Privacy Symposium – The Geopolitics of Data: Transfers, Sovereignty and Legal Frameworks in Progress (Venice, IT)
Professor Théodore Christakis will organise a panel entitled “The Geopolitics of Data: Transfers, Sovereignty and Legal Frameworks in Progress” which will take place at the Privacy Symposium held in Venice from 20 – 24 April, 2026.
This panel unpacks the shifting geopolitics of data, from the GDPR framework on extra-EU data transfers to the EU’s evolving sovereignty perspectives. It also zooms in on the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework – examining its promise, its pressure points, and its role in sustaining transatlantic digital cooperation amid ongoing legal and political challenges. Cross-border data transfers are increasingly cast as a security risk amid persistent geopolitical tensions – even though they remain the lifeblood of a connected global economy. These perceptions also fuel calls for data localization. Yet, restricting data flows can hinder the very cybersecurity, resilience, and crisis response capabilities that nations urgently need, and have other material impacts.
This conversation takes on the paradox: can localization deliver sovereignty and security, or is it undermining both? And what does a sustainable, trusted model for global data flows look like when geopolitical tensions are high, and technologies remain globally intertwined?
Chair:
- Théodore Christakis, Professor of International, European and Digital Law at the University of Grenoble Alpes
Speakers:
- Cari Benn, Chief Privacy Office at Microsoft
- Hosuk Lee-Makiyama, Director of the European Centre for International Political Economy (ECIPE)
- Paula Harrisson, Director of Government Security & Regulation at Vodafone Group
- Axel Voss, Member of the European Parliament
Link to register for the event here.
Link to the event program here.