Fair, sovereign and authentically personalised. A benchmark for digital services made in Europe.

  • Panel
  • Class Room
  • Wednesday 20.05 — 16:00 - 17:15

Organising Institution

Panoptykon Foundation

Poland

The Panoptykon Foundation is the first organisation in Poland that monitors state agencies and corporations that collect massive amounts of data, and has been doing so since 2009. Panoptykon checks how they use the information they gather; exposes the abuse of power; fights for laws to protect freedom and privacy and empowers people to live consciously in the digital world.
  • Academic 1
  • Business 2
  • Policy 3
The internet we used to know is dying. Global technological companies have entrenched their dominance across a vast range of digital services – from social media and search engines to cloud infrastructure and generative AI. They have normalized business models which in many cases are incompatible with fundamental rights, such as the collection and use of vast amounts of personal data for advertising and unfair personalisation. We want to take a look at the platforms, once advertised as “social media”, that chose to prioritise short term user engagement rather than long term consumer value. As a result of this choice, these services are exploited in the cognitive war and pose public security risks. Confronted with these risks, European consumers seek safer and healthier alternatives. Decentralized and interoperable platforms – such as Mastodon – are growing too and start experimenting with fair personalisation. In this panel we will look at emerging policy opportunities, including the DFA, and market incentives to bring more fairness, consumer choice, competition and resilience.

Questions to be answered

  1. After two years of DSA and DMA enforcement, do we see any positive developments as far as consumer welfare (choice) and competition are concerned?
  2. Do the upcoming revision of the Digital Markets Act and the proposal for the Digital Fairness Act offer opportunities for more fairness, consumer choice and ethical competition in the digital space?
  3. What design choices and default settings protect consumers from unfair personalisation?
  4. If not through binding regulation, how can we incentivise market players to put long term consumer value before short term engagement?

Moderator

Katarzyna Szymielewicz

Panoptykon Foundation - Poland

Katarzyna Szymielewicz is a lawyer, activist, publicist. Co-founder and President of the Panoptykon Foundation, the only NGO in Poland tackling the problems related to human rights and new technologies. Member of the Council for Digital Affairs advising Polish government. Vice-president of European Digital Rights in 2012-2020. Since 2019 the hostess of Panoptykon 4.0 podcast. She published, among others, in The Guardian, Polityka, Gazeta Wyborcza, Dziennik Gazeta Prawna and Pismo magazine.

Speaker

Linn Høgåsen

Norwegian Consumer Council - Norway

Linn Høgåsen is a senior digital policy officer at the Norwegian Consumer Council (NCC), working on issues related to consumer rights, advertising, AI, data protection, and children’s rights. She has co-authored reports on subjects such as enshittification, deceptive design/dark patterns, generative AI and commercial exploitation of children. Many of the projects have involved international partners through the European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) and the Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD).

Speaker

Vid Logar

independent researcher - Slovenia

Vid Logar is a software engineer with a strong interest in computer communications, cybersecurity, and technology policy, particularly in the areas of privacy, data protection, competition regulation, and the governance of online intermediaries. He is a co-author of policy briefs on service-to-client interoperability and algorithmic pluralism as a consumer protection measures. He is also interested in consent-or-pay models more broadly, in fundamental rights, democracy, and the rule of law.

Speaker

Isabelle Pérignon

European Commission (DG JUST) - Europe

Isabelle Pérignon, a French national, is Director for ‘Consumer policy' at the European Commission since October 2023. She was for four years (2019-2023) the Deputy Head of Cabinet of the former Commissioner for Justice. Before this position, she worked as Head of Unit ‘Procedural criminal law' at the European Commission. Ms Pérignon was also a member of the Cabinet of several Commissioners, including Commissioner for Values and Transparency, the Czech Vera Jourova and former Commissioner for Home Affairs, the Swedish Cécilia Malmström. Before joining the Commission in 2003, Isabelle Perignon was a solicitor specialising in EU law and was a member of the French and Belgian bars. She worked at Baker McKenzie law firm under the supervision of Ms Christine Lagarde. She holds a Master's Degree in European Legal Studies (LLM College of Europe) and a Master in Business Studies.

Speaker

Felix Hlatky

Mastodon - International

Felix is an accomplished financial and operational leader with over a decade of experience as a CEO and CFO. As Mastodon’s first non-technical hire, he has spent more than five years shaping the organisation’s financial and operational strategy while remaining true to its community-driven mission. He helped Mastodon’s founder Eugen Rochko to incorporate the German non-profit entity and is a co-founder and board member of Mastodon’s US entity, Mastodon Inc., which has 501(c)(3) status. He is passionate about sustainable growth and ethical business practices and has a deep commitment to open-source principles.