An Open Letter on the Urgent Need to Regulate Digital Technologies

We, the signatories of this letter, believe that the European Union (EU) must stand up to the overt threats to its digital regulatory framework which has been and continues to be constructed in order to safeguard its humanistic and democratic values.

These threats emanate from an unprecedented confluence of immense political and economic power and the EU regulations may well constitute one of the last lines of defence against these threats worldwide.

The EU regulatory tools comprising, most recently, the Digital Services Act (DSA), the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and the Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act) do not constitute censorship or attacks on any particular company or nation as powerful disinformation purveyors claim. They have been designed to protect information and election integrity, protect from monopolistic power abuses and show that there are ways to harness the benefits of technology for all while mitigating its potential harms.

We, the signatories of this letter, therefore, propose that:

The provisions of the DSA and DMA should be fully enforced and that the completion of the AI Act towards its full implementation in 2026 should proceed forcefully. This will help maintain trust that the EU will effectively regulate emerging technologies when and as needed in the future.

The EU should continue working multilaterally to set common standards and regulatory policies in AI and digital technologies in general, with other national and international organizations as broadly as possible. The recent adoption of the Brazil AI Act provides a first glimpse of an “adapt and adopt” Brussels Effect globally.

The currently under discussion proposals for greater EU integration and investment (Letta and Draghi reports) should be adopted and substantially implemented as a prerequisite to the EU’s digital sovereignty. This becomes particularly crucial in the context of current developments in AI technologies.

We, the signatories of this letter, pledge to work with like minded concerned citizens and national, as well as international organizations to support the EU in taking the strong and united stand that we propose. This pledge extends to all institutions and countries striving to defend and preserve shared humanistic and democratic values, and to ensure that digital technology advances are put to the best possible use for the well- being of humanity.

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Supporters

323 people have already signed the letter.

• Allan Hanbury, TU Wien, Austria
• A Min Tjoa, TU WIEN, Austria
• Axel van Lamsweerde, Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium
• Carlo Ghezzi, Politecnico di Milano, Italy
• Gordana Dodig-Crnkovic, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden
• Schahram Dustdar, TU Wien, Österreich
• Edward Lee, UC Berkeley, USA
• Elly Plooij- van Gorsel, Former Vice-President of the European Parliament, elly@plooij.nl
• Fabio A. Schreiber, Politecnico di Milano, Italy
• Florina Piroi, TU Wien, Austria
• Gabriella Dodero, Free university of Bozen Bolzano (retired), Italy
• Gerti Kappel, TU Wien, Austria
• Hannes Werthner, TU Wien, Austria
• Hans Akkermans, AKMC Knowledge Management BV, The Netherlands
• Herbert Manser, Herbert Manser riskCare, Schweiz
• Jeff Kramer, Imperial College London, UK
• Julia Neidhardt, TU Wien, Austria
• Luisa Mich, University of Trento, Italy
• Lynda Hardman, Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica; Utrecht University, Netherlands
• Mirjam De Bruijn, Leiden University, Netherlands
• Lukas Daniel Klausner, St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences, Austria
• Martina Properzi, Pontifical Lateran University of Rome, Italy
• Michael Hauszer, Österreich
• Markus Schedl, Johannes Kepler Universität Linz, Austria
• Norberto Patrignani, Polito, Italy
• Peter Knees, TU Wien, UNESCO Chair on Digital Humanism, Austria
• Peter Michor, Austria
• philipp schaumann, sicherheitskultur.at, Austria
• Zheng Xiang, Virginia Tech, United States
• Reinhard Pichler, TU Wien, Austria
• Roland Schegg, HES-SO Valais/Wallis, Suisse
• Alireza Saebi, Self Employed, Iran
• Sally Wyatt, Professor, Maastricht University, Netherlands
• Jacques Bus, Digital Enlightenment Forum, Netherlands
• Simon Haller-Seeber, University of Innsbruck, Austria
• Domenico Talia, Università della Calabria, Italy
• Alexander Holik, ImplanTec GmbH, Austria
• Theo Hug, University of Innsbruck, Austria
• Hutter Thomas, digital humanism, Austria
• Viola Schiaffonati, Politecnico di Milano, Italy
• Reinhard Wilhelm, Universität des Saarlandes, Germany
• Wolfgang Hofkirchner, The Institute for a Global Sustainable Information Society (GSIS), Austria
• Yuri Kazepov, University of Vienna, Austria
• George Metakides, Digital Enlightenment Forum, Greece
• Gerd Hesina, VRVis GmbH, Austria
• Perfecto Herrera, Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya, Spain
• Gabor Recski, TU Wien, Austria
• Giovanni Adorni, University of Genoa, Italia
• Gianna Bellò, School, education, Italia
• Joanna Zamiechowska, TU Wien, Austria
• Manfred Kraft, Blühende Heimat, DE
• Michael Caspersen, It-vest – networking universities, Denmark
• Margarita Egghart, Austria
• Ángeles Manjarrés, universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, Spain
• Johann Wagner, College, Österreich
• Nuno Guimaraes, ISCTE Instituto Universitario de Lisboa, Portugal
• Paul Timmers, iivii, Belgium
• Luis Moniz Pereira, NOVA University Lisbon, Portugal
• Doris Malischnig, Therapy Center Ybbs, Österreich
• Gregor von Bochmann, University of Ottawa, Canada
• Walter Palmetshofer, TU Wien, Austria
• Maria Löschnauer, University of Vienna, Austria
• Ana Carolina Mesquita, Unicamp, Brazil
• Eliot Mannoia, BrandKarma, Austria
• Ludger Hagedorn, IWM, Austria
• Michal Boni, SME Europe, Poland
• Anni Rowland-Campbell, Intersticia, Australia
• Stefan Woltran, TU Wien, Österreich
• Hannes A. Schwetz, -, Austria
• Irina Nalis, TU Wien JKU Linz, Österreich
• Katja Mayer, University of Vienna
• Karolin Pichler, Institute for a Global Sustainable Information Society, Germany
• Wolfgang Benedek, Uni Graz, Austria
• Lejla Ibralic Halilovic, Austria
• Giorgos Flouris, FORTH-ICS, Greece
• Fosca Giannotti, Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, Italy, Italia
• Manfred Rott, Österreich
• Dino Pedreschi, University of Pisa, Italy
• Roland Steinbauer, Universität oft Vienna, Austria
• Joe Püringer, Occupational Safety and Health, Austria
• Todor Ganchev, Technical University of Varna, Bulgaria, Bulgaria
• Francesco Ricci, Italy
• Mark Coeckelbergh, University of Vienna, Austria
• Katja Bühler, VRVis, Austria
• Frank van Harmelen, Vrije Universiteit, The Netherlands
• Virginia Dignum, AI Policy Lab, Umeå University, Sweden
• Katharina Prager, Austria
• Eugen Pfister, Hochschule der Künste Bern, Austria / Switzerland
• Kim Schmider, TU Wien, Austria
• peter hagedoorn, the fluid society (thefluidsociety.com), Nederland
• Raymond Amumpaire, Center for AI Ethics and Governance in Africa - CAIEGA, Uganda
• Declan Deasy, Ireland
• Harald Kapper, kapper.net, Austria
• Bashar Nuseibeh, The Open University, UK
• Juraj Podrouzek, Kempelen Institute of Intelligent Technologies, Slovakia
• Luigi Palopoli, Università della Calabria, Italia
• Paloma Krõõt Tupay, University of Tartu, Estonia
• Sarah Gaggl, TU Dresden, Germany
• Lukas Magenheim, TU Wien, Austria
• Luigia Carlucci Aiello, sapienza Università di Roma, Italy
• Michael Kiran Huber, TU Wien
• Georg Sedlbauer, Bundesministerium für Klimaschutz, Umwelt, Energie, Mobilität, Innovation und Technologie, Österreich
• Bridget Burger, PhD student, University of Iceland, Iceland
• Heinz Redl, LBI Trauma, Austria
• Ludovica Piro, Politecnico di Milano, Italy
• Christos Kalpakidis, University of Bonn
• Natalie Schmerlaib, Austria
• Marcus Mayrhofer, TU Wien, Österreich
• Helga Nowotny, Austria
• Christiane Wendehorst, University of Vienna, Austria
• Jörg Flecker, University of Vienna, Österreich
• Caleb Gebhardt, Austria
• Cristiano Codagnone, Italia
• Klaus Staudacher, bidt, Germany
• Sabine Köszegi, TU Wien, Austria
• Ute Schmid, University of Bamberg, DE
• Dr Lollie Mancey, Digital Enlightnenment Forum, Ireland
• André Baart, Babafla, Netherlands
• Erich Prem, Verein Digitaler Humanismus, Austria
• Manuel Bichler, Austria
• Stefan Schurischuster, Austria
• Thanassis Tiropanis, Digital Enlightenment Forum, UK
• Justus Bogner, VU Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Ameen Abu-Hanna, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
• Sinead Quealy, Digital Enlightenment Forum, Ireland
• Michele Benzi, Scuola Normale Superiore, Italy
• Enikő Török, Hungary
• Paolo Odasso, Italy
• Andreas Falkner, Austria
• Stefan Hupe, Thinker Circle, Austria
• Herbert Waloschek, Chaos Computer Club, Österreich
• Gerard Quinn, Qmobility Solutions, Ireland
• GABRIELE GATTIGLIA, University of Pisa, Italia
• pelle yntema, Voice4Thought, Netherlands
• Stefan Winter, Ulm University, Germany
• Tim Lyon, TU Dresden, Germany
• Gaye Moore, None, Ireland
• Alessandro Gabrielli, University of Pisa, Italy
• Jutta Eckstein, Germany
• Sara Wit, Assistant Professor African Studies, Institute for History/ ASCL, Institute for History, Leiden University, Netherlands
• Silvia Keeling, Scuola Normale Superiore, Italy
• Elisabeth Zoppoth, Austria
• Francesco Giannini, Scuola Normale Superiore, Italia
• Lucía Gómez Álvarez, Inria, France
• Lili Novák, Hungary
• Peter Van Roy, Université catholique de Louvain, BE
• Roberta Savella, Italy
• Kajetan Enge, St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences, Austria
• Andreas Gebesmair, UAS St. Pölten, Austria
• Victor Adriel de Jesus Oliveira, University of Applied Sciences St. Poelten, Austria
• Vrääth Öhner, St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences, Austria
• Herr Kaschke, Humanity, Germany
• Sebastian Markus, Germany
• Willem Korteweg, NL
• Stefanie Größbacher, Austria
• Linda Melissa Otto, Paderborn University, Deutschland
• Clara Hollomey, University of applied Sciences St. Pölten, Austria
• Sibylle Moser, Fachhochschule St. Pölten, Österreich
• Jim Cloos, TEPSA, Luxembourg
• Marie-Luise Ruscher, Germany
• Francesca Finotello, University of Innsbruck, Austria
• Toby Erik Wikström, University of Iceland, Iceland
• alfredo ferrarin, Scuola normale superiore, Italy
• Markus Passecker, University of Applied Sciences St. Pölten, Austria
• Markus Jochum, Private, Austria
• Ton de Kok, CWI, The Netherlands
• Matúš Mesarčík, Kempelen Institute of Intelligent Technologies, Slovakia
• Magali Dubosson, Hes-so, Suisse
• Catholijn Jonker, Netherlands
• Oliver Fernández Gil, TU Dresden, Germany
• Heribert Insam, BioTreaT GmbH, Austria
• Joanna Chimiak-Opoka, University of Innsbruck, Austria
• Katarzyna Nowicka
• Alessio Rocchi, IUSTO, Italia
• Diego Calvanese, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Italy
• Clemens Baumann, UAS St. Pölten, Austria
• Katharina Lippmann, Deutschland
• Magdalena Löffler
• Maria Stopfner
• Ramon Brullo, FH Stp, Austria
• Klaus Steinmaurer, Austria
• Simon Ganahl, St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences, Austria
• Hanna Aicher, ICMT, Österreich
• Víctor Navarro Remesal, TecnoCampus, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain
• Xihui Chen, St. Polten University of Applied Sciences, Austria
• Alexander Rind, St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences, Austria
• Christian Lamp, SOS Children‘s Villages Austria, Austria
• antoaneta pushkarova, Greece
• Primus Kolmanz, -, Österreich
• Kim Mens, UCLouvain, Belgium
• Dimka Karastoyanova, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
• Elisabetta Di Nitto, Politecnico di Milano, Italy
• Simone Perriello
• Marta Sabou, WU Wien, Austria
• Annette ten Teije, Vrije Universiteit, The Netherlands
• Jacco van Ossenbruggen, VU University Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Ivano Malavolta, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Netherlands
• stefano ceri, Politecnico di Milano, Italy
• Patricia Lago, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands
• Thilo Kielmann, Vrije Universiteit, Netherlands
• Serena Curzel, Politecnico di Milano, Italy
• Argyris Peroulakis, EKOMED - Creative Greece, Greece
• Cristiano Giuffrida, VU Amsterdam, The Netherlands
• Davide Raffaelli, Politecnico di Milano, Italia
• Koen Hindriks, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Mark Hoogendoorn, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands
• ANASTASIA DERMENTZOGLOU, University of te Aegean, Ελλάδα
• Robin Webbers, VU Amsterdam, The Netherlands
• Justus Piater, University of Innsbruck, Austria
• ACHILLEFS GKEKAS, Greece
• Filippo Leveni, Politecnico di Milano, Italy
• Debora Patella, Italy
• Stella Ladi, Panteion University, Greece
• Jean Marc Jézéquel, Informatics Europe
• Stergios Papadopoulos, Greece
• HELENE CHELMIS, private, Belgium
• Judith Simon, University of Hamburg, Germany
• Charlotte Gerritsen, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands
• Michael Stampfer, WWTF, Austria
• Adrian Böck, FH St. Pölten, Österreich
• Buelent Uendes
• Vladimir Estivill, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain
• Narcis Pares, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain
• Daphne Xanthopoulou, University Pompeu Fabra, Spain
• Chiranjeevi Karri, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Catalunya, Spain, Spain
• Xavier Serra, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain
• Roc Parés, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Catalonia
• Błażej Kotowski, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain
• Behzad Haki, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain
• Marta Manzanares, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain
• Sergi Jorda, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain
• Juan Barceló, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain
• Nicole O’Connor, Digi Know This, Northern Ireland
• Diego de Estrada, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain
• Dmitry Bogdanov, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain
• Emma Fraxanet Morales, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain
• Shiran Dudy, Northeastern University, USA
• Murat Demirtas, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain
• Valentin Dander, GMK, Germany
• Shilla Strelka, University of Vienna, Austria
• lingzhi Nie
• Christian Olalla-Soler, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain
• Jérôme Noailly, Pompeu Fabra University, Spain
• Florian Grassinger, University of applied sciences St.Pölten, Österreich
• Martin Pool, Pool Leber Architekten, Germany
• Coloma Ballester, University Pompeu Fabra, Spain
• Lieve Fransen, European Policy Centre, Belgium
• GEORGES KOLYVAS, EU COMMISSION - RETIRED, GREECE
• Panagiotis Alevantis, Columnist Haniotika Nea regional newspaper, Greece
• Olga Gali Perez, Spain
• Evangelos Vardakas, Greece
• Jon Shamah, Global Trust Foundation, Bulgaria
• Alfonso De Gregorio, Zeronomicon, Italy
• Costas ANDROPOULOS, Belgium
• spyridon pilos, Luxembourg
• Monica O'Doherty, Spain
• Asunción López-Varela Azcárate, European Society of Comparative Literature, España
• Tibor Bosse, Radboud University, Netherlands
• Panagiotis Barzoukas, Greece
• Gerard Llorach, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Spain
• Claudia Mariscal, España
• Marcos García González, Spain
• Karen Walsh, Karen Walsh Consulting, Ireland
• Renate Janssen, University Pompue Fabra, Spain
• Nelly Barret, Politecnico di Milano, Italy
• Víctor Casamayor Pujol, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain
• Matteo Bohm, Impact Initiatives, Switzerland
• Albert Domingo Vilar, CNAG - Centre Nacional d'Anàlsi Genòmica, Spain
• Paolo Salieri, European Commission (retired), Italy
• Kai Rannenberg, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt, Chair of Mobile Business and Multilateral Security, DE
• Panayota Balopoulou, Greece
• Erol Gelenbe, French National Academy of Technologies, France
• Franco Rino Davoli, University of Genoa, Italy
• Wolfgang Grabuschnig, ARS LONGA Science Communications, Czech Republic
• Asterios Chatziparadeisis, Consultant, Greece
• Pernille Bjørn, Department of Computer Science University of Copenhagen, Denmark
• Covadonga Rodrigo, UNED, Spain
• Ralf Gerstner, Springer-Verlag GmbH, Germany
• Brian Randell, Newcastle University, U.K.
• Andreas Metzger, University of Duisburg-Essen, Deutschland
• Fabien Soulier, University of Montpellier, France
• Andreas Gradert, Humanistischer Verband Österreich, Austria
• Michela Parodi, UniGe, Italia
• Jo Pierson, Hasselt University, Belgium
• Tiziana Catarci, SIpEIA, Italian Society for AI Ethics, Italy
• Roberto Lopez-Davila, Puerto Rico
• Lenuta Alboaie, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, Romania
• Sandra Lovrenčić, University of Zagreb Faculty of organization and informatics, Croatia
• Tina Leisch, Die Schweigende Mehrheit, Austria
• VASILEIOS KOUTSARIS, ON RETIREMENT, TEACHER OF MATHEMATICS, PUBLIC SECONDARY EDUCATION SYSTEM, GREECE
• Daniela Antoni, Schweiz/ Deutschland
• FRANCISCO TRIGUERO-RUIZ, University of Málaga, España
• Martin Glinz, Universität Zürich, Switzerland
• Bernd Schoengrundner, Austria
• Julio Alberto López Gómez, Universidad de Castilla la Mancha, Spain
• Fernando Vidal Verdú, University of Málaga, Spain
• Ana Paiva, FEUP, Portugal
• Gabriel Parriaux, Switzerland
• Kevin Richards, HEP Vaud, Suisse
• Jean-Philippe Pellet, Swiss Institute of Technology, Lausanne, Suisse
• Emmanuel Flaction, Haute Ecole Pédagogique, SWITZERLAND
• Cyrille Mathieu Ton, HEP Vaud, Switzerland
• Rafael Pastor Vargas, UNED, Spain
• Elena Pelican, Ovidius University, Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science, Romania
• Carolina Mañoso, UNED (Universidad Nacional de Educacion a Distancia), España
• Susan Winter, US
• Sebastian-Aurelian Stefaniga, West University of Timisoara, Romania
• Stefano Caselli, Università di Parma, Italy
• Mauro Vallati, University of Huddersfield, United Kingdom
• Mauro Cettolo, Fondazione Bruno Kessler, Italy
• Enrico Franconi, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Italy
• Lucio Marinelli, University of Genova, Italy
• Clio Flego, UniGe, Italy
• Paola Pugliese, University, Italia
• Sergio Morra, Università di Genova, Italy
• Daniele Theseider Dupré, Università del Piemonte Orientale, Italy
• Matteo Ottaviani
• Rosella Gennari, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Italy
• paolo busetta, italy
• Marco Benini, University of Genova, Italy
• Gianangelo Bracco, UNIVERSITY OF GENOA, Italy
• Daniele Nardi, Sapienza Univ. Roma, Italy
• MARCO TESTA, UNIVERSITY OF GENOVA, ITALY