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.
Aug 26, 2022•21 min•Ep. 103
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.
Jul 22, 2022•21 min•Ep. 102
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.
Jul 15, 2022•25 min•Ep. 101
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.
Jul 08, 2022•29 min•Ep. 100
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.
Jul 01, 2022•22 min•Ep. 99
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.
Jun 24, 2022•23 min•Ep. 98
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.
Jun 17, 2022•15 min•Ep. 97
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.
Jun 10, 2022•17 min•Ep. 96
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.
Jun 03, 2022•20 min•Ep. 95
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...
May 27, 2022•17 min•Ep. 94
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.
May 20, 2022•29 min•Ep. 93
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.
May 13, 2022•24 min•Ep. 92
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.
May 06, 2022•34 min•Ep. 91
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.
Apr 29, 2022•10 min•Ep. 90
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.
Apr 22, 2022•25 min•Ep. 89
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.
Apr 15, 2022•16 min•Ep. 88
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.
Apr 08, 2022•6 min•Ep. 87
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.
Apr 01, 2022•25 min•Ep. 86
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.
Mar 25, 2022•22 min•Ep. 85
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.
Mar 18, 2022•17 min•Ep. 84
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.
Mar 11, 2022•9 min•Ep. 83
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.
Mar 04, 2022•22 min•Ep. 82
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.
Feb 25, 2022•16 min•Ep. 81
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.
Feb 18, 2022•12 min•Ep. 80
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.
Feb 11, 2022•16 min•Ep. 79
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.
Feb 04, 2022•14 min•Ep. 78
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.
Jan 28, 2022•14 min•Ep. 77
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.
Jan 21, 2022•7 min•Ep. 76
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.
Jan 14, 2022•15 min•Ep. 75
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.
Jan 07, 2022•12 min•Ep. 74
