Wikimedia Deutschland e. V. reposted this
Executive Director, Wikimedia Deutschland - Basketball enthusiast - Passionate Reader - Casual GO Player
What a great conversation by Maria Ressa and Meredith Whittaker at Bellevue Palace today! I had the honor having received an invite by the German President Frank Walter Steinmeier together with 70+ people to discuss if the new digital public sphere calls for a new age of "Enlightenment". The answer by the two panelists was rather mundane. We need swift and resolute tech regulation and specifically an enforcement of regulations, if we want to keep our democracies lively. It was surprising to receive praise for GDPR (as a European) as a hallmark for tech regulation while acknowleding deficits in the details. The perspectives given - also in the light of a potential Trump victory -, were rather worrying if authoritarian regimes get way more access to the "surveillance data" of big tech, including the idea to put the US Federal Communications Commission under direct presidential control. The in many ways unsatisfactory regulations of AI Act, GDPR, DSA and DMA are in a global perspective steps in the right direction and the European Union is more important than ever. I left though rather lighthearted and optimistic having felt a thorough debate and understanding of the situation and risks ahead which is such an imperative for hope and political action. Let's keep safeguarding our democracies. Bundespräsidialamt Dr. Claudia Kristine Huber Markus Beckedahl Anna-Lena von Hodenberg Dirk Freytag Marc Reinhardt Stefan Heumann Philipp Otto Thomas Laschyk Anna Herrhausen Alena Buyx Helene Bubrowski