Week 26/2026
Aus Straßen immer gleich
NSFW (Nikolaus' Song For the Week)
This week's song is another treasure I would have not imagined that it could exist and that I would not have found if someone hadn't directed me there. Again, I was made aware by a good friend of an interesting radio show in OE1
Although I must confess that not all the music in the show was of my taste, I enjoyed the conversation with Andreas Rathammer from Quinton records a lot. And I learned that Roland Neuwirth sang a very unique and very Viennese interpretation of Schubert's Lindenbaum for Quinton records. As if that weren't enough, there's a beautiful music video of this interpretation that was directed by Harald Sicheritz whom I admire a lot. This video is on YouTube and therefore just a perfect NSFW.
Sicheritz will launch a film 'Bruno - der junge Kreisky' later this year which is an absolute must.
Retrospect
Digital Humanism College
I spent a very nice Friday morning, talking to and discussing with students and faculty from the Vienna Doctoral College on Digital Humanism on (failures of) European AI regulation.
I was very positively surprised by the the liveliness of the discussion and the many questions raised. I mentioned Anthropic's project glasswing again and it was somehow a funny coincidence that the Mythos blocking appeared (almost) the same day.
This issue has gained some momentum during the week and I would expect this to stay in the debates for some more time.
Regulatory Sandbox Advisory Board
This body at the ministry of finance I am a meber of advises on FMA-sandbox matters in fintech, in particular blockchain. Its legal basis is § 23a FMABG and its members are very well known fintech experts with regulatory, advisory and policy backgrounds so that I learn a lot of them. It's also an excellent opportunity to visit the newly renovated premises of the Federal Ministry of Finance in Johannesgasse 5 (Winterpalais).
Philantropy
UNIVIE's rectorate invited to an event on philantropy. This was interesting as it opened a new perspective on possible collaborations and also revenue streams I am not very familiar with yet. I learned that there is a management consultancy firm - More Partnership - specialised in the domain. With the rector, the vice rector of research, the head of the Senate and many senior staff present, it became quite obvious that this is taken seriously by University leadership.
UNIVIE's Development Office, dedicated to philantropy, is up and running, under the leadership of Markus Stadlmann, and has lauched its own website. It's on LinkedIn too.
Inaugural Lecture
Another member of the rectorate, Prof. Dr. Nikolaus Hautsch, welcomed guests in UNIVIE's big hall for 3 inaugural lectures on the same day.
It was an impressive event with hundreds of prominent lawyers attending, from all fields - civil, public and criminal law - due to the diverse background of the three new professors, Dragana Damjanovic, speaking about "Nachhaltigkeit durch Marktdesign", Olaf Riss with a lecture on "Der Verbraucher im Binnenmarkt" and Farsam Salimi who spoke about "Internationale Kriminalität und national begrenztes Strafrecht – Neue Wege im Strafanwendungsrecht?".
Media
I did a podcast and a TV-show ("Wiener Wissen") together with Katja Mayer in digital humanism at the premises of Kronen Zeitung. The building is quite unique and smells a lot like the 90ies. Hans Dichand is still very prominent.
The show is scheduled to go live on Sunday, June 28th.
I also appeared in Ärztezeitung thanks to my gig at dhealth 2026 (and an interview will follow in their next edition).
Kölner Tage Datenschutzrecht
It was a highlight of the week (and of the month) to be part of this event, again very diligently composed by Prof. Niko Haerting and Dr. Flemming Moos, hosted by Ulrich Gasper from Dr. Otto Schmidt Verlag.
What makes this so unique (for me) is that the whole first morning consists of 6 ten minutes presentations from very diverse and competent speakers, each followed by 20 minutes of panel debate with comments from all other panelists. Niko Haerting is a true master of ceremony here, asking very unique questions with more than 30 years of professional experience and a brilliant mind. I was the only full time academic and the only Austrian on the panel.
I learned a lot, inter alia, on the CJEU Russmedia decision (C-492/23) that is, in essence, incompatible with platform business models, and on art. 9 GDPR in its incompatibility with AI. My own task was to rant about discrepancies between data act and GDPR that I appreciated a lot - after having learned a lot from former Hannover colleague Prof. Dr. Björn Steinrötter in his publications on the matter.
I took a Steinrötter-quote as a motto for my own presentation: „Beide Rechtsakte stehen vielmehr wie Altarbilder, die unterschiedliche Geschichten erzählen, nebeneinander“ (Rather, the two legal acts stand side by side like altarpieces that tell different stories). All panelists were united in their criticism of the legal craftmanship of the regulations discussed and the lack of common terminology and vision. Also the CJEU was criticised quite intensely .
Using the hotels' elevator when getting to my room was fun too.
Prospect
Job Offer
We have a vacancy for a student assistant/e-learning tutor open:
Deadline: 25/06/2026
Send your documents (letter of motivation, CV, transcript of records) to: office.forgo.id@univie.ac.at
More information: https://id.univie.ac.at/en/team/vacancy/
Brno
Monday will bring me to our sister institute - the Institute of Law and Technology at Masaryk University in Brno - for an internal workshop together with the Viennese Research Institute, lead by Dr. Christof Tschohl.
APA-Science
On Wednesday, June 24th at 14.00 CEST, I will speak at the APA-Science Platform about " KI-Kennzeichnung bei Bildern: Was künftig zu beachten ist" (in German). This is an event organised within the APA-Science network, open to member institutions, a network of more than 50 partners in science.
O.K.ids
On Friday, Jube 26th, I will speak at this year's O.K.ids Congress about "Spectrum of the Recent European Legislation: Key Impacts on Health & R&D."
Look and Feel
Far from being Lipizzans
I watched this marvelous film from Olga Kosanović in Stadtkino on Monday. The reason why it is screened again now is that it is nominated in two categories for Österreichischer Filmpreis (best documentary and best director)
Here's the trailer
I would highly, highly recommend to watch this, in particular if you have some legal background or interest. It's about the absurdities of Austrian citizenship law, but also about the reasons why the law is like it is - with reflections on national identity, fear, change and democracy. From a cinematic perspective, the film is very interesting as well - being a mixture of documentary with some feature film elements, interviews, expert interviews, factual information and so on.
After the film, there was also a conversation with the director that made the event even more exciting. Kosanović is an inspiring and charismatic personality. Austrian_Films has an interview (in German) with her.
The film will be in Gartenbaukino in September, in ORF TV on October 25th and on streaming portals later in autumn.
Have a wonderful week and take care of yourself!
Kind regards
Nikolaus (Forgó)
