New BfDI takes office

Above all, the BfDI wants to achieve a solution-oriented approach to data protection: “All in all, I am promoting data protection that clearly shows red lines, but offers constructive solutions below these red lines, thus a corridor of the possible. I want to enter into dialogue with society, legislators, research and industry even earlier and more intensively in order to enable digitization that is sensitive to fundamental rights. I want to know where stakeholders see challenges in order to be able to offer at an early stage solutions complying with data protection law.”

The focus will be on three topic areas: “During my term of office, I will focus in particular on health, artificial intelligence and security. Digital solutions are crucial for better healthcare for all of us. The data subjects’ fundamental rights must be fully protected, while at the same time a high degree of functionality of the systems must not be prevented. The same applies to artificial intelligence. I will do everything I can to enable a trustworthy and fundamental rights-oriented AI landscape. At the same time, I will campaign vehemently against unlawful data processing. It is my firm belief that AI supervision belongs in the hands of data protection regulators, because we are the only authorities that are completely independent and already have the necessary AI experts. I want to actively accompany innovation through AI real-world labs.”

When it comes to safety, the following applies: "The price of our security must never be our freedom. We need a balance between measures to ensure internal and external security and the protection of citizens with regard to their right to informational self-determination. I would like to guarantee this balance even stronger than before in dialogue with the intelligence services and police forces. I consider it wrong to shift essential parts of the data protection supervision over the intelligence services to other authorities.