Register now: YPDP Games Night, 17 February

Dear YPDPs,

You are invited to join our upcoming YPDP Games Night on Wednesday, 17 February, 18h30.

What better way to socialise and network than playing together with some of the coolest games? By the way, we were also told that the games are a great workout.

Drinks and snacks will be provided.

The Games Night will take place at our friends from Microsoft.

This event is open to all registered YPDPs.  Please register by email now.

This event is supported by Microsoft.

Best regards,

The YPDP Team

YPDP Breakfast Roundtable on U.S. Surveillance Reform

YPDP and the U.S. Mission to the EU hosted a breakfast roundtable discussion on U.S. surveillance reform with Alex Joel (Civil Liberties Protection Officer, U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence) on 28th January at the U.S. Mission to the EU.

Joel
Mr Joel’s explained how his office ensures that the protection of privacy and civil liberties is appropriately incorporated in the U.S. Intelligence Community. Participants had a lot of questions and we had a lively discussion which also discussed the how many European Member States are enacting new surveillance laws in response to the threat from terrorism.

#techxmasreadings – Crowd-sourcing reading suggestions for the Christmas time

Hi YPDP’s,
Just before the holiday season is about to start and people are traveling home from Brussels, YPDP’er @lenard_ko from Allied For Startups has kicked of an initiative to crowdsource some reading suggestions for tech-policy enthusiasts in the EU using this open document (Follow #techxmasreadings on twitter).

In case you are still looking for some interesting readings over Christmas, have a look at the list. If you have some additions in mind, then go ahead and suggest your ideas to the open-list.
Happy holidays!

Guest blog: An interview about our digital future with Pauline Gounaud

In this first YPDP guest blog, we meet Pauline Gounaud, the policy adviser for the S&D group in ITRE. She has, over recent years, been involved in the lengthy Telecom Single Market trialogues, as well as the Digital Single Market strategy. (The views expressed are entirely her own and do not engage the S&D group).

pg

What first got you into the digital sector – purpose or coincidence?

A real coincidence. Initially, I wanted to work on environmental issues and during my first traineeship in Brussels I was working on sustainability and climate change. However when looking for a position in the European Parliament, there was no opening in the ENVI committee, but there was a position in ITRE… So I took the position. When I started with ITRE I was the youngest so I was naturally allocated the responsibility of digital issues. I didn’t even have a smartphone at that point. Now I consider myself lucky, because I really enjoy it – the joys of coincidences!

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