Technical standards will play a key role in how the EU’s upcoming AI rulebook will work in practice. We discuss the challenges and policy trends in the standardization process in Europe with Connor Dunlop, European public policy lead at the Ada Lovelace Institute, and Jan Rampala, policy advisor at Business Europe.
The European Commission has recently proposed a Gigabit recommendation as part of a broader Connectivity Package. We discuss the potential impact of the recommendation on the European telecom market with Kamila Kloc, Acting Director for Connectivity at the European Commission, and Luc Hindryckx, Director General at the European Competitive Telecommunications Association (ECTA).
The Digital Markets Act and Digital Services Act include unprecedented measures forcing online platforms to share data. We caught up with Inge Graef, an associate professor at Tilburg University, and Filippo Lancieri, a researcher at the ETH Zurich University, who recently published a study for the Centre on Regulation in Europe (CERRE) on how these provisions might work in practice....
Over two years ago, the Commission announced its planned regulation on political advertising, designed to increase transparency and clamp down on disinformation in EU elections. Trilogue negotiations on the proposed regulation are now underway, with the Swedish Council presidency hoping to reach a general approach by June. On this week’s Tech Brief podcast, MEP Sandro Gozi, who was the rapporteur for the file in Parliament, discusses its progress, the trilogue outlook and some of the key points ...
The Irish Data Protection Commissioner plays a critical role in enforcing the EU General Data Protection Regulation. We discussed with Commissioner Helen Dixon enforcement trends, different legal interpretations with other data protection authorities and recent decisions on cross-border cases.
All major EU institutions banned TikTok on work phones in the last week. We discuss the ban and the geopolitical context in which it takes part with Jade Nester, Head of Data Public Policy for Europe at TikTok, and Katja Muñoz, Research Fellow at the German Council on Foreign Relations.
he European Commission finally opened its public consultation on the senders-pay initiative, also known as fair contribution and traffic tax. We discussed the direction taken by the initiative so far and the options on the table with Julia Maxwell, SVP for Viaplay group and a member of the EU VOD Coalition, and Alessandro Gropelli, Deputy Director General at ETNO.
The coming weeks will be fundamental for the DSA to take shape, as the European Commission is working on secondary legislation to define critical provisions of the regulation, and large online platforms are taking their first steps toward compliance. EURACTIV caught up with Mathias Vermeulen, Public Policy Director at AWO, and Asha Allen, Advocacy Director in the Europe office of the Center for Democracy and Technology, to discuss some of the most crucial open questions on the DSA implementation...
In the past weeks, Big Tech companies have slashed their staff in preparation for an economic recession. What do these mass layoffs mean for the tech sector? Are we looking at structural adjustments or temporary fluctuations? And what does this all mean for Europe? We try to answer these questions with Chengyi Lin, affiliate professor of strategy at the business school INSEAD.
While the regulation to establish a European digital identity continues its legislative process, the European Commission has recently launched a pilot project to see how this could work in practice. We discuss the project and its potential impact on the legislation with Gregory Kuhlmey, digital identity programme manager at IDEMIA, the French security company that leads the consortium behind the pilot.
In the past few days, generative Artificial Intelligence systems like ChatGPT and Stability AI have caught great attention. In the first part of the podcast, we discuss to what extent these language models are actually new, and the potential societal transformations they can drive with Joanna Bryson, Professor of Ethics and Technology at The Hertie School of Governance. In the episode's second part, we focus on the societal risks and possible regulatory approaches with Daniel Leufer, a Senior Po...
A draft bill expected to be introduced to parliament in the coming months is set to give legal backing to planned competition reforms published by the UK government last year, a move which could have significant implications for tech regulation. Andrea Coscelli, former chief executive of the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority, joins this week’s podcast to discuss the changes and how they compare to similar efforts within the EU.
Fundamental differences between the EU and the US remain on Open RAN. We pick up this debate, in particular looking at the security aspect, with John Baker, Senior Vice President for Business Development at Mavenir, and Hosuk Lee-Makiyama, Director of the European Centre for International Political Economy.
The Digital Markets Act targets the largest technology companies in the world, which are also the main developers of Artificial Intelligence. For professor Philipp Hacker and other academics of the European New School of Digital Studies, the DMA might become actual EU rulebook on AI. We discuss with Hacker his argument and how the DMA might interact with the upcoming AI Act.
As the European Commission laying the preparatory work to enforce the Digital Markets Act, we took a look at the main challenges and potential pitfalls in the implementation process, paying particular attention to the switching tools, with Alexandre de Streel, academic director at CERRE, and Amelia Fletcher, professor of competition policy at the University of East Anglia and CERRE’s research fellow.
AI audits are a nascent field due to rapidly developing with the adoption of the EU’s AI Act. But what are the conditions for a robust auditing regime? And what are the risks of so-called ‘audit-washing’? We discuss this and more with Julia Tréhu, Program Manager and Fellow at the German Marshal Fund, and Ellen Goodman, distinguished professor at Rutgers Law School.
The Data Act has the grand ambition of creating a market for non-personal data in Europe. We discussed with Heiko Richter, a researcher from the Max Planck Institute, the current state of the policy discussions on the new data law and the pitfalls that need to be avoided.
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.
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.
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 Professio...
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.
