This week, the EDPS Supervisor, Wojciech Wiewiórowski, and I had the pleasure to attend a high-level event titled "Data-protection in the Western Balkans and Eastern Partnership Region", arranged by the SIGMA Programme; the Eastern Partnership Regional Fund for Public Administration; the Regional Cooperation Council and the Regional School of Public Administration.
Today marks World Refugee Day. Since 2001, we pay respect to the courage of refugees from all around the world that have had to flee their countries to escape war, persecutions and other disasters. I would therefore like to share a few observations on the EU’s obligation to ensure that fundamental rights are upheld for those reaching the borders of the EU.
Modern Artificial Intelligence (AI) models often work as opaque decision-making engines (black boxes); reaching conclusions without much transparency or explanations on how a given result is obtained. In an era where AI has become an integral part of our lives, where recruiters, healthcare providers, and other fields, rely on this tool to make decisions impacting individuals, understanding the way AI works is essential.
The 52nd meeting between the EDPS and the Data Protection Officers (DPO) network of the EU institutions, bodies, offices and agencies (EUIs) took place on 12 May 2023, hosted by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), in Alicante.
Human beings are fascinated by technology. Think of the fascination we all feel, no matter our race or geographical location, when we see a fire in front of us. As this was probably the first big innovation of humankind that allowed our ancestors to cook and keep warm during the cold winter nights.This fascination has been deeply encoded into our DNA as Homo sapiens.
The EDPS and the Data Protection Officers (DPO) network of the EU institutions, bodies, offices and agencies (EUIs) met for the second time this year on 6 December 2022, at the premises of the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA), in Lisbon.
To mark the end of their traineeship, the EDPS and the EDPB trainees produced a podcast series of three episodes on the topic of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Titled “AI and I: a three-step approach to Artificial Intelligence”, this podcast explores what opportunities, risks and challenges AI and AI-based technologies bring to individuals, society and data protection authorities in the European Union (EU) and in the European Economic Area (EEA).
It was at the end September 2021 when the EDPS first launched its first foresight-related project, TechSonar. At that moment, we already believed the world to be a highly -complex place. Yet from September 2021 onwards, we stood by and watched in disbelief the events that unfolded at the eastern border of the European Union, which threatened the very core of our European democracy and values. Today, one thing is certain: new challenges will not cease to emerge.
The Internet Privacy Engineering Network, or IPEN, workshops bring together developers and data protection experts with a technical background from different areas in order to launch and support projects that build privacy into everyday tools and develop new tools that can protect and enhance our privacy effectively.
On 14 June 2022, following two years of online meetings due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the network of 70 Data Protection Officers (DPOs) of the EU institutions, bodies and agencies (EUIs) met in person to celebrate its 50th meeting with the EDPS.
Since the EDPS was established eighteen years ago, these meetings have been taking place twice a year. The objective has always been the same: to guide the DPO network to achieve compliance with data protection law and to support and boost cooperation between the DPOs of EU institutions, bodies and agencies.