impose strict regulation or close down Twitter after the platform fact-checked one of his tweets.
EU needs app uptake. The European Commission has said this week that the ‘largest possible participation’ of EU citizens is required in order for coronavirus contact tracing applications to work effectively.
Earlier this week, the executive's VP for Digital, Margrethe Vestager, suggested that coronavirus contact tracing apps could play a vital role in cross-borer travel this summer.
Welcome to EURACTIV's Digital Brief Podcast, where we'll look into this issue further, in addition to giving a lowdown of the week’s biggest European tech news stories in the world of politics and policy.
Digital Tax. The debate in Brussels is once again heating up over whether a EU-wide Digital Services Tax could be one of the answers to the economic fallout resulting from the coronavirus.
Welcome to EURACTIV's Digital Brief Podcast, where we'll look into this issue further, in addition to giving a lowdown of the week’s biggest European tech news stories in the world of politics and policy.
The divergent approaches of EU member states in their privacy protocols for coronavirus contact tracing apps are about to be laid bare, as nations adopt different technologies with different standards, despite the EU attempting to harmonise guidance on the use of such apps.
This week EURACTIV digs deeper into the controversy surrounding the Pan-European Privacy-Preserving Proximity Tracing (PEPP-PT) project consortium and surveys the rest of the week’s news in the world of European technology policy and politics.
The European Commission has warned against the processing and storage of location data in the use of mobile applications designed to trace the potential spread of the coronavirus across the bloc. EURACTIV Digital Editor Samuel Stolton looks into this issue further, in addition to giving a breakdown of the week’s biggest European tech news stories in the world of politics and policy.
On Monday, the EU’s data watchdog said that the bloc should establish its own “pan-European COVID-19 mobile application” due to divergences in current app developments across the bloc.
EURACTIV Digital Editor Samuel Stolton looks into this issue further, in addition to giving a breakdown of the week’s biggest European tech news stories in the world of politics and policy.
In a desperate attempt to gain some of a sense of control over the spread of the COVID-19, governments across Europe are looking out to the far-east for lessons on how to trace the spread of the virus.
EURACTIV Digital Editor Samuel Stolton looks into this issue further, in addition to giving a breakdown of the week’s biggest European tech news stories in the world of politics and policy.
Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders talks about regulating Artificial Intelligence technologies, as part of a European Parliament Civil Liberties discussion on Tuesday 21 January 2020.