On March 5, 2013, The European Institute, in cooperation with the Embassy of Italy and the Delegation of the European Union, organized a discussion with Dr. Patrick Gallagher, U.S. Under Secretary of Commerce and Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology and Giuseppe Abbamonte, Head of the Trust and Security Unit at DG CONNECT of European Commission, on transatlantic cooperation on cybersecurity. Luca Franchetti Pardo, Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of Italy, offered welcoming remarks and stressed the importance that Italy and the EU attach to cybersecurity. As the EU continues to pursue a Digital Single Market, cyber-threats have become an urgent matter to be addressed. Both Dr. Gallagher and Mr. Abbamonte emphasized the importance of cybersecurity, the measures being taken to enhance it in the U.S. and the EU, and recognized the shared values as imperative for increased European-American cooperation in this field.

On May 8, The European Institute, in partnership with the European Parliament, welcomed Dr. Christian Ehler, Chairman of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with the United States, to a breakfast discussion on the challenges and opportunities for greater transatlantic cooperation on cybersecurity. Stressing that cybersecurity has become a priority issue on the European agenda, Dr. Ehler underlined the need to strengthen private-public partnerships to develop and implement coordinated response strategies to the escalating risks of cyber attacks.  Christopher Painter, U.S. Department of State Coordinator for Cyber Issues and John Cosgrove, Deputy Cyber Exercise Lead of SRA International’s Cyber Security and Risk Analytics Division, both presented their perspectives on the future of transatlantic cooperation on this critical front and echoed Dr. Ehler’s call for greater public-private coordination. The discussion was moderated by Andy Purdy, Chief Cybersecurity Strategist for CSC.

On March 21, 2012, The European Institute, in cooperation with the European Parliament's Liaison Office to the U.S. Congress, hosted a delegation from the European Parliament's Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) led by Vice-President Alexander Alvaro.  Vice-President Alvaro and a panel including Danny Weitzner, Deputy Chief Technology Office for Internet Policy at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy; Marc Rotenberg, Director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center; and Christopher Soghoian, an Open Society Foundations Fellow discussed the implications of new data protection and privacy initiatives in both the EU and U.S. and assessed the impact of these initiatives, their dividing lines and the prospects for moving towards more closely aligned privacy policies between the European Union and the United States.  The discussion was moderated by Alan Raul, Partner at Sidley Austin LLP.

By Zachary Laven --- European Affairs editorial assistant

The European Commission’s proposal for a sweeping overhaul of rules protecting individuals’ privacy in on-line data was unveiled Wednesday as a modernizing step that could reassure users and streamline procedures for companies in this complex new legal and technical environment.

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The top European official dealing with internet matters spoke out publicly against Congressional draft bills penalizing websites for pirating movies as “bad legislation.” Her statement, via Twitter, reflected what her spokesman said was “concern about peoples’ access to the internet.”

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