European Union's Kill Switch Concerns Push Europe Away From US, China Tech

The European Union has been pretty strict when it comes to controlling the tech landscape. And now, the body has proposed a sweeping new set of regulations, approved by its 27 member states, to minimise the dependence on Chinese and American technology. The call of tech sovereignty comes amid warnings that a foreign power could weaponize critical digital infrastructure against the countries in the region. As per the reports published by CNBC, the proposals specifically target advanced microchips, cloud services, and artificial intelligence, and all of these things are considered sectors where the US and China have a dominant position.European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said, 'We cannot afford to depend on others for the technologies

that keep our hospitals running, our energy grids stable and our services secure.' The legislative push is focused around the recently introduced Cloud and AI Development Act (CADA), a framework that works to mitigate the extreme national security risks that stem from European public organisations storing sensitive data on foreign cloud networks.Elon Musk Says Neuralink Could Restore Hearing One Day

European Commission Executive Vice President Henna Virkkunen warned reporters that the bloc should ensure foreign cloud providers do not possess a digital 'kill switch' that could instantly paralyse European services during a geopolitical crisis.Virkkunen stated that, as per the new rules, it would be incredibly difficult for American tech companies to meet Europe's highest security tier. This happened primarily due to the US Cloud Act, which provides American law enforcement the authority to demand user data from US companies irrespective of whether the data is physically stored on European soil. Furthermore, the European Union also introduced the Chips Act 2.0, which is an escalation of its existing semiconductor strategy. The updated regulations are developed to fix Europe's overdependence on other countries for microchip design.