The new eco Industry Pulse survey shows that, despite a shortage of skilled workers, IT companies are so far making little use of AI to bridge staffing shortages. At the same time, around 70 per cent of IT decision-makers in Germany believe that by 2030, AI will take over a large proportion of the tasks currently performed by IT departments. These and other findings come from a representative Civey survey conducted on behalf of eco among 500 industry specialists and managers.

At Christmas, many children will receive their first smartphone – and with it, usually access to social networks. In light of the ongoing discussion about age limits for social media platforms, Alexandra Koch-Skiba, Head of the eco Complaints Office, gives five practical tips on how parents can effectively support their children when they start using social media.

Against the backdrop of the current debate on age limits for social media platforms, eco has commissioned a new survey: According to the survey, 82 per cent of Germans are in favour of an age limit for social media, but more than half of those surveyed doubt the practical feasibility of such a regulation. That’s why eco is calling for practicable, data protection-compliant and uniform solutions across Europe.

To mark Cookie Day on 4 December, eco commissioned a representative YouGov survey on cookie banners. The results clearly show that the majority of Germans find the current data protection notices annoying. The EU’s Digital Omnibus could be an opportunity to make adjustments.

All in for AI Gigafactories? These and other questions regarding the future of Germany as a data centre location were discussed at the AllianceTalk by the panelists Henri Schmidt, MP, Johannes Schätzl, MP, Michael Schultz (Federal Ministry for Digital Transformation and Government Modernisation), and Günter Eggers (NTT).

Data centres are the foundation of digital value creation in Frankfurt and the entire Rhine-Main region. The new study by IW and Detecon provides clear figures and shows that, in contrast to the economy as a whole, the industry is recording record growth. The city and the entire Rhine-Main region also benefit significantly from this.

With the Germany Stack, the German Federal Ministry for Digital Transformation and Government Modernisation is creating the foundation for a central platform architecture. However, the Association of the Internet Industry sees a need for improvement: so far, all criteria lack clear definitions and a common frame of reference. For this reason, eco sets out fundamental requirements for a successful Germany Stack.

At ICANN84 in Dublin, Thomas Rickert, Director Names & Numbers at eco – Association of the Internet Industry, sat down with Emilie Turbat of AFNIC to explore how the registry is preparing for the next round of new gTLDs, scheduled for 2026.

eco Association assesses the budget of the BMDS (German Federal Ministry for Digital Transformation and Government Modernisation) for 2026, approved by the German Bundestag on Tuesday, as significantly too weak to effectively advance Germany’s digital transformation.

In the course of the upcoming trilogue negotiations on the European CSAM Regulation, eco warns against the introduction of mandatory chat control. This is because suspicionless searches of private communications without cause is contrary to fundamental rights, is technically misguided and endangers everyone’s security. Alexandra Koch-Skiba, Head of the eco Complaints Office, reaffirms this assessment in a current statement.

At ICANN84 in Dublin, Thomas Rickert, Director Names & Numbers at eco – Association of the Internet Industry, spoke with Daniel Greenberg of Lexsynergy about how the industry is getting ready for the next round of new gTLDs, expected to roll out in 2026.

The ICANN84 Readout, hosted by eco Association and ICANN, brought together global stakeholders to review highlights from the 27th ICANN Annual General Meeting.

The digitalisation of public authorities in Germany remains a challenge. A representative survey commissioned by eco shows that the majority of citizens rate the current situation negatively. At the same time, there is growing openness towards government-provided digital identity solutions – provided they are secure, transparent and easy to use.

With its new “Declaration for European Digital Sovereignty,” the EU makes it clear that digital sovereignty means the ability to act, not isolation. eco welcomes the declaration by the EU Member States on the occasion of the European Summit on Digital Sovereignty in Berlin and has also defined four key dimensions for digital sovereignty.

In this interview, Dr. Bernd Schröder from brown-iposs explains how software, automation and O-RAN are driving digitalisation in mobile communications.

dotmagazine is the online international magazine covering Internet industry topics. It features exciting articles from members & partners and covers the entire spectrum of the Internet industry. The perspectives in this issue of dotmagazine point to a clear answer that automation succeeds when humans remain at the center.

The “Digital Omnibus” aims to better align key European regulations. Through this comprehensive reorganisation of digital laws, the European Commission seeks to reduce bureaucracy and to provide more guidance for both companies and public authorities. eco Association expressly welcomes this approach and sees the “Digital Omnibus” as an opportunity for more modern, clearer digital regulation.

At ICANN84 in Dublin, Thomas Rickert, Director Names & Numbers of eco – Association of the Internet Industry, talks with Pim Pastoors, Product Manager of Hello Registry about how the industry is gearing up for the next round of new gTLDs, expected to launch in 2026.

At ICANN84 in Dublin, Thomas Rickert, Director Names & Numbers of eco – Association of the Internet Industry, sat down with Anna Dobrovolska, CEO of DomainCrawler, to talk about the upcoming next round of new gTLDs, expected to launch in April 2026

The eco Data Centre Alliance criticises the German federal government’s failed location policy. In particular, the Federal Council’s proposal on grid connection allocation – rejected by the Economic Committee — together with yesterday’s coalition committee agreement on an industrial electricity price, are, in the association’s view, jeopardising the data centre industry in Germany.

In our 5 November webinar, DOTZON unveiled the latest Digital Company Brands 2025 insights and showed why brandTLDs are becoming essential assets in corporate digital strategy.

The German hotlines of eco, FSM and jugendschutz.net are hosting a webinar on 18 November for educational professionals, multipliers and all other interested parties on the occasion of the “European Day for the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse”. The webinar provides practical knowledge and guidance.

A late start, but on the home stretch: Germany has managed the long run-up and will finally adapt the important NIS-2 implementation. The second stage of the EU infringement procedure hung over Berlin like a sword of Damocles for a long time; but now there is finally movement in the legislative backlog on cybersecurity.

Half a year after the German federal government took office, citizens are drawing a sobering interim assessment: a recent YouGov survey commissioned by the eco Association shows that around two-thirds of the population are dissatisfied with the government’s digital policy.

Deep fakes are fundamentally changing the way we deal with information. In this interview, Lennart Grunau from JAMORIE explains why AI-generated fakes are becoming a real threat, why anyone can be affected — and what companies need to do now.

dotmagazine is the online international magazine covering Internet industry topics. It features exciting articles from members & partners and covers the entire spectrum of the Internet industry. In dotmagazine’s October issue, experts show how Security, Trust & Compliance – from AI to email and quantum – are building Europe’s digital resilience through collaboration and innovation.

The German federal government plans to store IP addresses for up to three months. From eco's point of view, this would be a step backwards in digital policy: renewed blanket data retention jeopardises fundamental rights, creates economic burdens and undermines trust in digital services. Instead, the association is calling for a legally compliant, proportionate and technically feasible solution that is aligned with the ECJ requirements.

Ransomware, CEO fraud, deepfakes – attacks are becoming more sophisticated. But with artificial intelligence, defensive capabilities are also growing. Our 2024 IT Security Survey shows how companies are securing their digital sovereignty.

The project DIRECTIONS, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), strengthens transparency and trust in digital learning. SMART Technologies has made a self-commitment to data protection for its Lumio learning system and is now listed in the Trusted Cloud Register.

How companies and governments must now prepare for the quantum leap in IT security.