Digital Humanism Lecture Recap -International Data Transfer & Sovereignty

On 13 May 2025, the Digital Humanism lecture series gathered online and at TU Vienna for a frank look at Europe’s struggle to protect personal data beyond its borders. The session, titled “International Data Transfer and Sovereignty from a European Perspective,” featured keynote speaker Ing. Dr. Christof Tschohl (Scientific Director, Research Institute – Digital Human Rights Centre) and was moderated by Dr. George Metakides, President of the Digital Enlightenment Forum.

Europe, argued Dr. Christof Tschohl, is staking out its own “digital sovereignty”: every tech rule must respect people’s basic rights while still managing real-world risks. To show what that means in practice, he sketched the EU’s growing toolkit of six major cybersecurity and data-protection laws that knit together everything from critical-infrastructure security to tougher product-safety rules for connected devices. Against that backdrop he retold the long EU-US data-transfer drama: first the Safe Harbor deal, then the Privacy Shield, both torn up by Europe’s top court after U.S. surveillance programmes came to light.

Those court wins matter only if regulators act, and Tschohl showed they are. EU regulators have blocked Google Analytics from shipping EU visitor data abroad and slapped Meta with a €1.2 billion penalty: proof that Europe’s privacy rules can bite hard. Washington’s reply is a fresh agreement backed by President Biden’s executive order, promising “proportionate” spying and a way for Europeans to complain, but Tschohl warned it could be struck down like its predecessors. Looking ahead, he highlighted the coming EU AI Act: before any “high-risk” artificial intelligence system hits the market, its makers will have to test it for rights-based risks, explain how it works, and keep a human decision-maker in the loop. In short, Europe is weaving privacy, cybersecurity and trustworthy AI into one coherent, people-centered digital rulebook.

Europe’s message is clear: privacy and security rules must travel with our data wherever it goes, and the new EU-US framework alongside the forthcoming AI Act will test whether that people-first vision can prevail in practice. Staying informed and holding lawmakers, companies and courts to account will ultimately decide who shapes our digital future.

To watch the whole conference: Christof Tschohl: “International Data Transfer and Sovereignty from a European Perspective” — DIGHUM