From: Council on Foreign Relations
Digital and cyber policy issues played an important part in last year’s German election. Here’s what to expect over the next four years.
Mirko Hohmann is a Project Manager with the Global Public Policy Institute in Berlin. You can follow him @mirkohohmann.
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Concerned about the growing market power of tech giants, the coalition will launch a “Competition Law 4.0” commission to examine how existing anti-trust regulation could be adapted to take new business models into account. In a similar vein, the government will support efforts to collect taxes from “internet companies,” a term that is not clearly defined. There is a similar lack of detail when it comes to the coalition’s plans of establishing “strong German and European actors in the platform economy.” There is a mention that this fostering these actors could come through subsidizing German start ups but no financials are provided.
The coalition further aims to take a closer look at algorithms and artificial intelligence (AI). A commission on data ethics will be tasked to provide recommendations on the use and regulation of such technologies. Germany will further develop a “Masterplan for AI” and establish a joint AI research center with France to compete with the United States, Canada, and China.
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