Podcasts about data act

Il nuovo Data Act europeo è alle porte e cambierà profondamente il modo in cui i dati vengono generati, condivisi e utilizzati, soprattutto nel mondo dell'Internet of Things (IoT). Questo webinar è pensato per tutte le aziende, startup, professionisti e stakeholder che operano in ambito digitale e vogliono capire cosa cambierà concretamente a livello normativo, operativo e strategico.Argomenti trattati durante il webinar:1. Il contesto: Il punto di vista della Commissione Europea. Perché nasce il Data Act e quali sono le sue differenze rispetto a GDPR e Data Governance Act2. Il punto di vista legale: le nuove regole per la condivisione dei dati generati da dispositivi connessi3. I diritti degli utenti e gli obblighi per produttori e fornitori di servizi4. Gli impatti tecnologici del Data Act5. Le opportunità di business legate a una gestione più trasparente e condivisa dei datiTrovate qui la registrazione del webinar organizzato da IoTItaly, insieme con Servitly e lo studio legale DLA Piper in cui sono intervenuti: - Alessandro Bassi, Presidente IotItaly, program manager Euroscom- Federico Milani, Deputy Head of the Data Policy and Innovation Unit of CNECT Directorate General, European Commission- Giulio Coraggio, Avvocato, Partner, Head of Intellectual Property & Technology, Studio Legale DLA Piper - Stefano Butti, Servitly Co-founder & CEO- Cristina Criscuoli, Avvocato, Senior Associate, Studio Legale DLA PiperSend us a text

Welcome to 'AI Lawyer Talking Tech'. The legal landscape is rapidly evolving, fundamentally reshaped by artificial intelligence and the tech-savvy lawyers entering the field. AI is transforming daily legal practice, automating tedious tasks, aiding research, and assisting in document creation. As law schools incorporate AI literacy and tools into their curriculum, preparing students for this data-rich world, the profession faces crucial questions about ethics, adaptation, and the very future of legal work. Join us as we discuss these transformative shifts, exploring the tools lawyers are using, the ethical challenges they are addressing, and how the profession is evolving to leverage the power of artificial intelligence.Entrepreneurship Clinic Sets the Stage for Innovative Ventures22 May 2025Yale Law SchoolEthical dilemmas arise as artificial intelligence makes its way into courtrooms22 May 2025WHEC TV-10U.S. policy moves reflect big tech issues with state AI laws22 May 2025SearchCIO.comHow It Works: My 15 Minute Demo with EvenUp22 May 2025LawSitesThe Law Firm of the Future is Being...22 May 2025LawyeristHow Legal Teams Can Master DORA, the Data Act, and the AI Act in 202522 May 2025AxiomLaw.comFrom Workflow To Win: How Legal Ops Makes Legal Tech Actually Work22 May 2025Above The LawThree ChatGPT cases in May see US lawyers in hot water for error-filled briefs22 May 2025Legal Technology InsiderAI is making lawyers more productive and justice more accessible, Northeastern legal expert says22 May 2025Northeastern Global NewsGavel Says Its New AI Assistant, Gavel Exec, Performs At Senior-Level Capacity for Small Law Firms22 May 2025LawSitesJudge considers sanctions against attorneys in prison case for using AI in court filings22 May 2025Alabama Daily NewsGavel Launches ‘Exec' AI Assistant for Small Law22 May 2025Artificial LawyerGeneral counsels turn to generative AI to manage compliance risks22 May 2025IT Brief UKLegal experts share concerns about Data (Use and Access) Bill22 May 2025Computing.co.ukLawyerist Podcast #561: The Law Firm of the Future is Being Built in Law Schools Today, Get a Glimpse with Tracy Norton, Dennis Kennedy, and Nicole Morris22 May 2025Legal Talk NetworkBook Review: Legal Guide to Emerging Technologies22 May 2025SlawFounder's Story: Katya Fisher – Aracor22 May 2025Artificial LawyerMeet The Law Firms and LawTech Companies Helping Startups Stay Compliant22 May 2025TechRound.co.ukDefinely Launches Agentic AI Capabilities + AL Interview22 May 2025Artificial LawyerWalk Through: Litigaze – Spreadsheet-Style Case Management22 May 2025Artificial LawyerDefinely launches agentic AI system to supercharge both accuracy and speed for lawyers22 May 2025Legal Technology News - Legal IT Professionals | Everything legal technologyGavel Launches ‘Exec' AI Assistant for Small Law22 May 2025Artificial LawyerLaw Insider Webinar: CLM Is Dead – Long Live AI22 May 2025Artificial LawyerResponsible AI in legal practices: A guide to effective governance and implementation – Part II22 May 2025Legal Technology News - Legal IT Professionals | Everything legal technologyPresident Trump Signs AI Deepfake Act into Law and House Passes AI Measures — AI: The Washington Report22 May 2025Mintz LevinNew AI Hiring Rules and Lawsuits Put Employers on Notice: What HR Needs to Know22 May 2025Holland & HartCovered Platforms Face Strict Deadlines Under the Take It Down Act [Alert]22 May 2025Cozen O ConnorWe get Privacy for work: The Increasing Importance of Data Mapping22 May 2025Jackson LewisNew Utah AI Laws Change Disclosure Requirements and Identity Protections, Target Mental Health Chatbots22 May 2025Perkins CoieMaximizing Your Law Firm's Lead Conversion: Strategies for Success21 May 2025Legal Talk NetworkMicrosoft to host Musk's Grok 3 despite ongoing OpenAI legal battle21 May 2025AOL.com

Digitalminister Dr. Karsten Wildberger hat bei seinem ersten Auftritt im Bundestag die Vision eines modernen, digitalen Staates vorgestellt – ein Staat, der sich als „Dienstleister für die Bürgerinnen und Bürger sowie die Wirtschaft“ versteht. Doch wie kann das neue Digitalministerium schnell sichtbare Erfolge bei der Staatsmodernisierung erzielen? Marc Danneberg, Bitkom-Experte für den Public Sector, ordnet ein, worauf es jetzt ankommt.Außerdem: In knapp 100 Tagen müssen die Unternehmen den EU Data Act umgesetzt haben – doch laut einer aktuellen Bitkom-Studie hat sich die Mehrheit noch kaum damit beschäftigt. „Nicht nur die Unternehmen, auch die Politik muss beim Data Act ihre Hausaufgaben machen. Wer Regulierung beschließt, muss auch die Betroffenen ausreichend informieren und unterstützen“, sagt Bitkom-Präsident Dr. Ralf Wintergerst. Wie Unternehmen sich jetzt vorbereiten sollten und wer konkret betroffen ist, erklärt Data-Economy-Experte David Schönwerth. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Was ist in der KW 18 in der Datenschutzwelt passiert, was ist für Datenschutzbeauftragte interessant? - KI-Webseitenklonung: Neue Bedrohung für Phishing-Angriffe (https://www.netcraft.com/blog/ai-enabled-darcula-suite-makes-phishing-kits-more-accessible-easier-to-deploy/) - eBay will Nutzerdaten für KI Training verwenden (https://www.lda.brandenburg.de/lda/de/service/presseinformationen/details-presse/~29-04-2025-ebay-gmbh-personenbezogene-daten-sollen-kuenstliche-intelligenz-trainieren) - Bußgeld gegen die Griechische Nationalbank (https://www.edpb.europa.eu/news/national-news/2025/imposition-fine-bank-incident-personal-data-breach_de) Veröffentlichung und Veranstaltung: - HmbBfDI - Handreichung zum Data Act (https://datenschutz-hamburg.de/fileadmin/user_upload/HmbBfDI/Datenschutz/Informationen/250429_Information_Data_Act_und_Datenschutz.pdf) - Der Landesbeauftragte für den Datenschutz und die Informationsfreiheit Baden-Württemberg - Datenpannen-Management– Grundlagen und Praxishinweise (https://www.baden-wuerttemberg.datenschutz.de/offene-veranstaltung-2025-012/) Weitere Infos, Blog und Newsletter finden Sie unter: https://migosens.de/newsroom/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DS_Talk Übersicht aller Themenfolgen: https://migosens.de/datenschutz-podcast-themenfolgen/ (als eigener Feed: https://migosens.de/show/tf/feed/ddt/) Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/datenschutztalk_podcast/ Folge hier kommentieren: https://migosens.de/ebay-plant-ki-training-mit-nutzerdaten-ds-news-kw-18-2025/

The Data Act, effective from January 11, 2024, is reshaping the digital landscape, driving competition, and innovation through enhanced data sharing. Recognising the vast potential of data generated by connected products, this legislation is set to standardise access to both personal and non-personal data from IoT devices. We've amalgamated our Data Act Video Series into a comprehensive podcast episode, bringing you expert insights from our Technology and Innovation Group on data access, sharing obligations and cloud switching provisions.

With the EU Data Act, the landscape of connected products and the allocation of rights to product data is set to change.   This episode of The Data Chronicles is the final installment in a three-part series on the EU Data Act, turning the spotlight onto connected products and related services. Scott Loughlin is joined by Christian Tinnefeld, a partner at Hogan Lovells' Hamburg office, and together they dive into how the new law will affect everything from smart devices to wearables, from IoT to medical products.   They explore key parts of the Act, highlighting the impact on data access, privacy, and product development. With deadlines fast approaching, they also discuss the steps businesses must take to navigate this shift and the challenges and opportunities it brings.

The EU Data Act is set to reshape the cloud computing landscape in the EU, but what does it mean for cloud providers and users in practice? That is the question this episode of The Data Chronicles seeks to answer.   Scott Loughlin continues the discussion on the EU Data Act with Henrik Hanssen, counsel from Hogan Lovells' Hamburg office, to explore how the cloud switching and interoperability requirements under the EU Data Act will affect cloud service product design, customer agreements and cloud business models. As cloud providers face the need to adapt, Scott and Henrik break down the challenges and opportunities that come with this significant regulatory shift.

The EU Data Act is set to transform the digital economy—but what does that mean for businesses?   In the first episode of our three-part series, host Scott Loughlin is joined by Hogan Lovells colleagues, Christian Tinnefeld, partner, and Henrik Hanssen, counsel to break down the Act's key provisions, its impact on cloud computing, connected products, and data-sharing obligations, and what companies must do to comply before the looming deadlines. From data mapping to contract renegotiations, they explore the challenges and opportunities businesses must navigate.   Tune in for a practical guide to understanding one of Europe's most significant digital regulations.

Im dritten und letzten Teil des Interviews mit IT-Rechtsanwalt Clemens Handl diskutiert Markus Reitshammer über den Data Act, die Kontrolle über Maschinendaten und die Bedeutung von Cybersicherheit für Unternehmen. Die beiden Experten beleuchten, wie Firmen von neuen EU-Regelungen profitieren können und warum IT-Sicherheit nicht nur ein rechtliches, sondern auch ein geschäftskritisches Thema ist. ⚖️

Im neuen Podcast mit Stefan Brink und Niko Härting dreht sich alles um Allianzen im Datenschutz: Zunächst (ab Minute 00:40) geht es in Querbeet um die Frage, ob der unberechenbare US-Präsident Trump das EU-US Data Privacy Framework zu Fall bringen könnte – aus dem Jahr 2023, als die Allianz zwischen EU und USA noch stand. Stefan erklärte in einem Beitrag für das „Handelsblatt“, warum es sich jetzt rächen könnte, dass der Angemessenheitsbeschluss der EU-Kommission nur mit einer Executive Order des Präsidenten Biden und nicht wie von Datenschützern verlangt durch ein Parlamentsgesetz umgesetzt und abgesichert wurde: Jeder Präsident der USA hat es nun selbst in der Hand, das Abkommen wieder scheitern zu lassen. Sodann geht es (ab Minute 13:21) beim Referentenentwurf zum Data Act-Durchführungsgesetz und die bröckelnde Allianz der Datenschutz-Aufsichtsbehörden der Länder und des Bundes: Der EU-DA, der eine faire Verteilung des Datenwertes vernetzter Produkte anstrebt, bekommt in Deutschland mit der Bundesnetzagentur eine zentrale Aufsichtsbehörde für die Durchsetzung und Überwachung der Verordnung (EU) 2023/2854. Ergänzend wird eine Sonderzuständigkeit für die Bundesbeauftragte für den Datenschutz und die Informationsfreiheit geschaffen – interessanterweise an den Aufsichtsbehörden der Länder vorbei. Aufgrund seiner Gesetzgebungskompetenz aus Artikel 74 Absatz 1 Nummer 11 Grundgesetz (Recht der Wirtschaft) begründet der Bund diese Sonderzuständigkeit der BfDI mit Artikel 87 Absatz 3 Satz 1 Grundgesetz. Die BfDI verfüge über das für eine zügige Identifizierung und Bewertung von Datenschutzfragen sowie die Aufbereitung von Sachverhalten notwendige Fachwissen und könne somit erheblich zu einer raschen Beurteilung der datenschutzrechtlichen Fragestellungen beitragen. Brechen da alte Allianzen zwischen der deutschen Datenschutzaufsichtsbehörden von Bund und Ländern? Haben wir es hier mit der Blaupause für Zentralisierung der Aufsicht über private Unternehmen beim Bund (BfDI) zu tun? Schließlich (ab Minute 29:02) gibt es offenbar eine denkwürdige Allianz zwischen Axel Voss (MdEP der EVP-Fraktion) und Max Schrems von der Datenschutz-Organisation NOYB. Voss präsentiert seinen Plan zur Revision der DS-GVO, er will in einem 3-Schichten-Modell eine Differenzierung der Pflichten der DS-GVO abhängig von der nach Unternehmensgröße (vgl. DSA zu very large online platforms VLOP) vornehmen. Schrems stimmt insoweit zu, das „one size fits all“ der DS-GVO sei schon immer verrückt gewesen. Allerdings korreliert ein an der Unternehmensgröße ausgerichteter asymmetrischer Ansatz keineswegs mit dem risikobasierten Ansatz der DS-GVO: Risiken ergeben sich aus Datenmenge, Datenarten (Art. 9-Daten) und TOMs als risikomindernden Maßnahmen – nicht zwingend aus der Unternehmensgröße. Ehemalige, bröckelnde und denkwürdige Allianzen im Datenschutz also…

Im zweiten Teil des Interviews mit IT-Rechtsanwalt Clemens Handl spricht Markus Reitshammer über die praktischen und rechtlichen Herausforderungen rund um Künstliche Intelligenz (KI), Datenschutz und den Data Act. Die beiden Experten diskutieren, wie Unternehmen KI rechtskonform einsetzen und ihre Daten als wertvolle Ressource schützen können.

Live-recording of an Event that took place at University of Vienna on February 27th 2025.The processing and sharing of health data is necessary to advance research of various diseases and health conditions as well as an inseparable part of personalized medicine and the concept of digital health. The European Data Strategy is taking shape with the imminent entry into force of new legal acts, such as the Data Act, Data Governance Act and European Health Data Space. These legislations bring changes to the national healthcare systems and data sharing infrastructures.The aim of this event is to bring together stakeholders in Austria, including researchers, hospitals, clinical practitioners, biobanks, data repositories, Austrian health ministry representatives and policymakers, to discuss the legal landscape, opportunities and challenges surrounding secondary use of health data.Link: https://id.univie.ac.at/news-und-events/detailansicht-news-und-events/news/new-era-for-health-data-secondary-use-of-data-in-the-ehds-and-dga-and-its-implementation-in-europe/

Aktuelle Themen: Datenschutz und Bildung (1:24), Empfehlungen zum Einsatz von KI-Anwendungen (7:25), Personenbezug bei Suchmaschinen und gekürzten IP-Adressen (14:38), EuGH: Generalanwalt zur Pseudonymisierung und Anonymisierung (16:35), Immaterieller Schadenersatz bei Einsatz von Meta Business Tools (26:15), Rechtsfolgen einer fehlerhaften Datenschutz-Folgenabschätzung (32:58), Ethikrat beim EGMR (36:20), Entwurf zum Durchführungsgesetz zum Data Act (38:47) Gesetzgebung: Änderungen in den […]

Il Data Act dell'unione Europea regolamenta la gestione dei dati prodotti dai dispositivi connessi, come automobili o lampadine. Ma cosa prevede questa legge? E perché sono esclusi dalla gestione di questi dati i big dell'informatica? Ne parliamo con Antonio Capone, docente di telecomunicazioni al Politecnico di Milano.

Il Data Act dell'unione Europea regolamenta la gestione dei dati prodotti dai dispositivi connessi, come automobili o lampadine. Ma cosa prevede questa legge? E perché sono esclusi dalla gestione di questi dati i big dell'informatica? Ne parliamo con Antonio Capone, docente di telecomunicazioni al Politecnico di Milano.

The Biden administration released anticipated guidance Wednesday for federal agencies to implement the OPEN Government Data Act and reupped the Chief Data Officers Council after it lapsed last month, completing two key actions for federal data pol icy. Under the Office of Management and Budget memo (M-25-05), commonly known as “Phase II” guidance, agencies have long-awaited marching orders on how to create and maintain comprehensive data inventories and make their data open by default. That includes requirements to create a data inventory that is interoperable with the Federal Data Catalog, conform to the metadata schema approved by the White House, and publish that inventory on the agency's website. The memo reestablishing the CDO Council (M-25-06), meanwhile, gives the panel the ability to start exactly how it left off when its authorization lapsed Dec. 15 with the same membership and leadership. That will be important for carrying out the work under the Phase II guidance as the CDO Council is partly responsible for one of the first actions. That cybersecurity executive order we mentioned earlier in the week is officially here. President Biden on Thursday issued the EO on Strengthening and Promoting Innovation in the Nation's Cybersecurity, ordering additional actions to improve the nation's cybersecurity, focusing on defending digital infrastructure, securing the services and capabilities most vital to the digital domain, and building capability to address key threats, including those from the People's Republic of China. The order constitutes one big last stab at cybersecurity in the Biden administration's 11th hour and is a follow-up to an order published in the first year of his presidency. It gives agencies 53 deadlines, stretching in length from 30 days to three years. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

Tenemos pocos meses para adecuarnos al Data Act, que presenta interesantes solapamientos con el RGPD. ¿Cómo adecuar dispositivos en IoT, coches conectados, Smart Cities, Smart Homes, o accesorios destinados a optimizar la salud? Ramon Baradat es un abogado especializado en privacidad y derecho de las TIC (incluyendo comercio electrónico, IA o ciberseguridad) en la oficina de Barcelona de Cuatrecasas. También es autor de diversas publicaciones, docente y ponente, además de coordinar el capítulo de la IAPP en la ciudad condal, conjuntamente con Monica Meiterman, que ya ha estado con nosotros en el canal en inglés.  Referencias: Ramon Baradat en LinkedIn Data Act (Reglamento de 2023 sobre normas armonizadas para un acceso justo a los datos y su utilización) Leonardo Cervera: la protección de datos frente a la inminente avalancha regulatoria (Masters of Privacy) Ramon Baradat: Data Act: nuevas previsiones entre titulares de datos y usuarios Ramon Baradat: Data Act: nuevas previsiones para destinatarios de datos Data Governance Act (Reglamento de 2022 relativo a la gobernanza europea de datos) Directiva 1996 sobre la protección jurídica de las bases de datos Dato inferido o derivado en el ejercicio de portabilidad: directrices 2016 CEPD/EDPB  If This Then That - IFTTT (aplicación de automatización) [EN] Agentes inteligentes con Jamie Smith (Masters of Privacy) [EN] Dan Stone y Icebreaker: cartera para gestionar la propia identidad de forma descentralizada (Masters of Privacy) Espacios europeos comunes de datos

The EU Digital Decade is here, and 2025 brings an unprecedented wave of regulations that businesses must navigate, from the AI Act and NIS 2 Directive to the Data Act and DORA. In this episode of Diritto al Digitale, Giulio Coraggio, technology and data lawyer at the global law firm DLA Piper, delves into the complexities of these laws, uncovers the key compliance themes, and outlines a practical framework to simplify obligations and drive efficiency. Discover how to turn these challenges into strategic opportunities and thrive in European Union digital transformation era.Send us a text

Ein politisch turbulentes Jahr geht mit dem Bruch der Ampel-Koalition und angekündigten Neuwahlen für Februar 2025 vorbei. "Wir hätten gerne das Umsetzungsgesetz zum Data Act und das Umsetzungsgesetz zum AI Act über die Ziellinie geschoben", sagt Benjamin Brake, Ableitungsleiter für Digital- und Datenpolitik im BMDV. Was in der Zeit bis zur Neuwahl digitalpolitisch noch möglich ist und worauf es danach ankommt, erklärt Fabian Zacharias, Mitglied der Geschäftsleitung des Bitkom, bevor er auf die Maßnahmen eingeht, die laut Bitkom-Positionspapier zur Bundestagswahl 2025 nötig sind, damit Deutschland zu den Vorreitern der Digitalisierung aufzuschließen kann. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Cherry Bekaert's Government Contracting podcast, host Brendan Halloran, a Director in Cherry Bekaert's Government Contracting Industry practice, is joined by Jeff Annessa, a Senior Manager in the Firm's Government Contracting practice. Bringing extensive knowledge and experience in the government contracting space, Brendan and Jeff discuss the Truthful Cost or Pricing Data Act, formerly known as the Truth in Negotiations Act or TINA.Brendan was previously a divisional administrative contracting officer (DACO) at the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) and Jeff has spent over 13 years with the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA), while holding several leadership positions.Tune in to find out more about:The background and history of the Truthful Cost or Pricing ActWhat is considered cost or pricing data Most common thresholds and exceptions to the act The certification, sweep and disclosure processDefective pricing and government auditsBest practices surrounding the Truthful Cost or Pricing Act Cherry Bekaert's team of government contracting consultants have significant experience and can help your growing government contracting business navigate the Truthful Cost or Pricing Data Act. If you have any questions specific to your situation, our consultants are available to discuss your situation with you. Contact us today.View all Government Contracting Podcasts

Mardi 29 octobre 2024, SMART TECH reçoit Sophie de Kermenguy (Avocate et membre, Cercle de la donnée)-----------------------------------------------------------------------SMART TECH - Le magazine quotidien de l'innovationDans SMART TECH, l'actu du numérique et de l'innovation prend tout son sens. Chaque jour, des spécialistes décryptent les actualités, les tendances, et les enjeux soulevés par l'adoption des nouvelles technologies.

Irish businesses continue to face challenges in complying with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) six years on from its introduction, according to new research. The findings were presented by Forvis Mazars and McCann FitzGerald LLP in their latest joint survey, "GDPR and Digital Legislation: A Survey of the Impact and Effect on Organisations in Ireland". The research, which was conducted by Ipsos B&A, found that just 15% of businesses consider their organisation to be 'fully compliant' with the legislation, which is billed as the toughest privacy and security law in the world. A further 58% of respondents indicated their organisation was 'materially compliant', and 25% said their organisation was 'somewhat compliant'. In order to achieve their compliance targets, half of the businesses surveyed believe they need more resourcing, financial investments or further expertise in this space. The research also found that 82% of respondents believe the risks associated with GDPR non-compliance are increasing, with respondents citing 'reputational risk' as the most important factor in determining an organisation's data protection risk appetite, followed by 'fear of fines'. Eight in 10 (81%) of the businesses surveyed say they intend to improve their compliance status. This is the eighth edition of the Forvis Mazars and McCann FitzGerald LLP annual survey on the impact of GDPR on organisations in Ireland. As well as examining the latest perceptions among Irish businesses regarding GDPR compliance, the report also assesses awareness and readiness for a wave of new legislative developments from the European Union in response to rapid technological changes. Findings show that 60% of those surveyed are concerned about the impact of new digital legislation on their organisation, which includes DORA (the Digital Operational Resilience Act), the AI Act, the Data Act, the Data Governance Act, the Digital Services Act, the Online Safety and Media Regulation Act, the Digital Markets Act, the Network and Information Security Directive 2 (NIS2) and the Cyber Resilience Act. There is also a high degree of uncertainty regarding the new legislation with many respondents being unsure of their applicability to their business, which suggests further education and awareness is required within organisations. Key Findings: 82% of respondents agree that the risks associated with GDPR non-compliance are increasing, up from 70% in last year's survey. 81% of respondents intend on improving their compliance status. 59% of respondents are concerned about the prospect of being fined for GDPR non-compliance, compared to 58% in last year's survey. 47% of respondents agree that working to comply with GDPR has delivered many benefits for their organisation, up from 34% last year. Over half of the respondents (52%) say that the CEO of their organisation is strongly engaged in GDPR compliance and data privacy, compared to 50% in 2023. Six out of 10 respondents are concerned about upcoming digital legislation. 63% of respondents indicated that the AI Act will apply to their organisation. Liam McKenna, Partner in Consulting Services at Forvis Mazars, said: "This survey underscores the essential need for organisations to remain up to date with both current and forthcoming regulations in the digital space. Irish businesses must diligently maintain their compliance initiatives, particularly amid the significant financial and reputational risks at stake. "Although GDPR regulations were implemented in 2018, that only 15% of Irish companies are fully compliant is a concern for Irish business, particularly in light of further digital legislation coming down the tracks including the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), AI Act, Data Act, and Digital Services Act, among others. Irish companies therefore need to urgently focus on GDPR adherence, while actively gearing up for new legislative requirements." Paul Lavery, Partner at McCann FitzGerald LLP, added: "The...

Christian D'Cunha, Head of the Cyber Coordination Task Force at the European Commission, discusses the critical role of GDPR during the pandemic, and explores how Europe balanced the necessity of contact tracing and mobility data with the imperative to protect personal privacy. He also shares the challenges regulators face in enforcing GDPR against tech giants, and the strategies these companies use to delay compliance. Key Takeaways: The use of anonymized data during COVID-19, and the vital lessons learned from this unprecedented period The evolving landscape of data protection laws—including the Digital Markets Act and the Digital Services Act—and their interaction with GDPR Critiques to the prescriptive nature of GDPR and its expectations How to ensure GDPR is upheld in an evolving technological landscape, and continues to be effective in the future Guest Bio: Christian D'Cunha is Head of the Cyber Coordination Task Force in the Directorate-General for Communications, Content, and Technology in the European Commission. In recent years he oversaw a study into the future of digital advertising and its impact on privacy; drafted the Data Act proposal and EU cybersecurity strategy; and led the roll out of interoperable contact tracing apps during the COVID pandemic. He was head of the Private Office of the European Data Protection Supervisor from 2015-2020, advising on privacy-related legal and policy developments in the EU, including online manipulation, digital monopolies, digital ethics, and scientific research. He also served for several years as private secretary to the Chairman of the UK Labour Party. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ About this Show: The Brave Technologist is here to shed light on the opportunities and challenges of emerging tech. To make it digestible, less scary, and more approachable for all! Join us as we embark on a mission to demystify artificial intelligence, challenge the status quo, and empower everyday people to embrace the digital revolution. Whether you're a tech enthusiast, a curious mind, or an industry professional, this podcast invites you to join the conversation and explore the future of AI together. The Brave Technologist Podcast is hosted by Luke Mulks, VP Business Operations at Brave Software—makers of the privacy-respecting Brave browser and Search engine, and now powering AI everywhere with the Brave Search API. Music by: Ari Dvorin Produced by: Sam Laliberte  

Our new episode of the Wolf Theiss Soundshot Podcast is the sixth one in our "Digital Law" series.In this episode, Roland Marko and Lisa Bernsteiner discuss the EU's new cybersecurity framework and examine the latest legal acts designed to enhance protection against the increasing number and sophistication of cyberattacks across EU countries. This includes the NIS2 Directive, which establishes a stricter framework with comprehensive compliance and reporting obligations for a much broader range of companies, including those within the supply chain.Our experts also discuss the Critical Entities Resilience (CER) Directive, aimed at ensuring the maintenance of vital societal functions and economic activities, the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), which focuses on managing ICT risks in the financial services sector, the Cyber Resilience Act and other EU acts containing cybersecurity provisions, such as the Machinery Regulation, the Data Act and the AI Act.Tune in to learn more about the EU's approach to tackling cyber threats, how it may impact your organisation, and how to start preparing for these new comprehensive compliance requirements. Listen to the new podcast episode on our website, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or Amazon Music under “Wolf Theiss Soundshot”.If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at soundshot@wolftheiss.com.

Renate Nikolay is deputy director-general at DG Connect (Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology) at the European Commission.  _______________ Chapters: (0:00) Introdução (2:42) English intro (8:02) Opportunities and challenges of the digital revolution | GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) |  AI Act + AI innovation package | Data Act  (16:12)  Digital Services Act (DSA) | The role of DSA in fighting desinformation during the EU elections | Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal (22:41) Artificial intelligence:  why the EU stepped in in providing open-access supercomputers | Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in the US (28:13) Does EU regulation stifle innovation? | Recent paper by Anu Bradford: The False Choice Between Digital Regulation and Innovation | Hiroshima AI process  (33:19)  Digital Decade policy programme. | 2023 report. (35:48) Economic security: the importance of ensuring production of semiconductors in Europe. |  Chips Act (38:07) The future: what will change in the EU's role in the digital arena? _______________ O tema de hoje é a revolução digital que estamos a viver e, em particular, a estratégia da UE para lidar com ela: tentando regular os riscos destas tecnologias e, ao mesmo tempo, potenciar a inovação digital no continente. A tecnologia e o mundo digital sempre me interessaram -- ou não estivessemos num podcast, uma espécie de rádio digital --, mas sobre as políticas da UE nesta área tinha, até há pouco tempo, apenas uma ideia vaga. …E não era uma ideia especialmente positiva, muito influenciada pelas críticas (que certeza já ouviram por aí) de que enquanto os EUA inovam e criam grandes empresas, a especialidade da Europa é basicamente…regular. Mas a verdade é que tenho vindo a mudar a minha visão desde que passei a colaborar de perto com a DG Connect -- que é o departamento da CE responsável por esta área --, enquanto “embaixador digital”; um grupo que reune pessoas activas no mundo digital dos vários países da União. Nas viagens que tenho feito a Bruxelas nos últimos tempos, e em discussões com quem lá trabalha, tenho percebido que existe, na UE, uma visão para o mundo digital que, não sendo imune a críticas, é claramente pensada, multifacetada e a olhar para o futuro. Por isso, decidi que estava na altura de trazer este tema ao podcast. A convidada é Renate Nikolay, que é directora adjunta na DG Connect e alguém que, como vão perceber, defende esta visão de forma muito coerente. _______________ Esta conversa foi editada por: Hugo Oliveira _______________ Bio: Renate Nikolay is deputy director general at DG Connect. Before that, she was head of cabinet of Vera Jourova, the European commissioner for justice, consumers and gender equality. Before that, she led the Unit of interinstitutional and international relations in DG Justice between 2011 and 2014. She has also been an advisor in the cabinet of the first High Representative and Vice President Catherine Ashton where she led on the relations with the European Parliament in setting up the European External Action Service (EEAS) and on relations with Asia, in particular China. Before that, she was a member of the cabinet of Trade Commissioners Peter Mandelson and Catherine Ashton from 2004 to 2009. She started her career in the European Commission in the department for trade in November 2003 dealing with the accession negotiations of Vietnam to the World Trade Organisation and with the trade policy committee with the member states. She has also been a diplomat in the German Permanent Representation in Brussels and worked as private secretary to the German G8 sherpa in the German Ministry of Economics. Nikolay holds an M.A. as a Fulbright Scholar in Washington DC and a B.A. in law from the Free University in Berlin.

Our latest episode of the Wolf Theiss Soundshot Podcast is the fifth one in our "Digital Law" series.In this episode, Klara Miletic and Flavius Florea discuss the interrelationship of GDPR and various legal acts under the EU's Digital Strategy. This strategy promotes the flow and access to different types of data, including personal, non-personal, machine-generated and data from products and devices. Additionally, the EU has established the rules for artificial intelligence and enhanced user protection online.Where personal data is processed, these new pieces of EU regulation must be considered alongside the GDPR. Our experts examine the AI Act, Data Act, Digital Services Act and ePrivacy Directive from the perspective of personal data protection, and highlight potential risks associated with personal data in scenarios where AI and IoT collaborate.You can listen to the new Soundshot episode on our website, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or Amazon Music under the tile “Wolf Theiss Soundshot”.If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to us at soundshot@wolftheiss.com.

Maynooth University's Innovation Value Institute has announced a pioneering initiative, the 'Data Governance Roadmap for Ireland', launched by Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Seán Fleming TD, at this year's IVI Summit in Maynooth University. As one of the leading forums for data and digital discussion, the summit brought together international experts, policy leaders, practitioners and researchers over three days to shape the digital agenda on innovation and research. This roadmap aims to foster responsible governance of data and artificial intelligence, leveraging data value as the basis of a sustainable information-enabled and data-informed society. The roadmap will support fair and responsible value sharing from data across society and the development of data capabilities on a national, organisational and individual level, the alignment of data initiatives and standards, and the development and promotion of data literacy. The roadmap will contribute to benefits that span organisations, individuals and wider society in a fair, responsible and human-centred way, that empowers users to share and use data while ensuring the protection of data and privacy concerns. Data and data governance are the lifeblood of the AI revolution, driving innovation and sustainability. Innovative data governance is the enabler, providing the necessary foundation, guidelines and infrastructures to harness the power of data responsibly, ethically and effectively. Speaking on the initiative, Minister Seán Fleming said: "I am proud to launch and strongly support this Data Governance Roadmap for Ireland. It represents a clear vision for responsible governance of data and artificial intelligence, laying the foundation for a sustainable, data-informed society driven by research and innovation." Professor Eeva Leinonen, President of Maynooth University, highlighted the power of collaboration, stating: "This initiative highlights how important universities are in shaping our digital future through research, education, and partnerships. The roadmap sets a new standard for handling data responsibly, and showcases Maynooth University's commitment to Ireland's digital leadership." Professor Markus Helfert, Director of the Innovation Value Institute (IVI) at Maynooth University, emphasised the significance of the initiative, stating: "The Data Governance Roadmap for Ireland is not just a strategic necessity but a critical step towards a future where data serves as a cornerstone for national development and prosperity, supporting technological advancements while safeguarding the rights of data owners and data sharers." Developed in collaboration with experts in data governance, NSAI and members of the EMPOWER team across participating SFI Research Centres, the roadmap adopts a unique three-tiered approach, encapsulating individual, organisational, and national perspectives. It addresses the critical need for robust data governance structures while fostering an environment conducive to innovation and economic growth. Aligned with EU Digital Decade policy targets and several other critical EU initiatives such as the Data Governance Act, Data Act and AI Act the initiative aims to bridge skills gaps and develop new competencies to tackle growing challenges across various sectors, including sustainability, security, and education. The roadmap reflects Ireland's commitment to maintaining leadership in information, data and digital innovation, setting highest standards for governance, promoting transparency, and ensuring equitable distribution of digital benefits that digital and data creates. It sets new benchmarks for success aligned to Ireland's ambition to lead and set standards in Europe, inspiring other nations to follow suit. The report is available at this link: https://ivi.ie/dgri/.

Our new episode of the Wolf Theiss Soundshot Podcast is the fourth in our "Digital Law" series.In this episode, we delve into the EU Data Act, a pioneering regulation establishing a framework for data sharing and interoperability within the EU and beyond. The Act is expected to have far-reaching implications across many sectors of the economy and create new business opportunities driven by data – (raw) machine data, as well as personal data. It will require companies to review their data management practices and the design of their products and services. This must be done within just over a year, as the Act becomes applicable in September 2025.Our experts Roland Marko, Paulina Pomorski and Peter Ihasz discuss the impact of the Act on B2C and B2B relationships and the sectors most affected, where connected products and services, IoT and industrial data are playing an increasingly prominent role. They address practical aspects of data sharing, questions around the protection of trade secrets and the concept of reasonable compensation for sharing data.Listen to the new podcast episode on our website, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or Amazon Music under “Wolf Theiss Soundshot”.If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at soundshot@wolftheiss.com , roland.marko@wolftheiss.com, paulina.pomorski@wolftheiss.com and peter.ihasz@wolftheiss.com.

Victoria Guido hosts Robbie Holmes, the founder and CEO of Holmes Consulting Group. The conversation kicks off with Robbie recounting his initial foray into the tech world at a small web hosting company named A1 Terabit.net, chosen for its alphabetical advantage in the white pages. This job was a stepping stone to a more significant role at Unisys, working for the state of New York's Department of Social Services, where Robbie inadvertently ventured into civic tech and public interest technology. Robbie shares his career progression from supporting welfare systems in New York to becoming a technological liaison between the city and state, leading to a deeper involvement in open-source solutions. His journey through tech spaces includes developing websites, diving into the Drupal community, and eventually establishing his consulting business. Robbie emphasizes the serendipitous nature of his career path, influenced significantly by community involvement and networking rather than a planned trajectory. Additionally, Robbie gives insights on the impact of technology in public services and his stint with the U.S. Digital Service (USDS), where he contributed to significant projects like vets.gov. Robbie promotes the value of community engagement in shaping one's career, stressing how connections and being in the right place at the right time can lead to unexpected opportunities and career pivots. Follow Robbie Holmes on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/robbiethegeek/), X (https://twitter.com/RobbieTheGeek), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/robbiethegeek), Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/robbiethegeek), or GitHub (https://github.com/robbiethegeek). Check out his website at robbiethegeek (https://about.me/robbiethegeek). Follow thoughtbot on X (https://twitter.com/thoughtbot) or LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/150727/). Transcript: VICTORIA: This is the Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots podcast, where we explore the design, development, and business of great products. I'm your host, Victoria Guido. And with me today is Robbie Holmes, Founder and CEO of Holmes Consulting Group. Robbie, thank you for joining me. ROBBIE: I'm so happy to be here. It's great to talk to you, Victoria. VICTORIA: Yes. I have known you for a long time now, but I don't know everything about you. So, I thought I would start with the question: What was your first job that you ever had? ROBBIE: My first technical job, I ended up working for an internet web hosting company called A1 Terabit.net. And note the A1 because it came first in the white pages. It was a really small web hosting company run by a man named [SP] Maxim Avrutsky. I worked there for about six months before I submitted my resume to an online job forum. That's how old I am. And it ended up in the hands of Unisys, where I eventually worked for the state of New York. VICTORIA: Wow [laughs]. So, what a journey that you've been on to get from starting there, and what a marketing ploy back in the day with the white pages. So, tell me a little bit more about how you went from that first job to where you are today with having your own business in consulting. ROBBIE: Yeah, I wasn't even aware that I was jumping into the sort of civic tech space and public interest technology because the job I ended up with was working for New York State in the Department of Social Services. And welfare is federally funded and distributed to states and then states to localities. And New York City and New York State have a weird parasymbiotic relationship because over 50% of the welfare in New York State goes to the five boroughs in New York City. So, so much of my job was supporting the welfare system within the city, which was run by the human resources administration. So, that just led to this cascade of me, like, getting invested in supporting that, and then eventually jumping over to the other side where I worked for the City of New York. And at that point, I ended up becoming sort of a technology project manager and almost a tech liaison between the city and state. And I was out in the welfare centers, helping get the job centers up to a new application called the Paperless Office System, which was a client-server app that was a wrapper around welfare. All of that ended up leading to me finally making it to the network operation center for the City of New York, where I started replacing expensive solutions like HP OpenView with open-source solutions like Nagios and another open-source solution that provided an interface. And it really opened my eyes to the idea of open source. And I had really paid attention to a lot of open-source operating systems. So, I was kind of just a general tech nerd. And eventually, I started building websites, and that led me to the Drupal community in New York City, which was sort of this cascade that led me to communities. And I think that's sort of a through line for my entire career is I don't really think I ever had a plan. I think my entire career has been this sort of a lucky happenstance of being prepared when an opportunity arose and sometimes being in the right place because of my connections and community. VICTORIA: That's interesting about being involved with the people around you and seeing what problems are out there to solve and letting that lead you to where your interests lie. And then, following that, naturally led you to, like, this really long career and these really interesting, big projects and problems that you get to solve. ROBBIE: Yeah. And I think one interesting aspect is like, I feel I spent a lot of time worried about what I was going to do and where I was going to do it. I don't have a bachelor's degree. I don't have an advanced degree. I have a high school diploma and a couple of years in college. Well, 137 credits, not the right 125 or 124 to have a bachelor's degree. I have enough credits for a couple of minors though, definitely Greek art history, I think mathematics, maybe one more. I just never got it together and actually got my degree. But that was so interesting because it was limiting to what jobs I could find. So, I was in the tech space as an IT person and specifically doing networking. So, I was running the network operation center. I helped, like, create a whole process for how we track tickets, and how we created tickets, and how things were moved along. And, in the process, I started building websites for family and friends. And I built a website for our network operation center, so that way we could have photos to go with our diagrams of the network. So that way, when we were troubleshooting remotely, we could actually pull up images and say, "The cable that's in port six goes off to the router. I think that port is dead. Can we move it to the port two to its right, and I'll activate it?" And that made a really interesting solution for something we weren't even aware we had, which was lack of visibility. So many of the people in the fields were newer or were trying to figure it out. And some of us had really deep knowledge of what was going on in those network rooms and hubs. It led me to this solution of like, well, why don't we just start documenting it and making it easier for us to help when they're in the field? That led me to, like, the Drupal community because I started building sites in the Drupal CMS. And I went to, like, my first Drupal meetup in 2007, and there was, like, five of us around the table. That led to eventually me working for Sony Music and all these other things. But the year before I found my way to the Drupal community, I probably sent out, like, 400 resumes for jobs in the tech space, didn't really get any callbacks. And then, I met the community, and I started attending events, and then eventually, I started organizing events. And then, Sony I interviewed and talked to them a couple of times. And then, a friend of mine became the boss. And she contacted me and was like, "Hey, are you in the market?" And I was like, "I don't know. Why? What's up?" And she's like, "I became Doug." And I was like, "What?" And she was like, "I'm now replacing Doug at Sony. I'm running the team." And I was like, "Yeah, I'm happy to talk." And that was the big transition in my career from IT to sort of development and to delivery, right? Like, when it comes right down to it, is I became the manager of interactive media at Sony Music, which was really a job I landed because I was connected to the community, and running events, and getting to know everyone. VICTORIA: Yeah. And I think it's really cool that you had this exposure early on to what you called civic tech, which we'll get into a little bit, and then you went from the community into a commercial technology space and really getting into engineering with Drupal. ROBBIE: Yeah, it was an interesting transition because what they needed at Sony was sort of somebody who could ride the line between systems engineer, database administrator, and Drupal engineer, and also probably pre-DevOps DevOps person. So, I was responsible for all deployments and all tickets that came in. I was sort of both the technical arm of the help desk. When I joined, there was 24 websites on the Drupal platform, and when I left, there was over 200. And we upgraded it from Drupal 5 to Drupal 6 to Drupal 7 while I was there. So, I was heavily involved in all of those updates, and all those upgrades, and all of the deployments of all the new themes, and all the changes to all these sites. So, what was great was they, I believe, if I understand it correctly, they actually created a role for me out of, like, two or three jobs because they needed a me, and they didn't have a role that existed. So, all of a sudden, they made a manager of interactive media role. And I was able to work there for two years, sort of being what I jokingly say, like, a digital janitor. I used to say that I had, like, an eight-bit key ring in a push broom. And I was always mad at your kids for trying to break my stuff. VICTORIA: [laughs] That's so good. A digital service janitor [laughs]? The connection for me between that and where I met you in the U.S. digital service space [laughs] I feel like there's a lot of parallels between that and where your career evolved later on in life. ROBBIE: Yeah. What's amazing is I did all this early work in my career in civic tech and didn't realize it was civic tech at the time. I just realized what I was doing was providing this huge impact and was value. You know, I spent a couple of years in the welfare centers, and I used to say all the time that the two hardest jobs in the welfare center are the person applying for welfare and the person deciding whether or not that person gets welfare. So, being a technologist and trying to help make that as simple as possible or easier and smooth the edges off of that process was really important. And it really taught me how important technology is to delivering service. And I really never thought about it before. And then, when I was working for Phase2 technologies, I was a director of Digital Services. And I read in a blog post, I believe that was written by Mikey Dickerson, who was the original administrator for USDS, and he talked about HealthCare.gov. And he walked in the door, and he said, "How do you know HealthCare.gov is down?" And I think there was some allusion to the fact that we were like, we turn on the television and if they're yelling at us, we know it's down. And Mikey was like, "We know how to monitor things." So, like, if you don't know Mikey Dickerson, he's the person who sort of created the web application hierarchy of needs in Google. He was an SRE. And his pyramid, like Maslow's hierarchy of needs, was all over Google when I was there. I was so impressed with the idea that, like, we aren't talking about how do we solve this problem? We're talking about knowing when there's a problem. And then, if we know there's a problem, we can put some messaging around that. We can say, like, "We're aware," right? Like if the president calls the secretary, the secretary can say, "We know it's down. We're working on it," which is building up political capital. It's a really amazing process that I kept reading this blog post, and I was like, God, that's how I would approach it. And then, I was like, wow, I wonder if I could use my skills to help America, and very shortly submitted an application and was like, well, we'll see what happens. And about six months later, I walked in the door at the VA and was the eighth employee of the Digital Service team at the VA. That was a franchise team of the USDS model. VICTORIA: And can you say a little bit more about what is the U.S. Digital Service and expand upon your early experience there? ROBBIE: Yeah. So, the United States Digital Service was created after HealthCare.gov had its issues. Todd Park had convinced President Obama to reach out to get support from the private industry. And the few of the people who were there, Todd convinced to stick around and start creating a team that could support if there was this kind of issue in the future. I believe the team that was there on the ground was Mikey Dickerson, Erie Meyer, Haley Van Dyck, and Todd. And there was a few other people who came back or were very close at the beginning, including the current administrator of USDS. She has been around a long time and really helped with HealthCare.gov. It's amazing that Mina is back in government. We're very lucky to have her. But what came out of that was what if we were able to stand up a team that was here in case agencies needed support or could vet solutions before these types of problems could exist? So, USDS was what they called the startup inside the White House that was created during the 2014 administration of President Obama. The team started that year, and I joined in May of 2016. So, I would be, like, sort of the beginning of the second team of the VA U.S. Digital Service team. So, USDS supported this idea of tours of duty, where you're a schedule A employee, which meant you were a full-time government employee, but you were term-limited. You could do up to two years of duty and work, and then you could theoretically stick around and do two more years. That was how these roles were envisioned. I think there's lots of reasons why that was the case. But what's nice is it meant that you would come in with fresh eyes and would never become part of the entrenched IT ecosystem. There are people that transition from USDS into government, and I think that's a huge value prop nowadays. It's something that I don't know they were thinking about when the original United States Digital Service was stood up, but it was hugely impactful. Like, I was part of the team at the VA that helped digitize the first form on vets.gov and all the work that was done. When the VA team started, there was a team that was helping with veteran benefits, and they worked on the appeals process for veteran benefits. And I joined. And there was a team that was...eventually, it became dubbed the veteran-facing tools team. And we worked on vets.gov, which was a new front door to expose and let veterans interact with the VA digitally. And over time, all the work that went into the tools and the solutions that were built there, everything was user-researched. And all of that work eventually got brought into VA.gov in what they called a brand merger. So, we took, like, the sixth most trafficked front door of the VA and took all the modern solutioning that that was and brought it into VA.gov, the main front door. So, all of a sudden, there was an identity, a login provided on VA.gov for the first time. So big, impactful work that many people were a part of and is still ongoing today. Surprisingly, so much of this work has now fallen under OCTO, which is the Office of the CTO in the VA. And the CTO is Charles Worthington, who was a USDSer who's the epitome of a person who goes where the work is. Charles was a Presidential Innovation Fellow who helped out in the times of HealthCare.gov and, joined USDS and did anything and everything that was necessary. He interviewed engineers. He was a product person. Charles is one of the most unique technologists and civic tech people I've ever met in my life. But Charles, at the end of the Obama administration and in this transition, realized that the VA was in need of someone to fill the CTO role. So, he came over to become the interim CTO because one of the values of USDS is to go where the work is. And he realized, with the transition, that Marina Nitze, who was the CTO who was transitioning out, there was going to be a need for continuity. So, he came in to provide that continuity and eventually became the full-time CTO and has been there ever since. So, he has helped shape the vision of what the VA is working towards digitally and is now...he was just named the Chief AI Officer for the agency. Charles is a great person. He has successfully, you know, shepherded the work that was being done early by some of us into what is now becoming a sort of enterprise-wide solution, and it's really impressive. VICTORIA: I appreciate you sharing that. And, you know, I think there's a perception about working for public service or for government, state or federal agencies, that they are bureaucratic, difficult to work with, very slow. And I think that the USDS was a great example of trying to really create a massive change. And there's been this ripple effect of how the government acquires products and services to support public needs, right? ROBBIE: Yeah, I would say there's a couple of arms of the government that were sort of modernization approaches, so you have the Presidential Innovation Fellows, which are the equivalent of, like, entrepreneurs and residents in government. And they run out of...I think they're out of the TTS, the Technology Transformation Service over at GSA, which is the General Services Administration. But the PIFs are this really interesting group of people that get a chance to go in and try to dig in and use their entrepreneurial mindset and approach to try to solve problems in government. And a lot of PIFS work in offices. Like, Charles' early team when he first became the CTO included a lot of Presidential Innovation Fellows. It was basically like, "Hey, the VA could use some support," and these people were available and were able to be convinced to come and do this work. And then, you have the Presidential Management Fellows, which I think is a little bit more on the administration side. And then, we have 18F and USDS. The United States Digital Service is a funded agency with an OMB. And we were created as a way to provide the government with support either by detailing people over or dropping in when there was a problem. And then, 18F is an organization that is named because the offices of GSA and TTS (Technology Transformation Service), where it's housed, are on the corner of 18th Street and F in DC. And 18F is sort of like having a technology or a digital agency for hire within the government. So, they are full-time employees of the government, sort of like USDS, except government agencies can procure the support of that 18F team, just like they would procure the support of your company. And it was a really interesting play. They are fully cost-recoupable subcomponent of TTS, which means they have to basically make back all the money that they spend, whereas USDS is different. It's congressionally funded for what it does. But they're all similar sibling organizations that are all trying to change how government works or to bring a more modern idea or parlance into the government. I used to say to people all the time that at USDS, you know, we would set a broken bone say, and then we would come back around and say, like, "Hey, does your arm hurt anymore?" The idea being like, no. Be like, "Cool, cool. Maybe you should go to the gym, and you should eat better." And that would be, like, procurement change. That would be, like, changing for the long term. So, all the work I was doing was building political capital so we could do better work in changing how procurement was done and then changing how the government delivered these things. So, what was awesome was, like, we used to have these fights at USDS about whether or not we were a culture change or we were firefighters. And I think the reality is once we're involved, culture changes happen. The bigger question is, are we going to be there for the long haul, or are we only there for a shorter period of time? And I think there are reasons why USDS teams had both plays. And I think it really is just two different plays for the same outcome. VICTORIA: Yeah, that makes sense. And to pivot a little bit, I think, you know, our audience, we have clients and listeners who are founders of products that are aimed at making these, like, public service needs, or to give some examples, like, maybe they're trying to track Congressional voting patterns or contact information for different state representatives, and they're trying to navigate this space [laughs]. So, maybe you can give some advice for founders interested in selling their products to government agencies. What can they do to make it more appealing and less painful for themselves? ROBBIE: I wouldn't consider myself a procurement expert, but at USDS, the procurement team called themselves the [SP] procurementati. And I was a secret member of the procurementati. I often was the engineer they would call to evaluate statements of work or sometimes be on technology evaluation panels. And it was fun to be a part of that. Things that most companies don't realize is government agencies will put out things like request for information or sources sought in the government space. And this is a way for industry to influence how government tries to solve problems. If you are trying to go after government work and you're only responding to an RFP, you're probably behind in your influence that you could have on the type of work. So, you'll see if a procurement seems to be, like, specifically focused on an approach, or a technology, or a framework, it's probably because some companies have come through and said, "I think this would probably solve your problem," and they gave examples. So, that's one way to be more connected to what's going on is to follow those types of requests. Another is to follow the money. My wife is this amazing woman who helped write The Data Act and get it passed through government. And The Data Act is the Data and Transparency Act. And that led to her heading over to treasury and leading up a team that built USAspending.gov. So, there is a website that tracks every dollar, with some exceptions, of the funding that comes out of Congress every year. And what's great is you can track it down to where it's spent, and how it's spent, and things like that. For education purposes, I think that is a really good thing that business and growth people can focus on is try to see and target where competitors or where solutions that you've looked at have gone in the past. It's just a good set of data for you to take a look at. The other piece is if you're creating a solution that is a delivery or a deliverable, like a SaaS solution, in order for something to be utilized in the government, it probably needs to be FedRAMP-approved, which is a process by which security approvals have been given so that government agencies have the green light to utilize your solution. So, there's tons of documentation out there about FedRAMP and the FedRAMP approval process. But that is one of those things that becomes a very big stopping point for product companies that are trying to work in the government. The easiest way to work your way through that is to read up on it a bunch, but also find an agency that was probably willing to sponsor you getting FedRAMP approval. Most companies start working with a government agency, get an exemption for them to utilize your product, and then you get to shape what that FedRAMP process looks like. You start applying for it, and then you have to have some sort of person who's helping shepherd it for you internally in the government and accepting any issues that come along in the process. So, I guess FedRAMP approval is one that's a little complicated but would be worth looking into if you were planning on delivering a product in government. VICTORIA: Right. And does that apply to state governments as well? ROBBIE: So, lots of state-related and city and locality-related governments will actually adopt federal solutions or federal paradigms. So, I think in the state of California, I think FedRAMP as one of the guiding principles for accepting work into the state of California, so it's not consistent. There's not a one-to-one that every state, or every city, or every locality will pull this in. But if you are already approved to be a federal contractor, or a federal business, or a federal product, it's probably going to be easier to make your way into the local spaces also. VICTORIA: Right. And as you said, there's plenty of resources, and tools, and everything to help you go along that journey if that's the group you're going for [laughs]. Mid-Roll Ad: When starting a new project, we understand that you want to make the right choices in technology, features, and investment but that you don't have all year to do extended research. In just a few weeks, thoughtbot's Discovery Sprints deliver a user-centered product journey, a clickable prototype or Proof of Concept, and key market insights from focused user research. We'll help you to identify the primary user flow, decide which framework should be used to bring it to life, and set a firm estimate on future development efforts. Maximize impact and minimize risk with a validated roadmap for your new product. Get started at: tbot.io/sprint. VICTORIA: So, kind of bringing it back to you, like, you're saying you want those partnerships within the government. You want someone advocating for you or for your product or your service. Drawing that back to what you said earlier about community, like, how do you form a community with this group of people who are in the state, or federal government, or civic tech spaces? ROBBIE: Yeah, I think it's an interesting problem because so much of it feels impenetrable from the outside. Most people don't even know where to start. There are organizations out there that are pretty good community connections, an example I would give is ACT-IAC. It is a public-private partnership where people from within the government, experts in their fields, and people in the private industry who are experts in their fields will be together on community boards and engaging in panels. And so, it's a really nice way to start connecting those dots. I have no direct affiliation with ACT-IAC. But if they'd like to give me my own account, that would be great. But it is one of those organizations I've seen be successful for people trying to find their way into a community that is a little harder to find. I think, also, so much of the community engagement happens at conferences and around...so, like, if you're in the healthcare space, this last month, you've had multiple conferences that I think were really great for people to get to know one another, you know, an example is ViVE. It just happened out in LA, which is a little more on the private sector health space, but still, government agencies were there. I know that the Department of Veterans Affairs had people there and were on panels. And then, HIMSS is another conference that takes place, and that just took place down in Miami. And in Miami, HIMSS happened and a whole bunch of other social community events took place. So, I'm close with a thing called the Digital Services Coalition, which is 47 companies that all try to deliver good government based on the Digital Services Playbook that was created by USDS that lives at playbook.cio.gov and the way that they try to accomplish this work. And that organization, while they were in Miami, hosted a happy hour. So, there's a lot of connections that can be made once you start seeing the players and getting to know who's around. So, it's a little bit about trying to find your way to that first event, and I think that will really open up everything for you. Within a week or two, I was at an International Women's Day event at MetroStar, which is a really great company that I've gotten a chance to spend some time with. And then, I was at an event for the Digital Services Coalition talking about open source in government. So, there's a lot of stuff out there for you to be a part of that isn't super cost-prohibitive and also doesn't take a lot once you start to open the door. You know, once you peek around that corner and you find some people, there's a lot more to be done. VICTORIA: Yeah. And you touched on something at the end there that wants me to bring up some of the advantages you can have being a small business, a minority-owned business, or woman-owned business, or veteran-owned business, so thinking about how you can form those connections, especially if you have one of those socio and economic set-asides that you might want to consider if they're looking to work with the government as well. ROBBIE: Yeah. Those socioeconomic set-asides include small businesses, woman-owned small business. I think it's Native and Alaskan 8(a), which is historically underrepresented and service-disabled veteran-owned. So, there are also sub-communities of associations, like there's the Digital WOSB, the digital Women-Owned Small Business alliance that was founded by Jess Morris from Pluribus Digital, and a bunch of other companies in the Digital Services Coalition. I believe she's the president of the Digital WOSB right now. That is a sub-community of women-owned small businesses that are trying to connect and create a community that they can support one another. And that's just one example of the type of connection you can make through those types of socioeconomic set-asides. But once you have those official socioeconomic set-asides, it will allow you to get specific contracts engagements in the government that are not allowed or available for others. So, the government procurement process will have some amount of these specific socioeconomic set-asides that need to be hit. Like, 8% of all procurements need to go to this and 10% of all procurements need to go to this. So, I think the VA is probably one of the most effective at hitting any of the socioeconomic set-asides, specifically related to service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses. So, if you happen to be a person of color and you found a business and you are female presenting, right? You may have 8(a) woman-owned small business. If you also happen to be a veteran and you're service-disabled, all of those things stack. You don't just get to have one of them. And they can be really effective in helping a business get a leg up and starting out and trying to help even the playing field for those communities. VICTORIA: Yeah. What I really appreciated about my experience working with Pluribus Digital, and you, and people who had had that experience in the U.S. Digital Services, that there is this community and desire to help each other out and that you can have access to people who know how to move your product forward, get you the connections that you need to be competitive, and to go after the work. So, I love encouraging people to consider civic tech options. And maybe even say more about just how impactful some of it can be. And what kind of missions are you solving in these spaces? ROBBIE: Yeah, I often try to remind people, especially those who are heading towards or considering civic tech, there are very few places in this world that you can work on something that can impact millions of people. Sure, I was lucky enough. I have tons of privilege. I worked at a lot of wacky places that have given me the access to do the type of work that I think is impactful, but very little has the kind of impact. Like, when I was interviewed by Marina Nitze as, my last interview when I joined USDS, she sent me an email at the end of it and said like, "Everything was great. I look forward to working with you. And remember, every time you commit code into our GitHub, you'll be helping 8 million veterans." And then, she cc'd Todd Park. And Todd was the CTO of the U.S., and he responded back within a minute. Todd is one of the most busy people. It was amazing to me how fast he responded. But he was like, "Lemme tell you, as somebody who can talk on behalf of our president, our country needs you." And those kinds of things they're hard to comprehend. And then, I joined the Digital Service team at the VA. And one of the first things that I got to support was the 10-10EZ. It's the healthcare application for veterans. And before I got there, it was a hosted PDF that we were trying to replace. And the team had been working for months to try to build a new, modern solution. What it was is it was, like, less than six submissions were happening a day because it only worked in Adobe Acrobat, I think it was 6.5 and below, and Internet Explorer 8.5 and below. And if you think about the people that could submit utilizing that limited set of technologies, it was slowly becoming homeless veterans who were using library computers that had not been upgraded. So, there was a diminishing amount of value that it was providing. And then, on top of it, it was sort of lying to veterans. If the version of the Adobe Acrobat was out of date, or wrong, or too new, it would tell them to upgrade their browser. So, like, it was effectively not providing any value over time. We were able to create a new version of that and that was already well on its way when I joined, but we were able to get it out the door. And it was a React frontend using a Node backend to talk to that SOAP API endpoint. Within the first week, we went from 6 submissions a day to 60 submissions a day. It's a joke, right? We were all 10x developers. We were like, "Look at us. We're killing it." But about three years later, Matt Cutts came to a staff meeting of USDS, and he was the second administrator of the USDS. And he brought the cake that had the actual 10-10EZ form on it, and it said, "500,000." And he had checked with the analytics team, and there were over 500,000 submissions of that form, which means there are 500,000 possible veterans that now may or may not have access to healthcare benefits. Those are big problems. All of that was done by changing out one form. It opened up the world. It opened up to a group of veterans that no one else was able to do. They would have had to go into a veteran's office, and they would have had to fill it out in paper. And some veterans just don't have the ability to do that, or don't have an address, or don't have a...so, there are so many reasons why having a digital form that worked for veterans was so important. But this one form that we digitized and we helped make modern has been submitted so many times and has helped so many veterans and their families. And that's just one example. That's just one form that we helped digitize. But now the team, I mean, I'm back in the VA ecosystem. There's, like, 2,500 people in the general channel in the office of the CTO Slack organization. That's amazing. There's people there that are working all day, every day, trying to solve the same problems that I was trying to solve when I got here. And there's so much work being done to help veterans. But that's just one example, right? Like, at USDS, I know that the digital filing for the free version of your tax form, the IRS e-file Direct, just went live. That was something that USDS had been working on for a very long time behind the scenes. And that's going to impact everybody who submits their taxes. These are the kind of problems that you get to work on or the scope of some of the problems if you work in these types of organizations, and that's really powerful. It's the thing that keeps drawing me back. I'm back supporting the VA again through some contracts in my business. But it's funny, like, I was working for another agency. I was over working at DHS on an asylum project. And a friend of mine kept telling people to tell me, "Man, veterans need you. If only there was another one of you to help us over here, that would be great." And eventually, it led to me being like, well, veterans need me. I'm going to go back to the VA. And that was my second tour at USDS at the Department of Veteran Affairs. And now I'm back there again. So, it's a very impactful place to work. There's tons of value you can provide to veterans. And, to me, it's the kind of work that keeps bringing me back. I didn't realize just how much I was a, like, impact junkie until I joined USDS, and then it really came to a head. I cannot believe how much work I've gotten to be a part of that has affected and supported those who get benefits and services from the federal government. VICTORIA: [inaudible 33:47] impact junkie. That's funny. But yeah, no, thank you for sharing that. That's really interesting. Let me see if you could go back in time to when you first started in this journey; if you could give yourself any advice, what would you say? ROBBIE: Yeah, I think I spent so much time being nervous about not having my degree that I was worried it was going to hinder me forever. And it's pretty amazing the career I've been able to thread together, right? Like, you know, I've hit on a few of them already. But, like, I started with a small web hosting company, and then New York State in the Department of Social Services, then New York City in the Human Resources Administration, Sony Music, Zagat Survey, Google, Johnson & Johnson, IDT telecommunications, Phase2 technologies, where I got to work on an awful lot of problems in lots of awesome places like NBA.com, and Major League Soccer, and Bassmaster. And then, the United States Digital Service where I got to work on things supporting the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Homeland Security over at ADA.gov in DOJ. I helped them out. And I worked over at USDA helping get Farmers.gov off the ground. So, everything on my left leg, tattoo-wise, is something that changed my life from my perspective. And I have a Drupal tattoo on the back of my leg. I have a DrupalCon. So, anytime somebody said "Drupal" anywhere near a USDS person, I would magically appear because they would just be like, "Oh, Robbie has that Drupal tattoo." So, I got to work on a lot of dot govs that eventually landed or were being built in Drupal. So, I got to support a lot of work. And it meant that I got to, like, float around in government and do a lot of things that others didn't get to do. When CISA stood up, which is the office of security inside of DHS, it's one of the newest sub-communities or subcomponents, they built DHS SchoolSafety.gov, which is a cross-MOU'd site. And I got to sit in and help at the beginning of that because of my Drupal background. But it was really fun to be the person who helped them work with the vendors and make sure that they understood what they were trying to accomplish and be a sort of voice of reason in the room. So, I did all of that work, and then after that, I went and worked at Pluribus Digital, where I got a chance to work side by side with you. And then, that led to other things, like, I was able to apply and become the director of Digital Services and software engineering for my local county. So, I worked for Prince William County, where I bought a house during the pandemic. And then, after that contract ended, I had already started my own business. So, that's led to me having multiple individual contracts with companies and so many people. I've gotten to work on so many different things. And I feel very lucky. If I could go back and tell myself one thing, it's just, take a breath. Everything's going to be okay. And focus on the things that matter. Focus on the things that are going to help you. Focus on community. Focus on delivering value. Everything else will work itself out. You know, I joke all the time that I'm really good at providing impact. If you can measure my life in impact and value, I would be a very rich man. If you can measure it in money, I'm doing all right, but I'm never going to be yacht Robbie, you know, but I'm going to do okay. VICTORIA: Oh my god, yacht Robbie. That's great. So, just to recap, everything's going to be okay. You never know where it's going to take you. And don't be limited by the things that you think, you know, make you not enough. Like, there's a lot of things that you can do out there. I really like that advice. ROBBIE: And I think one last piece is, like, community matters, if you are a part of communities and you do it genuinely, how much that will impact your career. I gave a talk from Drupal NYC to the White House and beyond. And I talked through my entire resume and how everything changed when I started doing community engagement. When I went to the Drupal community in New York City and how that led to Sony, and that led to Zagat, which led to me getting acquired by Google, like, these things all cascaded. And then, when I moved to the DMV, I was able to join here and continue supporting communities, which allowed me to bring people into the local civic tech community from the local DC tech community. So, so many of the best USDS engineers, and designers, and product people I was able to help influence to come to government were people I met in the community or the communities I helped support. You know, I was an early revivalist of Alexandria Code and Coffee. It was a community that was started and then wavered. And then, Sean McBeth reached out to the community and said, "Do we want to help and support getting it off the ground again?" And I immediately said, "Yes." And then, that led to my friends at BLACK CODE COLLECTIVE wanting to create a community where they could feel safe and connected and create a community of their own. And then DC Code & Coffee started. And from there, Baltimore Code & Coffee kicked off. And it's just really nice that, like, it doesn't matter where I've been. All these things keep coming back to be a part of community and help support others. And you will be surprised at how much you get back in return. I wouldn't be the person I am today in my community. I wouldn't have my career if it wasn't for the people who started and helped shepherd me when I was starting out. And I feel like I've been trying to do the same for people for a really long time. VICTORIA: I love that. That's what I say, too, when people ask me for advice on careers and how to grow. And my biggest piece is always to go out and meet people. And go to your community, like, look and see what's happening. Like, find people you like hanging out with and learning from. And just that should be the majority of your time probably if you're trying to figure out where to go with your career or even just, like, expand as a person sometimes [laughs]. Robbie, I was going to ask; you mentioned that you had bought a house in Virginia. One of my other warmup questions was going to be, what's your favorite thing to put on the grill? ROBBIE: My house in Virginia definitely gets a lot of use, especially in the spring and the fall. I'm a big fan of team no extreme when it comes to temperature. But during those time periods, my grill is often fired up. My favorite is probably to make skirt steak on the grill. I'm a huge fan of tacos, especially made out of skirt steak. I'm in all day. That's one of my favorites. I also love to smoke. I have a smoker because I'm a caricature-esque suburban dude. I'm going to live into all of the possible things I could have. But I've had a smoker for a long time, and I love making sort of poor man's burnt ends. It's one of my favorite things to make. But you got to have some time. That's the kind of thing that takes, you know, 14 hours or 16 hours, but it's really fun to take advantage of it. A quick thing I love to make is actually smoked salmon. It takes longer to brine it than it usually does to smoke it. But it is one of the nicest things I've made on my smoker, you know, fresh pesto on a piece of salmon is pretty awesome, or everything bagel. Everything with the bagel seasoning is a pretty fun way to smoke some salmon. VICTORIA: Wow, that sounds so good. I'm going to have to stop in next time I'm in Virginia and get some [laughs] and hang out. Do you have any questions for me? ROBBIE: I'm excited to see where you've gone and how you've gotten here. I think this is such a cool job for you. Knowing who you are as a person and seeing you land in a company like this is really exciting. And I think you getting to be a part of this podcast, which we were joking about earlier, is I've been listening to probably since it started. I've been a big fan for a long time. So, it's cool to be here on this podcast. But it's also cool that my friend is a part of this and gets to be a part of this legacy. I'm really excited to see where you go over time. I know my career has been changing, right? I worked in government. Before that, I did all kinds of other stuff. Nowadays I have my own business where I often joke I have sort of, like, three things I offer, which is, like, consigliere services. Wouldn't it be nice to have a Robbie on your executive team without having to pay them an executive salary? You know, another one is like, you know, strategy and mentoring, but these are all things I know you do also, which I think is cool. But I've been working on contracts where I support companies trying to figure out how they modernize, or how their CTO can be more hands-off keyboard, or how their new director of business development can be more of a technical leader and taking on their first direct reports. So, I just enjoy all those aspects, and I just think it's something that I've watched you do in the company where we worked together. And it's always fun to see what you're working on and getting a chance to catch up with you. I feel like you're one of those people that does a really great job of staying connected. Every once in a while, I'll get a random text message like, "Hey, how you doing?" It always makes me smile. I'm like, Victoria is a really good connector, and I feel like I am, but you're even better at it on the being proactive side. That's how this all came about, right? We caught up, and you were like, "Why don't you come on the podcast?" So, that's really exciting. VICTORIA: Well, thank you, Robbie. Yeah, I think that's one of the great things about community is you meet people. You're like, "Oh, you're really cool. And you're doing cool stuff all the time. Like, how can I support you in your journey [laughs]? Like, what's up?" Yeah, for me, it was hard to actually leave DC. I didn't, you know, really think about the impact of leaving behind my tech community, like, that network of people. It was pretty emotional for me, actually, especially when we finally, like, stopped doing the digital version [laughs]. And I, like, kind of gave up managing it from California, which was kind of funny anyways [laughs]. Yeah, so no, I'm grateful that we stayed in touch and that you made time to be here with us today. Is there anything else that you would like to promote? ROBBIE: You know, just to remind you, you've done a great job of transitioning into where you are today, but anybody can do that, right? Like, before I moved to the DC area, I was in New York, and I was helping to organize JavaScript events. And I started looking at the DC area before I moved down here. And I found the DC Tech Community. And I found the Node School DC GitHub organization and reached out to the person who had ownership of it and said I wanted to help and support. I looked at this the other day. I think I moved on May 8th, and then, like, May 11th, when I walked in the door, somebody was like, "Are you new?" And I was like, "Yeah, I just moved here." And they were like, "Oh, from where?" And I was like, "New York." And they were like, "Are you that guy who's been bugging Josh about running Node school events?" I was like, "Yeah." And like, they were planning an unconference at the end of the month. And they were like, "Would you like to run a Node school at that unconference?" Like, 27 days later. So, it was amazing that, like, I immediately, like, fell from the New York Community where I was super connected, but I went out of my way to try to, like, see what the community looked like before I got there. And I was lucky enough to find the right people, and immediately I joked...I think I wrote a blog post that said like, "I found my new friends. By, like, going from one community to another, gave a person who was in his 40s a chance to meet new people very quickly." And it was pretty amazing, and I felt very lucky. But I did spend a little bit of energy and capital to try to figure it out because I knew it was going to be important to me. So, I think you've done a really good job. You've helped launch and relaunch things that were going on in San Diego and becoming a part of this connection to more people. I think you and I have a very similar spirit, which is like, let's find a way to connect with humans, and we do it pretty effectively. VICTORIA: Well, thank you. That really boosts my confidence, Robbie [laughs]. Sometimes, you show up to an event you've never been to before by yourself, and it's like a deer in headlights kind of moment. Like, oh God, what have I done [laughs]? ROBBIE: Oh, and the last thing I need to mention is I also have a podcast. I have my podcast about film. It's called Geek on Film. I used to record it with my friend, Jon. He's a little busy right now. But I used to pitch it as a conversation show about the current films that were going on. Now, it's one lone geek's ramblings about what he just saw. It's a great podcast for me because it gives me an opportunity to think a little more critically about film, which is one of the things that I probably have almost enough credits to get a minor in. But I absolutely love cinema and film in general. And it's given me an opportunity to connect with a lot more people about this subject and also to scratch the itch of me being able to create something around a community and around a thing I really love. VICTORIA: That's super cool. Yeah. You're top of mind because I also like films. I'm like, what's Robbie up to? Like, what's the recommendations, you know [laughs]? Do you have a top film recommendation from the Oscars? Is that too big of a question? ROBBIE: So, the one I will say that didn't get enough spotlight shined on it was Nimona. So, I'm a huge fan of the Spider-Man movies. I think Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse and Across the Spider-Verse are both masterpieces. But Nimona is an animated film that was picked up by Netflix, and it is amazing. I don't know that I laughed or cried or was more moved by a film last year. And I don't know that it gets enough credit for what it was. But it did get nominated for best-animated film, but I don't know that enough people paid attention to it. Like it may have gotten lost in the algorithm. So, if you get a chance, check out Nimona. It's one of those beautiful, little gems that, if you travel down its story, there's all these twists and turns. It was based on a webcomic that became a graphic novel. One of the production companies picked it up, and it wasn't going to see the light of day. And then, Netflix bought its distribution rights. There's going to be a great documentary someday about, like, Inside Nimona. But I think the movie itself is really charming and moving, and I was really impressed with it. So, that was the one that got me, like, just before the Oscars this year, where I was like, this is the little animated movie that could, in my opinion. It's so charming. VICTORIA: I will definitely have to check that out. Thank you for giving us that recommendation. ROBBIE: Totally. VICTORIA: Final question. I just wanted to see if you had anything to share about being an advisory board member for Gray and for Hutch Studio. Could you tell us a little bit more about that? ROBBIE: Yeah. So, Gray Digital was founded by a friend of mine. We met through United States Digital Service. And his organization...I had been supporting him for a while and just being behind the scenes, talking to him and talking through business-related issues. And it was really nice. He offered to make me an official advisory board member. It was a great acknowledgment, and I really felt moved. There's some great people that are supporting him and have supported him. They've done really great work. Gray is out there delivering digital services in this space. And I think I was really lucky to be a part of it and to support my friend, Randall. Hutch is different. Hutch is an organization that's kind of like if you think about it, it almost is a way to support entrepreneurs of color who are trying to make their way into the digital service delivery space. Being an advisory board member there has been really interesting because it's shaping how Hutch provides services and what their approach is to how to support these companies. But over the last year, I've convinced the person who's running it, Stephanie, with a couple of other people, to open the door up or crack the door so we could talk directly and support the individual companies. So, it's been really great to be a Hutch advisory member to help shape how Hutch is approaching things. But I've also been a part of, like, many interview processes. I've reviewed a lot of, like, [inaudible 48:01] who want to join the organization. And I've also created personal relationships with many of the people who are part of Hutch. And, you know, like, you know me personally, so you know I run a Day of the Dead party. We'll just party at my house every year. I have a huge amount of affection for Mexican culture and, in general, the approach of how to remember people who are a part of your life. So, this is, like, the perfect way for me to bring people together at my house is to say, like, "Hey, my dad was awesome. What about your family? Who are your people?" What's really nice is that has given me an opportunity to host people at my house. And I've had Hutch company owners at my house the last couple of years and the person who runs Hutch. So, it's a really great community that I look at that is trying to shape the next emergent companies that are helping deliver digital services across the government. And it's really fun to be early on in their career and help them grow. Again, it seems silly, but it's the thing I care a lot about. How do I connect with people and provide the most value that I can? And this is a way I can provide that value to companies that may also go off and provide that value. It's a little bit of an amplifier. So, I'm a huge fan of what we've been able to accomplish and being a part of it in any way, shape, or form. VICTORIA: Well, I think that's a really beautiful way to wrap it up. ROBBIE: Really glad to catch up with you and be a part of this amazing podcast. VICTORIA: Yeah, so much fun. Thank you again so much. It was great to be here with you today. You can subscribe to the show and find notes along with a complete transcript for this episode at giantrobots.fm. If you have questions or comments, email us at hosts@giantrobots.fm. You can find me on thoughtbotsocial@vguido. This podcast is brought to you by thoughtbot and produced and edited by Mandy Moore. Thanks for listening. See you next time. AD: Did you know thoughtbot has a referral program? If you introduce us to someone looking for a design or development partner, we will compensate you if they decide to work with us. More info on our website at: tbot.io/referral. Or you can email us at: referrals@thoughtbot.com with any questions.

--- GovEx Executive Director Amy Holmes introduces highlights from the organization's recent event marking the DATA Act's 10th anniversary--- In the latest episode of GovEx Data Points from the Bloomberg Center for Government Excellence, GovEx Executive Director Amy Holmes, a key figure in the passage and implementation of the 2014 DATA Act, reflects on the organization's recent event marking the law's 10th anniversary at the new Hopkins Bloomberg Center in Washington, DC. The DATA Act, the nation's first open data law, standardized data for more than $6 trillion in annual spending and enabled taxpayers to monitor how federal funds are allocated and trace those funds to direct investments in their community. It became a model for open data laws around the country and around the world.--- Learn more about us at govex.jhu.edu--- Fill out our listener survey!

The EU Data Act introduces new rules for businesses providing connected products, including enabling customers to switch cloud providers and access Internet of Things data. In this episode of our Data as an Asset podcast series, Philip James, Nils Muller, Olaf van Haperen and Annabel Borg share tips on how to comply with these new data sharing obligations and how they fit with the EU's strategy for a competitive data market.

In this episode of TechTalk, we explore how organisations are gearing up for the Data Act and the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act, which are part of the European Union's Digital Strategy and set clear guidelines for fair data access and ethical AI use across the Union.  More precisely, we discuss the operational shifts required, the potential hurdles in compliance, and the strategies to overcome them, among others. Our guests are Dr. Jan-Peter Ohrtmann, Partner at PwC Legal Germany and the Global Privacy & Cyber Legal Network Lead, and Dr. Saharnaz Dilmaghani, Artificial Intelligence & Data Science Senior Associate at PwC Luxembourg.

Listen to the first episode of our Data as an Asset podcast series where we discuss the EU Data Act, a significant new regulation designed to make data more accessible for all. We delve into the conflicts between statutory open data legislation and intellectual property protection across the UK, EU and US.

We speak with Sonja Wehsely. She is a lawyer by training, a very successful former politician (2004 – 2017 City Councilor of the Vienna Regional Government, responsible for Health and Social Affairs, Women's Affairs, Consumer Protection, and Human Resources) and currently Executive Vice President and Managing Director for Central Eastern Europe and Central Asia at Siemens Healthineers. We speak about the current regulatory framework (in particular GDPR, Data Act and AI Act) and their impact on European health (markets).

Wir sprechen mit Prof. Dr. Martin Schmidt-Kessel, Inhaber des Lehrstuhls Zivilrecht IX an der rechts- und wirtschaftswissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Universität Bayreuth. Gegenstand des Gesprächs ist der Data Act (VO 2023/2854) über harmonisierte Vorschriften für einen fairen Datenzugang und eine faire Datennutzung sowie zur Änderung der Verordnung (EU) 2017/2394 und der Richtlinie (EU) 2020/1828 (Datenverordnung)), zu dem Schmidt-Kessel umfassend forscht. Wir sprechen über Inhalte, rechtspolitische Wertungen und systematische Verortung der Verordnung. Links: https://www.schmidt-kessel.uni-bayreuth.de/de/team/schmidt-kessel_martin/index.php https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/DE/TXT/HTML/?uri=OJ:L_202302854&qid=1709206381588 https://www.beck-shop.de/bomhard-schmidt-kessel-eu-data-act/product/35902419 https://rsw.beck.de/zeitschriften/rdi/single/2023/08/29/der-data-act-und-die-emergenz-des-europ%C3%A4ischen-datenschuldrechts

Dragos Tudorache is a Member of the European Parliament and Vice-President of the Renew Europe Group. He is the LIBE rapporteur on the AI Act, and he sits on the Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET), the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE), the Committee of Inquiry to investigate the use of Pegasus and equivalent surveillance spyware (PEGA), the Subcommittee on Security and Defence (SEDE), and the European Parliament's Delegation for relations with the United States (D-US). He was the Chair of the Special Committee on Artificial Intelligence in the Digital Age (AIDA). Dragos began his career in 1997 as a judge in Romania. Between 2000 and 2005, he built and led the legal departments at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the UN missions in Kosovo. After working on justice and anticorruption at the European Commission Representation in Romania, supporting the country's EU accession, he joined the Commission as an official and, subsequently, qualified for leadership roles in EU institutions, managing a number of units and strategic projects such as the Schengen Information System, Visa Information System, and the establishment of eu-LISA1. During the European migration crisis, Dragos was entrusted with leading the coordination and strategy Unit in DG-Home, the European Commission Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs, until he joined the Romanian Government led by Dacian Cioloș. Between 2015 and 2017, he served as Head of the Prime Minister's Chancellery, Minister of Communications and for the Digital Society, and Minister of Interior. He was elected to the European Parliament in 2019. His current interests in the European Parliament include security and defense, artificial intelligence and new technologies, transatlantic issues, the Republic of Moldova, and internal affairs. We have addressed the following questions around the new EU AI Act: Back story behind the final compromise on foundation models, and the chosen thresholds for a higher regulatory burden Interplay between AI models and AI systems The “open source” differentiator  How and why the AI Act overlaps with the GDPR, copyright law or product liability laws Impact of the Data Act on the development of AI References: The EU AI Act (EU Commission's proposal) Dragos Tudorache (EU Parliament's official website)

The current episode of the Wolf Theiss Soundshot podcast introduces a new series on digital law. Throughout this series, our tech and data law experts will provide practical insights for navigating the complex landscape of the EU's legislative initiatives in the field of digital law. In this first episode, Roland Marko and Phillip Wrabetz give an overview of what to expect from our new series and discuss key elements of the EU's Digital Strategy, including the Digital Services Act, the Artificial Intelligence Act, the Data Act and the EU's new cybersecurity framework. Subsequent episodes of the series will focus on individual aspects of the Digital Strategy, featuring insights from our colleagues across Wolf Theiss offices in the CEE/SEE region.Find out more in our new Soundshot episode, available in English.Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at  soundshot@wolftheiss.com, roland.marko@wolftheiss.com or phillip.wrabetz@wolftheiss.com.

Mike Hintze is a recognized expert in privacy and data protection with more than 20 years of experience in the field. He is a Member Partner at Hintze Law, a boutique firm that specializes in privacy and cybersecurity. Previously, Mike was the Chief Privacy Counsel at Microsoft, developing his expertise in data protection and privacy policy for over 18 years. He shares his knowledge as an Affiliate Instructor of Law at the University of Washington School of Law and a Senior Fellow of The Future of Privacy Forum. In this episode… Health data remains a pressing issue in the legal space, especially with the rapid advancement of cloud technology. Physical location is becoming less and less relevant as more data is stored away from the patients. Since Washington hosts such massive servers, they have found themselves in the sights of legislative action. The Washington My Health, My Data Act seeks to protect consumers both in the state and those whose data is collected there. Due to the scope of the Act, businesses and legal professionals are still working to understand the resulting nuances. How does this affect businesses and healthcare facilities? Which consents and requirements will be required? Most importantly, how does this tangibly help consumer privacy? In this episode of She Said Privacy/He Said Security Podcast, Justin and Jodi Daniels sit down with Mike Hintze to break down the Washington My Health, My Data Act. They define consumer health data, how it is designed to be protected, and the ramifications for institutions. They also walk through the most vital tips and advice to navigate the new legal parameters.

Dank dem Data Act soll der Zugriff auf eigene und fremde Nutzerdaten auf smarten Geräten in Echtzeit ermöglicht werden. Wie dabei der Datenschutz gewährleistet werden soll und welche Vorteile für Nutzer entstehen, erläutern wir mit der Expertin Dr. Kristina Schreiber. Der Beitrag Data Act: Revolution in der Datenwelt? – Rechtsbelehrung 121 erschien zuerst auf Rechtsbelehrung.

Welcome back to Intellicast! On today's episode, Brian Lamar and Producer Brian dig into some of the recent news from around the market research industry. The episode kicks off with some commentary about how fall has really set in over the last week or so. Then Brian Lamar starts to provide some updates on upcoming conference dates. He talks about not only the ones left on the schedule for 2023 but many that have been announced for 2024 as well. Brian then gets into the upcoming Cincinnati WIRe event where EMI's own Mary Draper will be speaking on a panel with Mike Herrel and Rudy Bublitz about artificial intelligence, diversity, and more at TQL Stadium in Cincinnati. After the conference discussion, the guys jump into some market research news. First up is the news of the new Delete Act in California that strengthens CCPA regulations. The guys wonder how this will impact companies and people who are based outside California but work with businesses/people who are. In the next story is a big one for those of us in the sample industry. Research Defender was acquired by Rep Data. Brian and Brian discuss the acquisition, and how it will enhance the competitive landscape around data quality. We also want to send our congratulations again to friends of the podcast Vignesh and the entire Research Defender team.  In the next story, the guys discuss another data quality-related story, this time the new initiative, Colab, from Verve and Basis research. It takes a different approach to data quality that the guys hadn't seen before. Brian is encouraged and hopes it is successful. Producer Brian plays devil's advocate and asks how they could account for someone using the new voice chat function of ChatGPT to game their validation methods. The guys switched back to data privacy news with a story about the new federal legislation being proposed called You Own the Data Act. The proposed legislation would prohibit a lot of data collection, use, and storage by a number of insights companies and organizations, as well as requiring several common consumer data privacy rights. The guys talk about Howard's response to the legislation, as well as give their own perspective on it. In the last couple of news stories, the guys touch on the winners of the MRX Podcast of the Year award, as well as the winners of the Female Founders Award. In the last segment of the podcast, they guys discuss a recent Greenbook article titled, Why the Sampling Ecosystem Sets Up Honest Participants for Failure, from Karine Pepin of 2CV. The article talks about how EPC is a cause of fraud in the industry, and for honest participants to fail when taking surveys. You can read the article here: https://www.greenbook.org/insights/why-the-sampling-ecosystem-sets-up-honest-participants-for-failure Thanks for listening! Watch our most recent webinar, Dangers to Trackers in the Age of Aggregation, on-demand here: https:/us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/4916911556997/WN_NhLDtUJRQdC5v7awO_BTAw#/registration Download our new whitepaper, Strategic Sample Blending: The Premier Methodology for Tracking Studies! You can download your free copy here: https://emi-rs.com/strategic-sample-blending-the-premier-sample-methodology-for-tracking-studies/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Partner Andreas Kaltsounis and Associate Alex Vitruk examine the state of Washington's recently passed “My Health My Data Act.” Specifically, the private right of action under this bill, how it interacts with the state's Consumer Protection Act, and the risk of class actions. Questions & Comments: akaltsounis@bakerlaw.com and avitruk@bakerlaw.com

0:00 - Have you seen "Sound of Freedom"? Dan & Amy want your reviews  12:29 - Dan & Amy with reaction to the hazing allegations coming out of Northwestern 28:54 - Biden can't hide from the media forever and DeSantis laughs at media's "failure to launch" headlines  51:58 - Ohio Secretary of State, Frank LaRose, on his state's revolutionary DATA Act. For more on the DATA Act and Secretary LaRose's work for Ohio visit ohiosos.gov/secretary-office 01:10:20 - Senior Research Fellow for Defense Programs at The Heritage Foundation, Dakota Wood, updates Ukraine/China and the US's continued involvement 01:28:02 - Dan & Amy throw their support behind Dr. Elizabeth Thompson of Oak Park Pediatrics, who has been suspended for “hateful tweets” 01:46:17 - Award-winning film critic, author of Virtue Bombs: How Hollywood Got Woke and Lost Its Soul and host of “The Hollywood in Toto Podcast ”, Christian Toto, offers his review of "Sound of Freedom" and left's aggressive "savagery" towards the film. For more from Chris, including podcast updates, visit hollywoodintoto.com 02:03:21 - A 2 week suspension may not be enough for Northwestern FB Coach Patrick Fitzgerald?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

MONEROTOPIA

Geopolitics has always played a role in prosecuting hackers. But it's getting a lot more complicated, as Kurt Sanger reports. Responding to a U.S. request, a Russian cybersecurity executive has been arrested in Kazakhstan, accused of having hacked Dropbox and Linkedin more than ten years ago. The executive, Nikita Kislitsin, has been hammered by geopolitics in that time. The firm he joined after the alleged hacking, Group IB, has seen its CEO arrested by Russia for treason—probably for getting too close to U.S. investigators. Group IB sold off all its Russian assets and moved to Singapore, while Kislitsin stayed behind, but showed up in Kazakhstan recently, perhaps as a result of the Ukraine war. Now both Russia and the U.S. have dueling extradition requests before the Kazakh authorities; Paul Stephan points out that Kazakhstan's tenuous independence from Russia will be tested by the tug of war.  In more hacker geopolitics, Kurt and Justin Sherman examine the hacking of a Russian satellite communication system that served military and civilian users. It's reminiscent of the Viasat hack that complicated Ukrainian communications, and a bunch of unrelated commercial services, when Russia invaded. Kurt explores the law of war issues raised by an attack with multiple impacts. Justin and I consider the claim that the Wagner group carried it out as part of their aborted protest march on Moscow. We end up thinking that this makes more sense as the Ukrainians serving up revenge for Viasat at a time when it might complicate Russian's response to the Wagner group.  But when it's hacking and geopolitics, who really knows? Paul outlines the legal theory—and antitrust nostalgia—behind the  FTC's planned lawsuit targeting Amazon's exploitation of its sales platform.   We also ask whether the FTC will file the case in court or before the FTC's own administrative law judge. The latter may smooth the lawsuit's early steps, but it will also bring to the fore arguments that Lina Khan should recuse herself because she's already expressed a view on the issues to be raised by the lawsuit. I'm not Chairman Khan's biggest fan, but I don't see why her policy views should lead to recusal; they are, after all, why she was appointed in the first place. Justin and I cover the latest Chinese law raising the risk of doing business in that country by adopting a vague and sweeping view of espionage.  Paul and I try to straighten out the EU's apparently endless series of laws governing data, from General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the AI Act to the Data Act (not to be confused with the Data Governance Act). This week, Paul summarizes the Data Act, which sets the terms for access and control over nonpersonal data. It's based on a plausible idea—that government can unleash the value of data by clarifying and making fair the rules for who can use data in new businesses. Of course, the EU is unable to resist imposing its own views of fairness, thus upsetting existing commercial arrangements without really providing any certainty about what will replace them. The outcome is likely to reduce, not improve, the certainty that new data businesses want.  Speaking of which, that's the critique of the AI Act now being offered by dozens of European business executives, whose open letter slams the way the AI Act kludged the regulation of generative AI into a framework where it didn't really fit. They accuse the European Parliament of “wanting to anchor the regulation of generative AI in law and proceeding with a rigid compliance logic [that] is as bureaucratic …  as it is ineffective in fulfilling its purpose.” And you thought I was the EU-basher.  Justin recaps an Indian court's rejection of Twitter's lawsuit challenging the Indian government's orders to block users who've earned the government's ire. Kurt covers a matching story about whether Facebook should suspend Hun Sen's Facebook account for threatening users with violence. I take us to Nigeria and question why social media thinks governments can be punished for threatening violence. Finally, in two updates, I note that Google has joined Facebook in calling Canada's bluff by refusing to link to Canadian news media in order to avoid the Canadian link tax.  And I do a victory lap for the Cyberlaw Podcast's Amber Alert feature. One week after we nominated the Commerce Department's IT supply chain security program for an Amber Alert, the Department answered the call by posting the supply chain czar position in USAJOBS. Download 466th Episode (mp3) You can subscribe to The Cyberlaw Podcast using iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, Pocket Casts, or our RSS feed. As always, The Cyberlaw Podcast is open to feedback. Be sure to engage with @stewartbaker on Twitter. Send your questions, comments, and suggestions for topics or interviewees to CyberlawPodcast@gmail.com. Remember: If your suggested guest appears on the show, we will send you a highly coveted Cyberlaw Podcast mug! The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and do not reflect the opinions of their institutions, clients, friends, families, or pets.  

Geopolitics has always played a role in prosecuting hackers. But it's getting a lot more complicated, as Kurt Sanger reports. Responding to a U.S. request, a Russian cybersecurity executive has been arrested in Kazakhstan, accused of having hacked Dropbox and Linkedin more than ten years ago. The executive, Nikita Kislitsin, has been hammered by geopolitics in that time. The firm he joined after the alleged hacking, Group IB, has seen its CEO arrested by Russia for treason—probably for getting too close to U.S. investigators. Group IB sold off all its Russian assets and moved to Singapore, while Kislitsin stayed behind, but showed up in Kazakhstan recently, perhaps as a result of the Ukraine war. Now both Russia and the U.S. have dueling extradition requests before the Kazakh authorities; Paul Stephan points out that Kazakhstan's tenuous independence from Russia will be tested by the tug of war.  In more hacker geopolitics, Kurt and Justin Sherman examine the hacking of a Russian satellite communication system that served military and civilian users. It's reminiscent of the Viasat hack that complicated Ukrainian communications, and a bunch of unrelated commercial services, when Russia invaded. Kurt explores the law of war issues raised by an attack with multiple impacts. Justin and I consider the claim that the Wagner group carried it out as part of their aborted protest march on Moscow. We end up thinking that this makes more sense as the Ukrainians serving up revenge for Viasat at a time when it might complicate Russian's response to the Wagner group.  But when it's hacking and geopolitics, who really knows? Paul outlines the legal theory—and antitrust nostalgia—behind the  FTC's planned lawsuit targeting Amazon's exploitation of its sales platform.   We also ask whether the FTC will file the case in court or before the FTC's own administrative law judge. The latter may smooth the lawsuit's early steps, but it will also bring to the fore arguments that Lina Khan should recuse herself because she's already expressed a view on the issues to be raised by the lawsuit. I'm not Chairman Khan's biggest fan, but I don't see why her policy views should lead to recusal; they are, after all, why she was appointed in the first place. Justin and I cover the latest Chinese law raising the risk of doing business in that country by adopting a vague and sweeping view of espionage.  Paul and I try to straighten out the EU's apparently endless series of laws governing data, from General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the AI Act to the Data Act (not to be confused with the Data Governance Act). This week, Paul summarizes the Data Act, which sets the terms for access and control over nonpersonal data. It's based on a plausible idea—that government can unleash the value of data by clarifying and making fair the rules for who can use data in new businesses. Of course, the EU is unable to resist imposing its own views of fairness, thus upsetting existing commercial arrangements without really providing any certainty about what will replace them. The outcome is likely to reduce, not improve, the certainty that new data businesses want.  Speaking of which, that's the critique of the AI Act now being offered by dozens of European business executives, whose open letter slams the way the AI Act kludged the regulation of generative AI into a framework where it didn't really fit. They accuse the European Parliament of “wanting to anchor the regulation of generative AI in law and proceeding with a rigid compliance logic [that] is as bureaucratic …  as it is ineffective in fulfilling its purpose.” And you thought I was the EU-basher.  Justin recaps an Indian court's rejection of Twitter's lawsuit challenging the Indian government's orders to block users who've earned the government's ire. Kurt covers a matching story about whether Facebook should suspend Hun Sen's Facebook account for threatening users with violence. I take us to Nigeria and question why social media thinks governments can be punished for threatening violence. Finally, in two updates, I note that Google has joined Facebook in calling Canada's bluff by refusing to link to Canadian news media in order to avoid the Canadian link tax.  And I do a victory lap for the Cyberlaw Podcast's Amber Alert feature. One week after we nominated the Commerce Department's IT supply chain security program for an Amber Alert, the Department answered the call by posting the supply chain czar position in USAJOBS. Download 466th Episode (mp3) You can subscribe to The Cyberlaw Podcast using iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, Pocket Casts, or our RSS feed. As always, The Cyberlaw Podcast is open to feedback. Be sure to engage with @stewartbaker on Twitter. Send your questions, comments, and suggestions for topics or interviewees to CyberlawPodcast@gmail.com. Remember: If your suggested guest appears on the show, we will send you a highly coveted Cyberlaw Podcast mug! The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and do not reflect the opinions of their institutions, clients, friends, families, or pets.  

This week: We've got new intel on the next round of Apple's upcoming hardware releases including the long awaited 30-inch iMac (Pro?!), OLED iPads, the next Apple Watch Ultra, and more. Plus, fresh new images leak for iPhone 15 Pro Max! This episode supported by Easily create a beautiful website all by yourself, at Squarespace.com/cultcast. Use offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. Cult of Mac's watch store is full of beautiful straps that cost way less than Apple's. See the full curated collection at Store.Cultofmac.com CultCloth will keep your Mac Studio, Studio Display, iPhone 14, glasses and lenses sparkling clean, and for a limited time use code CULTCAST at checkout to score a free CarryCloth with any order at CultCloth.co. This week's stories Apple is reportedly working on iMac with 30-inch-plus screen Aside from the inevitable iPhone refresh (and the headset everyone's buzzing about), Apple reportedly has several other major new products lined up for launch in 2023 and the first half of 2024. This includes revamped iPad Pros with OLED displays, new Macs powered by a next-gen M3 processor and an upgrade to the Apple Watch Ultra.   iPhone 15 Pro Max case leaks well ahead of fall announcement Those eager to get their hands on the upcoming iPhone 15 Pro Max should check out a short video showing a case supposedly designed for Apple's next flagship smartphone. This helps confirm a few details that previously leaked out.   EU countries, lawmakers reach data rule deal targeting Big Tech The European Commission proposed the Data Act last year to cover data generated in smart gadgets, machinery and consumer products, part of a raft of legislation aimed at curbing the power of U.S. tech giants.   Apple Hikes iCloud+ Subscription Prices in Many Countries Around the World Apple has increased the price of iCloud storage in several regions around the world, including the United Kingdom, Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and South America.   Win this brilliant bundle from Function101 to whip your desk into shape [Cult of Mac giveaway] In this week's giveaway, two lucky winners will bag themselves a magnetic Desk Mat Pro with two Cable Block XL cable managers from Function101. This is a great opportunity for anyone who wants to tidy up their desk and ensure wires are secure and easily accessible.