EurActiv interviewed this week Robert Madelin, a lifelong civil servant who, on 1 September, took over the role of senior advisor for innovation at the European Political Strategy Centre, an internal think tank that advises Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. Madelin, most recently head of DG Connect, which oversaw telecommunications and digital affairs at the Commission, spoke broadly about data. First, he noted that most data is not personal and that “big data” does not necessarily imply PII. Further, he is opposed to a sectorial approach, where health data, for example, is treated as more sensitive than other personal data. He called for “horizontal, principle-based regulation at the highest possible level,” so that innovative companies are not forced to accommodate “very specific stuff.”
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