Interoperability is essential to the functioning of the Internet. Interoperable products and services such as text messaging can connect and transfer various types of data without restrictions. Interoperable governance systems such as the Digital Single Market allow various types of data to flow freely among users in different European countries. Yet users encounter many barriers to interoperability; for example, we can’t move our personal information collected from Twitter to Parler, or from Amazon to Marks and Spencer. Policies designed to achieve interoperability may help policymakers promote competition and could facilitate data portability. However, interoperability could make it harder for some firms to protect users from privacy and security threats.

Since 1997, the US government has argued that market forces rather than government policy should promote interoperability. Meanwhile, The EU is currently advancing legislation to promote interoperability. In this webinar, our speakers will discuss how interoperability might help policymakers and users better address issues of data access, equity, competition, and control. In this webinar, our speakers will discuss how interoperability might help policymakers and users better address issues of data access, equity, competition, and control.

Our Speakers:

• Dr. Ian Brown is a visiting CyberBRICS professor at Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV) Law School in Rio de Janeiro and a consultant. He was previously Principal Scientific Officer at the UK government’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport; Professor of Information Security and Privacy at the University of Oxford’s Internet Institute. He has a Ph.D. in computer science and is the author of numerous books and articles on cybersecurity, internet governance, and related topics.

• Maria Luisa Stasi, Senior Legal Officer, Article 19. Maria Luisa is a researcher at the Tilburg Law School, and a senior legal officer at ARTICLE 19, where she contributes to the development of the organization’s policies on infrastructure, competition, and regulatory framework for telecoms, internet providers, and online service providers. She also provides legal support to the organization’s{{[ regional offices on digital rights and media policy issues.

Moderator:

• Research Professor Susan Aaronson, Director of the Digital Trade and Data Governance Hub, GWU