The political iconoclast at the center of Europe's tech policy debate
The sole member of the Pirate Party in the European Union Parliament, Julia Reda has emerged as influential voice as digital issues take center stage.
Julia Reda is the sole member of the Pirate Party in the European Union Parliament.
Rainer Jensen/AP/File
She's an outsider and an agitator. Even the name of her political party 鈥� the Pirate Party 鈥� conveys an intention to disrupt traditional politics and policies.听
But Julia Reda is having a moment as tech policy takes center stage in the European Union. She's听moved from the political fringe as听the only EU parliamentarian from the听Pirate听Party, a movement championed by internet activists and copyright reformers, to become an important voice in听Europe's debate over matters of technology.听
鈥淚n the EU Parliament, you can be very influential as a single person听if your topics are good,"听says听Markus Beckedahl, cofounder of the European tech conference re.publica and watchdog听. 鈥淛ulia Reda has the talent and the knowledge and the network.鈥�
Over the past year, the EU has sought to strengthen online privacy protections for its citizens and inked a digital trade deal with the US to give Europeans legal redress against American government surveillance practices.听听
While most of Ms. Reda's political energy is directed at reforming听EU copyright laws听鈥� a focus that earned her a spot on Politico Europe's list of "40 MEPs who actually matter" 鈥� she also founded听the听, an unofficial group for parliamentarians to learn more about tech issues.
"Public policy needs to be much more proactive in promoting and using technology,鈥� Reda said recently in her Brussels office, wearing a simple T-shirt and an Apple Watch.听鈥淲e don't even have possibility to encrypt emails in Parliament."
The Pirates鈥� platform is ferociously independent, bordering on anarchistic. The party was born in Sweden in 2006, and, while the various national parties' platforms vary, they all center on direct democracy, open access to information, and freedom of expression. As Reda says, the Pirate Party "is trying to use tech to empower people."
Originally from Bonn, Germany, Reda started in politics听when she was 16,听joining the听center-left Social Democrats. She decamped to the Pirates in 2009 after becoming disillusioned with the Social Democrats web policy.听"It was older men over 50 deciding how a medium that they weren鈥檛 even using was going to be regulated."
In the early days of the internet, Reda听spent a lot of time playing an online political simulation game, meeting friends who also later went into politics in real life. "I鈥檝e always looked at the internet as a space where I can find likeminded people and explore my interests, and that鈥檚 always been hugely important to me."
In the Pirates she found a new generation of tech-savvy Europeans who believed in the power of the internet to foster political change.听
"There is a political system in development there that presents a one-time chance to overcome national egotism for once and for all,"听听during a rally for her campaign for Parliament.
"We Pirates have the opportunity to help shape it. And what do Pirates do when we get a beta version? We鈥檙e excited about it, we try things out, and we work together to make it better.鈥�
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