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ALEXANDRA VAN HUFFELEN: Thank you, Shai.
Thank you very much for everybody here...
but special so for the panelists, and definitely also for Microsoft coming up.
It's super that you came and came to discuss with us.
I just wanted to say a few things.
Well, it's very clear...
that the digital transformation...
is of super importance to our societies.
It brings a lot of good things.
It changes a lot of things that we found very boring and tedious...
into something nice.
It helps us to communicate.
It helps us in many ways to connect people together...
to work on issues that make work better, life better, communication better...
and so on and so forth.
And I think we should still keep that in mind...
when we're also talking about regulation.
Because on the other hand, we see that the digital transformation...
also brings a lot of things that we should be worried about.
We've been talking about these things today.
Whether it's about human rights...
privacy, transparency, children's rights, non-discrimination.
Whether it's about economic situations like the position of huge companies...
versus very tiny individuals...
or not so tiny individuals, but individuals that have a lot less economic power.
We still have to keep in mind that it's super important...
to bring into place the regulation...
that makes sure this huge transformation that brings so many nice things...
needs to be regulated.
And we're in a position where we're still as governments running a bit behind.
We know that there's already products and services on the market...
that are not regulated, that have these risks and impose these risks.
And basically, what we're doing as European Union, as member states...
is to create that regulation and we've been doing already that for the past years.
And we're very happy of course there's already a GDPR...
we know there's a GSA and a DMA coming into effect...
we know the AI Act and all the other Acts that we're bringing.
We need to consider of course whether it's enough...
and whether it's also coherent enough.
Because it's very important when you have all these regulations...
that you make sure that it is also going to work together in the right direction...
and not being too complicated.
Of course there's people, and especially companies...
that need to use the regulation, make use of it.
And that is something that is of course, in first instance...
something that tech companies have to work on...
because they are the basis of the new products and services...
and they have to work on it.
And as was clearly stated also, they do.
They look into the regulation...
they look into making products and services that are good.
But we also know that they are not all working...
according to the values that the European Union is stating.
Not only because there's a deliberate way of not being coherent with these values...
but because of sometimes also large companies...
are not aware of how their products and services are being used.
So there comes the enforcement into place.
And we know we have regulators.
We have regulators that do a lot of good work.
But we also know that governments need to step in as well.
This was basically the plea that I was making...
in the beginning of this afternoon...
saying: we need next to very good regulation...
and enforcing regulation by regulators...
and of course implementing regulation by companies...
we need governments to step up to help making sure...
that this process of having good digital services and products...
is going to be much faster, much better...
also already ahead of the implementation of certain acts like the AI Act.
What we've heard today also is not only that we need to continue to do that work...
but also that we do not need to look only at privacy.
We need to look at the far broader spectrum of human rights...
whether it's about children's rights or non-discrimination...
about transparency and so forth...
which is of course one of the pictures that is, for instance, in the AI Act...
but is not really implemented yet.
So working on that issue is something that I very much heard today...
and I like, because this is basically also underlining the call for action...
that I was trying to make and I hope that you're going to help us do that work.
If we can do it together, use the GDPR, use Data Protection Impact Assessments...
together with these Human Rights Impact Assessments...
we can already start working...
companies, tech companies, governments, regulators, the EU...
together to make sure that we make the products and services safe...
and good and nice for people.
I also had some very other and more personal takeaways today...
because we've been talking also lots...
about the business model of digital transformation or the digital world.
And I believe that is something that we also need to continue to look into.
Of course the Digital Markets Act has a basis on that...
but I believe also that, for instance, looking at the cookie laws...
and how they function is something that I'm really tempted...
to further look into and work on.
And I hope to discuss that later on, and not today maybe...
well, during drinks, but also later on in the coming month to discuss this with you.
I just wanted to close off saying two things.
First of all, of course super thank you again that you came...
that we had this discussion, also for the people online.
I understood there's more than a 100 people online also watching us...
and they can continue to do so...
because there's going to be a version of this panel...
not a version, but an exact copy also will remain online.
So there's more people that can look at it, discuss it and take it to their benefit.
But also, I wanted to again say that if you are interested to work with us...
on seeing how we can use these two impact assessments...
Human Rights Impact Assessments and Privacy Impact Assessments...
in order to further up, to continue and also to speed up...
making sure that digital transformation can be used for good.
Take a responsibility as governments to do that also together with the tech sector.
I'd be very happy to discuss that further with you...
because it would be very nice if we could do it together.
The EU, but definitely also the different member states.
So thank you very much.
Time for a bit of a chat and a drink and hope to see you soon again also.
Bye bye.
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