2016 Fellows

After a competitive application process, 18 young professionals were selected as the fellows of the inaugural round of the Transatlantic Digital Debates fellowship program. The fellows met for the first session in Berlin and Munich in July 2016 and reconvened for the second session in Washington, DC and San Francisco in November 2016.

Bobby O’Brien

Bobby O’Brien

Senior Cybersecurity Strategist, Microsoft

Christian Senninger

International Cyber Policy Coordination Staff, German Federal Foreign Office

Elaine Korzak

Elaine Korzak

Cybersecurity Fellow, Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey

Florian Redeker

Florian Redeker

Product Manager, orderbird AG

 

 

Frederike Kaltheuner

Frederike Kaltheuner

Policy Advisor on Data Innovation, Privacy International

Heiko Richter

Heiko Richter

Junior Research Fellow, Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition

Jamaal Glenn

Jamaal Glenn

Head of US Business Development, Inneractive

Jan-Peter Kleinhans

Jan-Peter Kleinhans

Program Manager, Stiftung Neue Verantwortung

Jochen Weiss

Jochen Weiss

Political Advisor, German Federal Office for Information Security

Jonah Force Hill

Jonah Force Hill

Internet Policy Specialist, NTIA, US Department of Commerce

Laura Gardner

Laura Gardner

Senior Attorney, US Department of Commerce

Marie-Teresa Weber

Marie-Teresa Weber

Head of Consumer Law & Media Politics, Bitkom

Matthew Noyes

Matthew Noyes

Cyber Policy Advisor, United States Secret Service

Nathaniel Gleicher

Nathaniel Gleicher

Head of Cybersecurity Policy, Facebook 

Qichen Zhang

Qichen Zhang

Product Owner for Personalized Programming Products, Spotify

Sonia Khan

Sonia Khan

Public Policy and Government Relations Analyst, Google

Valerie von der Tann

Valerie von der Tann

General Manager, Berlin at ViaVan

Zhou Zhou

Zhou Zhou

Legal Counsel, Wikimedia Foundation

2016 Berlin-Munich Session

The first round of the Transatlantic Digital Debates launched with a weeklong discussion on developments in cybersecurity and the digital economy. From July 12 to 19, the 18 TDD 2016 fellows met in Munich and Berlin for a dialogue with experts and practitioners from a variety of fields.

Please find the full agenda of the session here

To kick off the discussion, TDD Steering Committee member, Ambassador Thomas Fitschen, walked the group through recent UN efforts to establish internationally recognized norms for cyberspace. The conversation focused on the work of the Group of Governmental Experts and Germany and Brazil’s joint initiative on the Right to Privacy in the Digital Age. TDD fellow Jonah Force Hill facilitated the discussion.

The TDD fellows were regularly challenged to consider issues from alternative viewpoints. During one of the exercises, fellow Jan-Peter Kleinhans shed light on the impact of the Snowden-revelations on US-American companies and data-driven business models.

Drawing on their personal and professional experiences, the fellows gave each other input in a variety of formats. Based on her work in the private sector, Valerie von der Tann shared insights on the implications of increasing digitalization for different German industrial sectors.

Lars Zimmermann, CEO and shareholder of hy!, a business transformator initiated by Axel Springer SE, added to the discussion by pointing out the obstacles German companies face in mastering the challenges of “industry 4.0.” The dialogue also touched upon the similarities and differences between US and German developments, and concluded with a breakout session aimed at developing joint recommendations.

In one of the breakout sessions, TDD fellows Heiko Richter, Christian Senninger and Frederike Kaltheuner (clockwise from left) discussed the challenges of transatlantic data transfers and the implications of the newly launched EU-US Privacy Shield framework. Preceding their discussion, Carlo Piltz, an attorney and expert on the framework, outlined broader legal challenges in the realm of data transfer.

The TDD program is designed to encourage and facilitate open discussion: following comments from Microsoft Germany’s director of corporate affairs Guido Brinkel on the regulatory challenges facing the sharing economy, machine learning and artificial intelligence, TDD fellow Zhou Zhou elaborated on the group’s conclusions on the questions of product liability.

2016 Washington, DC-San Francisco Session

Following the first session of the Transatlantic Digital Debates in Munich and Berlin, the 18 TDD 2016 fellows met again in Washington, DC and San Francisco to continue their discussions on developments in cybersecurity and the digital economy. From November 12 to 19, the group was joined by a variety of experts from the private and public sector, as well as academia, to advance their dialogue.

Please find the full agenda of the session here.

At the offices of New America, the fellows met with TDD Steering Committee member and Professor of Internet Architecture and Governance at American University’s School of Communication, Laura DeNardis. The conversation centered on the increasing securitization of the internet — and how to counter that trend.

After a meeting with Michael Daniel, Special Assistant to the President and Cybersecurity Coordinator, the group explored the Eisenhower Executive Office Building and gathered for a group photograph facing the White House’s West Wing.

Upon arrival in San Francisco, the fellows took a scenic break before deciding how to synthesize lessons from the debates into written form. 

At Wikimedia Foundation’s office in San Francisco, TDD fellow Sonia Khan led a discussion on the foundation’s work and the lessons learned from moderating content for current online debates on hate speech. 

Keeping track of all the discussions remained challenging. In many cases, post-its supplemented online communication tools.

The fellows took the time to explore virtual reality before meeting with Alex Stamos, Chief Security Officer at Facebook.