Constanze Kurz – Keynote Speaker

Constanze Kurz is a spokesperson for the Chaos Computer Club. She holds a doctorate in computer science and is the author and publisher of several books. Through her commitment to data protection and the sometimes sensational actions of Europe’s largest hacker association, Constanze Kurz achieved nationwide fame.

After studying economics in Berlin, Dr. Kurz (*1974) turned to computer science. She wrote her dissertation on voting computers and electronic voting systems. Due to her research on data protection and data security, Constanze Kurz was appointed technical expert at the Federal Constitutional Court on the occasion of the appeal proceedings against data retention. From 2005 to 2011, she was a research assistant in the working group “Informatics in Education and Society” at the Humboldt University in Berlin. Subsequently, she was a research project manager at the University of Applied Sciences in Berlin until September 2014. Her research areas of surveillance technologies, data protection and biometrics make Kurz a sought-after expert, and so the Left Party parliamentary group appointed her as an expert for the Enquête Commission “Internet and Digital Society” of the German Bundestag from 2010 to 2013.

Since the beginning of 2015, she has been a permanent team member at the Internet platform netzpolitik.org. Constanze Kurz is active in the German Informatics Society (GI), where she has been a member of the Informatics & Ethics group since 2003. In 2021, she was appointed a GI Fellow. She is a member of the advisory board of the Forum InformatikerInnen für Frieden und gesellschaftliche Verantwortung.

Dr. Constanze Kurz volunteers as a spokesperson for the Chaos Computer Club, which describes itself as a mediator in the area of tension between technical and social developments.

In her blogs, essays, and in her biweekly column Aus dem Maschinenraum (2010-2019) in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, she focuses on security gaps and monopolies in the field of new technologies while pointing out democratic alternatives.

In 2013, Dr. Kurz was awarded the Theodor Heuss Medal for her exemplary democratic behavior, and in 2014 she received the Tolerance Award of the Protestant Academy of Tutzing in the category of civil courage.

Constanze Kurz is an committed speaker who brings her topics to the audience with passion and impressive detailed knowledge.