For those not in the Brussels digital policy bubble, CPDP stands for “Computers, Privacy and Data Protection”. It is a yearly 3-day conference that brings together experts from the fields of research, policy, practice, and civil society. It is also fair to say that CPDP’s fame precedes itself.

Already during my first weeks at TACD, I heard the words “are you going to CPDP?” because “everyone goes there”. In essence, I was expecting a festival for digital nerds, who enjoy getting fired up about the EU’s simplification/deregulation agenda, fighting against the monopoly of Big Tech, and minor protection – in short, I was excited.

I manifested a festival

I might have brought it upon myself by thinking of it as a festival – the rooms were packed, the toilets went out of order after the first hour of the first day, and lunch was like the Hunger Games. You snooze, you lose, and then you had to stand on guard for when more sandwiches and under seasoned tomato pasta would be brought back in.

You think you’ll pace yourself with the socialising and beers because you’ll need to have energy for three days. Instead, you end up getting home way after midnight because you’re having too much fun to leave early and regret your past decisions listening to a panel analysing GDPR articles the next morning at 8:45 trying to calculate how much coffee your body can take.

Not everyone might love standing in the toilet queue for a pop-up trailer with 3 cabins meant to accommodate hundreds of people, but luckily it wasn’t only the festival-ness that delivered – so did the discussions. With the biggest focus seemingly being on the European Commission’s digital simplification package (“Digital Omnibus”) and protection of minorities online.

There is always the question of how much new information and value is it possible to generate with a 14th panel that gathers people who all agree with each other, presenting the same arguments of why digital omnibus is actually just deregulation. Yet, the experts were impressive; the Commission was there to answer the audience’s questions, and it definitely had its highlights.

A good example of a digital age verification discussion was done by European Digital Rights, with a panel on “Youth protection through inclusion and empowerment”. The speakers delved into the benefits of the online world for youth, pointing out the necessity of online communities for marginalised young people. Additionally, the points made about the racist and homo-and transphobic nature of the age verification technologies raised many agreeing voices and concerned questions in the room, which goes to show the importance of addressing these issues.

CPDP – A place for you (?)

BEUC’s panel on simplification was one of my favourites on the topic, as it brought together civil society activists, the Commission and the European Data Protection Supervisor, which made an entertaining discussion, as it provided also a point of conflict between the panelists.

However, my personal favourite was a panel by EPIC on the U.S. Deregulatory Effect on Global Lawmaking, Policy, and Enforcement. The candidness of the speakers together with the international angle made it the most interesting panel of the conference for me, as in the EU quarter of Brussels, we often get stuck in our own bubble, arguing with the same people about the same details. Zoning out to look at the big (international) picture and seeing how interconnected the different countries and jurisdictions are felt like a breath of fresh air at the end of the conference.

One can praise or criticize CPDP and its organisation but everybody knows the most valuable aspect of CPDP are the chats, (drinks) and connections established between and after the panels. That is the true role of CPDP – bringing together everyone who cares about digital policy, so they can find each other, and help each other in their work.

You will be dead tired after this marathon of policy discussions but equally inspired and with new contacts you might not have made otherwise. All in all, I do recommend attending CPDP to anyone who cares about digital regulation on both sides of the pond and wants to meet other people passionate about digital rights – this place is for you (and the toilets being out of order for the whole three days makes it only feel more like a festival).