The Digital Challenge For Europe

The impact of digitalization on people and society has become so large that we are talking about a massive digital change of society. Every person, rich or poor, every organization, every country, is profoundly affected by digitalization. Thousands of companies are going through digital transformation processes, to adjust their business model to the digital world in which you can only keep up if you operate internationally, through the Internet. No one can do without a smartphone and access to the Internet anymore. Social media have a major impact on everyone's life, including politics. Just like the industrial society had to be governed differently from the peasant society that preceded it, the digital world increasingly demands other forms of governance. Traditional laws no longer function properly, governments are losing grip on social media and the Internet, tech giants increasingly dominate the digital playing field, economies are rapidly changing from traditional to digital and cybercrime is given free rein. Digitalization also offers excellent opportunities to achieve the necessary global changes and improvements in numerous areas, such as migration, climate, good education and good healthcare for all. After extensive analysis of what is changing as a result of digitalization, this book takes an in-depth look at possible new forms of governance in the digital world. Europe has been taken as the starting point. First of all, because the author is most familiar with the state of the art in Europe, but also because Europe has already been taking a number of important initiatives in the field of digital legislation. Nevertheless, Europe is in many ways still very much behind large countries such as the US and China. This book makes numerous suggestions to strengthen the European digital position in the years to come. This is badly needed for the future prosperity of Europeans and for Europe's position in the world.

By looking at a range of different European Public Television (PTV) broadcasters, this book investigates the challenges that these broadcasters encounter in a competitive digital broadcasting environment and reveals the different policies and strategies that they are adopting in order to remain accountable, competitive and efficient.

How to protect rights and limit powers in the algorithmic society? This book searches for answers in European digital constitutionalism.

According to the European Commission, two recent policies: the Digital Service Act and the Digital Market Act will allow for the regulation of a significant part of the EU Digital Single Market (DSM), to an extent similar to the creation of the traditional internal market in the early 1990s. The provisions are intended to improve conditions in the EU DSM to ensure that the market is as free and fair as it is safe for users of the digital economy. This interdisciplinary book analyses the impact of digital technologies on specific markets and, more broadly, the society and the economy. It identifies and assesses the different features, challenges, trends and dimensions of the EU DSM, from a legal and economic viewpoint, and also from a Polish perspective. Poland is presented as one of the EU countries participating in the creation of the EU DSM and is analysed alongside the average, as well as the best and the worst performing EU member states and compared with other non-EU members. The book addresses several broad areas in which the implications of digitalisation are particularly visible, and which are important to the average person: giant online platforms, freedom of speech, e-commerce, digital levy, energy infrastructure, and the labour market. The authors have presented opportunities and threats related to the functioning of the digital market. These opportunities and threats are typical of highly developed countries while reflecting the specific features of the EU DSM. The starting point of the considerations are the diverse experiences of the EU member states. The book adds a voice to the public debate on the role of the digital economy in the contemporary world and will be a useful guide for students and researchers in economics, law, and international relations. Chapters 1 and 2 of this book are available for free in PDF format as Open Access from the individual product page at ww.routledge.com . They have been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

Global finance is in the middle of a radical transformation fueled by innovative financial technologies. The coronavirus pandemic has accelerated the digitization of retail financial services in Europe. Institutional interest and digital asset markets are also growing blurring the boundaries between the token economy and traditional finance. Blockchain, AI, quantum computing and decentralised finance (DeFI) are setting the stage for a global battle of business models and philosophies. The post-Brexit EU cannot afford to ignore the promise of digital finance. But the Union is struggling to keep pace with global innovation hubs, particularly when it comes to experimenting with new digital forms of capital raising. Calibrating the EU digital finance strategy is a balancing act that requires a deep understanding of the factors driving the transformation, be they legal, cultural, political or economic, as well as their many implications. The same FinTech inventions that use AI, machine learning and big data to facilitate access to credit may also establish invisible barriers that further social, racial and religious exclusion. The way digital finance actors source, use, and record information presents countless consumer protection concerns. The EU’s strategic response has been years in the making and, finally, in September 2020 the Commission released a Digital Finance Package. This special issue collects contributions from leading scholars who scrutinize the challenges digital finance presents for the EU internal market and financial market regulation from multiple public policy perspectives. Author contributions adopt a critical yet constructive and solutions-oriented approach. They aim to provide policy-relevant research and ideas shedding light on the complexities of the digital finance promise. They also offer solid proposals for reform of EU financial services law.

This is a report from a COSME project, Digital cities challenge.It is an initiative of the European Commission with main purpose to support the cities in their path to digital transformation. The support offered aimed at speeding up the digital transformation and the industrial modernisation of cities in order for them to take full advantage of the 4th industrial revolution. DCC created a network of 40 cities and offered policy advice and support to 15 cities in Europe. In this report the lessons learnt from the digital strategy implementation are summarised to provide recommendations on how to tackle the process of digital transformation.

The digital space is a powerful enabler for more inclusive democratic discourse, participation and policy-making. At the same time, digitisation comes with new challenges. The abundance of data in the online space and powerful algorithm-based technologies pose serious risks to privacy, as well as to other interrelated human rights. The trans-border nature of the Internet itself presents significant legislative and judicial challenges for existing legal and institutional frameworks. This book follows on from the June 2019 seminar paying tribute to the outstanding contribution of Lawrence Early, Jurisconsult of the European Court of Human Rights, as he was about to retire. The seminar brought together members of the judiciary and prominent legal practitioners and academics, as well as representatives of European institutions and non-governmental organisations. Speakers from different legal systems and jurisdictions exchanged views on the ways to address the complexity that protection of human rights online presents for the judiciary. The seminar focused on three major subjects: judicial protection of freedom of expression and the right to privacy in the digital environment; the concept of jurisdiction in the World Wide Web; and the implications of Big Data. Given the breadth and significance of the issues arising in this complex, technical and fast-evolving area, the publication of these keynote contributions will undoubtedly inform further reflection on these matters by judges, legislators, experts and, perhaps most importantly, the general public.

This book explores the multiple challenges that the global technology shift is posing to the EU. It raises the question of how European societies will mobilize the positive effects of the rapid technological advancement in digitalization, robotization, and artificial intelligence, while mitigating the negative consequences in terms of job losses, cybercrime, and social and political polarization. From the vantage point of experts from economics, law, and political science, this book provides insights into the role that the EU is and ought to be playing in regulating global platform companies, addressing taxation in the digital economy, mitigating job displacements on the labour market, and tackling ethical concerns of artificial intelligence and the prospect of digital democracy. All chapters are based on up-to-date research findings, succinct assessment of the current state of affairs and ongoing debates. They conclude with policy recommendations for policy makers on European and national levels. ‘This volume has a solid foundation in the highly topical question of technological change. More importantly, the individual chapters are written by qualified scholars whose analytically advanced contributions are likely to interest a wide audience. I can strongly recommend this book for scholars and students in political science, law, and economics.’ —Carl Fredrik Bergström, Professor of European Law, Uppsala University, Sweden ‘When the Commission took office in 2019, it put forward its vision as to how Europe’s digital future could be ‘shaped’ in a way that makes the digital transition enrich people’s lives and make sure that European businesses fully benefit from the opportunities offered by digital technologies. Then COVID drastically accelerated the take up of digital solutions. As the digital transformation affects every single one of us it is important that we have the widest possible debate on its inherent risks and opportunities. This is why I warmly recommend this book. It brings together an inter-disciplinary set of scholars able to analyse the multifaceted implications of the technological shift. And I could not agree more with the book’s main takeaway, i.e. that we need to create an adaptive regulatory framework capable of harnessing the positive effects of technological changes while buttressing the negative impact on European society and citizens.’ —Ambassador Kim Jørgensen, Head of Cabinet to Commissioner and Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager, European Commission

This book explores the concept of a fourth industrial revolution as an expression of the current technological, economic, and social changes sparked by the growing interconnectivity and intelligent automation that have emerged in the 21st century. It seeks to identify and explain the legal challenges posed by this phenomenon in four main areas: content, economy, security, and people.Part I, Content, considers e.g. the problems posed by new uses of protected works in the digital environment, and the new rules on liability for intermediary services contained in the Digital Services Act.Part II, Economy, is particularly concerned with the regulation of Big Tech in the EU’s Digital Markets Act, ecommerce and EU consumers’ rights, the taxation of online platforms, and digital advertising.Part III, Security, addresses the European Union Strategy for Cybersecurity, the use of biometric data systems and facial recognition technologies for law enforcement purposes, and the security implications of the Proposal for an EU Regulation on Artificial Intelligence, as well as the challenges entailed by the European Union’s positioning itself as a major cyber defence actor.Part IV, People, discusses the Data Protection Litigation System under the GDPR, the right to disconnect from work, the proposed EU Catalogue of Fundamental Digital Rights, the countering of terrorist propaganda online through the TERREG and the DSA, and AI and Fundamental Rights.