The Tech Brief

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 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.