The Tech Brief

This week, we are discussing the artificial intelligence liability directive (AILD), a key part of the EU's continuously evolving digital rulebook. The AILD is expected to fill an important legislative gap that will allow consumers to seek compensation for damages caused by AI products.We are joined by Beatrice Schütte, postdoc researcher at the University of Helsinki and the University of Lapland, and Shu Li, Assistant Professor at Erasmus University Rotterdam.

Andrea Renda, a Senior Research Fellow, discusses Letta's tech report insights including telecom regulations evolution in Europe, the significance of space activities for EU's competitiveness, and the role of AI and new technologies in shaping the single market. A comparison between Draghi and Letta reports reveals differences in approach and content for EU policy development.

Last week, the EU Parliament voted to pass amendments to Eurodac, previously a fingerprints database, along with a new Migration Pact to boost border security.The expansion of Eurodac will see migrants’ biometric data, including facial images, collected and stored for 10 years and exchanged between police and border authorities.This includes children as young as six years old.On today’s podcast, rapporteur for the file, MEP Jorge Buxade Villalba said why he thinks regulation is necessary — and why he thinks it has been vilified be NGOs. In a separate interview, AccesNow’s Caterina Rodelli, said on why she thinks the Eurodac entails mass surveillance for migrants and asylum seekers — and why she that’s a bad thing.

Max von Thun, Europe Director at the Open Markets Institute, discusses the need for a revamp of competition policy in the EU. Topics include structural changes, a change in culture within the executive, advocating for anti-monopoly policies, manifesto proposals for DG Comp, implementing bright line rules, regulating tech companies, and balancing competition and competitiveness in the tech industry.

This week, we talk to the European Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly, about the European Commission’s delays in responding to Access to Documents requests, their impact on EU citizens, artificial intelligence, and more.

This week, together with Pavlina Pavlova, Public Policy Advisor at the CyberPeace Institute, we look at cybersecurity issues, such as the 2024 Munich Security Report's revelation of heightened cyber-attack risks, the phone hacking of the European Parliament's defence committee, predictions for the upcoming European Parliament elections, and the United Nations Cybercrime Convention. This week's episode was recorded at the Fundamental Rights Forum, which took place in Vienna on the 11th and 12th of March, organised by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights. 

This week, together with the European Data Protection Supervisor Wojciech Wiewiórowski, we look at data protection issues, including the regulation concerning the detection and removal of online child sexual abuse material, as well as Frontex’s handling of migrants’ data, and the recent news regarding the European Commission's violation of data protection rules in its use of Microsoft.This week's episode was recorded at the Fundamental Rights Forum, which took place in Vienna on the 11th and 12th of March, organised by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights.

Together with Katja Muñoz, research fellow at the German Council on Foreign Relations’ Center for Geopolitics, Geoeconomics, and Technology, we talk about the impact of social media and technology on the 2024 European Parliament elections, TikTok and Meta’s election preparations, the lack of access for data for researchers, and even Taylor Swift.