Kick-off Panel, organized by European Digital Rights (EDRi)
Leading by example: EU online platform regulation with people in mind
Panelists are Ilaria Buri (researcher at fellow at the Institute for Information Law, University of Amsterdam) https://twitter.com/ilariaburi, Paul Tang (MEP S&D) https://www.paultang.nl/en/bio/, Kasia Szymielewicz (co-founder and lead of Panoptykon) https://twitter.com/szymielewicz and Jon von Tetzchner (CEO Vivaldi) https://twitter.com/jonsvt
Moderated by Jan Penfrat (EDRi Brussels office) https://twitter.com/ilumium
The Digital Services Act (DSA) and Digital Markets Act (DMA) present a unique opportunity to set new rules for the platform economy in the EU – to make sure digital services serve people not only Silicon Valley profits. The EU has the chance to become the global leader in limiting the immense power big tech platforms have amassed over the last decade and a half.
This panel will consider how DSA and DMA can counter the attention-grabbing, user-exploiting business models of most of today’s hyper-centralised ad-driven online platforms. With a collection of outstanding panelists it aims at answering some of the most urgent questions: How to regulate Big Tech to stop how they hamr people and democracy? Which aspects need to be regulated? How can we prevent the aggregation of too much power in the hands of a few platforms and help to revive the decentralised nature the internet was originally built on?
Sessions
Will the Zombie “Data Retention” never die?
By Patrick Breyer, Pirate Member of the European Parliament (Greens/EFA group), Further info: https://www.patrick-breyer.de/en/
Even after countless attempts to implement telecommunication surveillance laws have been struck down by the European courts, the European Commission and some of the EU member states are holding on to the idea to introduce measures of data retention in the Union. In July 2021, the Commission published a “non-paper” considering the legal options to introduce the indiscriminate retention of user data in some form or another. We do not want to let this happen.
Before the European Commission even starts drafting new legislation on data retention laws, we need to speak up! This means that we want to join our forces to raise awareness on this topic together with you as civil society in the EU member states.
How Google makes me really angry
By Rena Tangens (Digitalcourage)
Google received the Big Brother Award 2021 – Rena Tangens explains the decision of the jury and gives an extensive number of reasons why google so deserved this negative – award. She’ll also update about recent outrageous developments and what google is trying to conceal from us. https://bigbrotherawards.de/2021/was-mich-wirklich-wuetend-macht-google
How (Not) to Succeed With Privacy Complaints: Share Your Experiences!
By Francisco & Sofia
Have you ever made a privacy complaint? If so, how did it go? So far we have not had much success with our privacy complaints but we do have some stories to share and hope to learn about your experiences. In the end we’ll be building a short guide together on how to successfully do privacy complaints along with common pitfalls and how to overcome them.
polypoly versus monopoly
By Christian Buggedei
It isn’t always possible to solve a technical problem with a technical solution. Sometimes you need to engage citizens via technology to demand change. That’s what we’re doing at polypoly. We are both a decentralized infrastructure provider, and a data cooperative. And in one of the few instances where technology has caught up with the law, polypoly is only possible because of the GDPR. Data is a sovereign right, and citizens have a right to reclaim their data from data monopolies. As a decentralized Edge-networking provider, we’re joining a cadre of technologists restoring the internet to its original intent: With no central point of failure. And as a data cooperative we’re using the law to restore data sovereignty to citizens. In this workshop we will detail the technology under development, and our approach to data stewardship through the functioning of polypoly SCE. Join us for this workshop, and a cooperative way forward.
The GNU Metaverse
By Tobias Alexandra Platen
I have been escaping Facebook (now called Meta) for many years. Building a scalable Facebook replacement is hard but possible. One attempt has been Secushare which is currently in the early prototyping phase. An experimental codebase exists but is rarely used. There is also the Taler project that enables micropayments so that users can pay with EUR not their data. This presentation will show how to build a GNU Metaverse that respects your freedom and privacy, but unlike Facebook it won’t be for free.
Fediverse kills the social media star – Build and use your own tools
By padeluun (Digitalcourage)
Chat Control 2.0
By Patrick Breyer, Pirate Member of the European Parliament (Greens/EFA group), Further info: https://www.patrick-breyer.de/en/
The EU wants to have all private chats, messages, and emails automatically searched for suspicious content, generally and indiscriminately. The stated aim: To prosecute child pornography. The result: Mass surveillance through fully automated real-time messaging and chat control and the end of secrecy of digital correspondence.
In early 2022 the legislation is expected, to make ‘Chatcontrol’ an obligation for all service providers operating in the EU.
We want to discuss with you how we can prevent this massive infringement of fundamental rights. Even if it is foreseeable that such a law would be annulled by the EU Court of Justice, it should not even come to the point where technology and regulations are introduced to scan all our communications.