The Tech Brief

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.