From Politico this morning: COMMISSION LAUNCHES MEGA SET OF INTERNET CONSULTATIONS: In an unusual move, the Commission is launching nearly a dozen consultations on the internet, with a dozen media partners. The surveys will be cover the impact of the digital world on jobs, health, government, and democracy, on privacy and security, artificial intelligence, net neutrality, and big data.
The consultations are conducted for the Commission by REIsearch and in partnership with El País, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, The Guardian, Il Sole 24 Ore, La Libre Belgique, Gazeta Wyborcza, Luxemburger Wort, Público, The Lancet, Cell, and Der Standard. That’s innovative and inclusive at one level: millions more will now be prompted to participate. One the other hand, there are 19 EU countries without a media partner, and the media partners range inconsistently from business newspapers to medical journals. “Science should be open and freed from its traditional ivory tower; to be discussed, submitted to critique and fed with new perspectives,” said Jean-Claude Juncker. Playbook readers can complete the first questionnaire here: https://reisearch.eu/initiatives/next-generation-internet/1/en And some EU tech policy "gossip”: COMMISSION — OETTINGER AND ANSIP, THE ODD COUPLE: Questions remain about who is in charge of EU tech policy, more than three months after Oettinger officially gave up his job as digital commissioner, Joanna Plucinska reports. Commissioner Oettinger gets lobbyist attention, but as Vice President Ansip’s former colleagues and staff in Estonia have noted to Playbook: He didn’t survive 30 years in national and European politics without the patience and steel needed to achieve long-term objectives. http://www.politico.eu/article/digital-europe-andrus-ansip-and-gunther-oettinger-the-odd-couple/
