Fanny Hidvegi (Archived Bio)

Fanny Hidvegi is Access Now’s Europe Policy and Advocacy Director based in Brussels. She develops Access Now’s European policy strategy, heads the regional work and represents the EU entity. Fanny is an Obama Foundation Europe Leader and a Marshall Memorial Fellow. Fanny was selected to be a member of the POLITICO Tech 28 Class of 2022. Fanny was a member of the European Commission’s High Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence, she serves on the Council of Europe’s Committee of Experts on Freedom of Expression and Digital Technologies, and on the board of the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (HCLU). She is a member of the European Parliament STOA Committee’s International Advisory Board.

Previously, Fanny was International Privacy Fellow at the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, D.C. where she focused on E.U.-U.S. data transfers. For three years Fanny led the Freedom of Information and Data Protection Program of the HCLU where she engaged in strategic litigation with journalists and other NGOs, participated in the fight against the national data retention law in Hungary, and promoted privacy enhancing technologies. There, she gained experience on how to operate as a human rights advocate in a restrictive environment.

Fanny also worked as a consumer protection lawyer both in the public and the private sector. She has a law degree from Eötvös Loránd University Budapest and she spent one academic year at the University of Florence. Fanny was once on Swiss national TV as Roger Federer’s biggest fan.