Expert papers, studies and research documents
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World without cash?
TAB report on changes in traditional banking and payment systems and changes in its power structure provides an overview of developments in the payment traffic and changes in its power structure.In Germany, cash is the only unrestricted legal tender and still the most commonly used means of payment. Compared with non-cash means of payment, cash is an important corrective in payment transactions. ...
AlgorithmWatch forced to shut down Instagram monitoring project after threats from Facebook
Digital platforms play an ever-increasing role in structuring and influencing public debate. Civil society watchdogs, researchers and journalists need to be able to hold them to account. But Facebook is increasingly fighting those who try. It shut down New York University’s Ad Observatory last week, and went after AlgorithmWatch, too. The European Parliament and EU Member States must act now to ...
A Call for EU Cyber Diplomacy.
In December 2020, the European Union (EU) presented its new strategy on cybersecurity with the aim of strengthening Europe’s technological and digital sovereignty. The document lists reform projects that will link cybersecurity more closely with the EU’s new rules on data, algorithms, markets, and Internet services. However, it clearly falls short of the development of a European cyber ...
When scholars sprint, bad algorithms are on the run
The first research sprint of the Ethics of Digitalisation project financed by the Stiftung Mercator reached the finishing line. Thirteen international fellows tackled pressing issues concerning the use of AI in content moderation. Looking back at ten intense weeks of interdisciplinary research, we share highlights and key outcomes.In response to increasing public pressure to tackle hate speech and ...
For seagrass meadows the impacts could be severe
Two thirds of the earth's surface is covered by water. Oceans play an important role to us humans - they are food sources, heat stores, trade routes and one of the most important stores of carbon dioxide (CO2). In particular, seagrass meadows along the coasts absorb a lot of CO2, but this ecosystem is sensitive to the effects of climate change and could lose much of its storage function. Angela ...
Key points of a legislative initiative for reliable and adequate renewable energy supply
Stimulating investments in sector coupling and innovation: Energy Watch Group proposes new law for reliable and adequate renewable energy systemsOn the occasion of this year’s 20th anniversary of the German Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG), the Berlin-based Think-and-Do Tank Energy Watch Group (EWG) presents a legislative proposal to stimulate the system integration of renewable energy. ...
“Robot judges” without training?
Discussing the implementation of automated decision making systems as savior of overburdened legal decision makers is en vogue. But if employed instead of human decision makers and with rising complexity of legal decision, they face hardly resolvable structural problems and barriers. Dr. Stephan Dreyer and Johannes Schmees explain this by reference to four technical and legal challenges. By that, ...
The Global Gender Gap Report 2018
Gender parity is fundamental to whether and how economies and societies thrive. Ensuring the full development and appropriate deployment of half of the world’s total talent pool has a vast bearing on the growth, competitiveness and future-readiness of economies and businesses worldwide. The Global Gender Gap Report benchmarks 149 countries on their progress towards gender parity across four ...
Comment about Mark Zuckerbergs „Independent Governance and Oversight“
Why Zuckerberg’s “Independent Governance and Oversight” board is not gonna fly (but some of his other ideas are at least worth discussing) Mark Zuckerberg is all for regulation of social media all of sudden. What’s wrong with that picture? In an almost 5,000 word “blog post”, Zuckerberg (plus we assume two dozen or so of the company’s public policy hacks and lawyers) has laid out ...
Just & In-Time Climate Policy: Four Initiatives for a Fair Transformation
Limiting global warming to well below 2°C requires the rapid decarbonization of the global economy. If this enterprise fails, we will jeopardize the life-support systems of future generations. The longer the transformation towards climate compatibility is delayed, the more severe the risks and damage will be for a growing number of people. The transformation requirements and the damage caused by ...