Dieter Schindlauer
✉ dieter.schindlauer <AT> epicenter.works
is an inveterate human rights activist and specializes in particular in non-discrimination. He co-founded the ZARA association and the Litigation Association for the Enforcement of the Rights of Victims of Discrimination and is still on the board of both associations. Now increasingly advocates for human rights standards on the web, also because as a "technical nudger" he still has a lot to learn and to marvel at. In recent years, he has been living mainly in the Western Balkans in order to further develop human rights there on behalf of the EU. Acts as project manager, trainer and lecturer. Since 2024 Dieter is the representative of epicenter.works. (Photo credit: Zinner)
Victoria Kontrus
is fascinated by the links between society, technology, law and politics. Parallel to her ongoing studies in sociology she is conducting research on the development and deployment of AI algorithms at the Vienna Centre for Societal Security. A deep-dive into remote forensic software in the course of her previous law studies led her to epicenter.works. Victoria advocates for fundamental rights in digital spaces as well as for ethical, responsible development of technology. For more than two years she has been supporting epicenter.works in media monitoring on an almost daily basis and also supplied the occasional translation. Victoria joined the board in 2022 as treasurer.
Nicola Asiemo
has been following the digital policy discourse with keen interest since she was a law student. Driven by her voluntary work at epicenter.works, she completed additional training in data protection and intellectual property law – always with a focus on fundamental rights. She worked at Asyl in Not and later at an international software company, where she set up the legal department and worked on data protection and artificial intelligence. Now she is once again fighting on the side of civil society for the Austrian Disability Council on the international stage for human rights and is actively contributing to the protection of fundamental rights in the context of digitalisation at epicenter.works – since 2024 also as secretary.
Josef Hörmandinger
gained his first experience with human rights during his law and peace research studies as well as during his work as an immigration counselor and anti-racism work at the Helping Hands Salzburg association. He advocates – sometimes resistively – for the secure handling of personal data and the use of FOSS in schools and the education system. At epicenter.works, he contributes his expertise from his legal work on data protection in schools and in further education and holds lectures and workshops, including for epicenter.academy GmbH. Professionally, Josef is responsible for participation projects, political education, social media and European institutions at the Salzburg State Parliament Directorate.
✉ thomas.lohninger <AT> epicenter.works
Fingerprint: F203 1B4D A3C2 E54E 6B7F 5A9C CC69 1BA3 3E56 BBD9
was a programmer and anthropologist in his former life. Digital rights had been his hobby until it became a job when he intensively accompanied the EU Net Neutrality Regulation as Policy Advisor for European Digital Rights (EDRi). Thomas was one of the driving forces behind the www.savetheinternet.eu campaign and has a strong work focus on net neutrality, data protection, and mass surveillance. Since 2010 he has played an active part at epicenter.works and since 2014 he is the executive director of the association. He also writes on Netzpolitik.org, is a regular guest in the Podcast Logbuch:Netzpolitik and a non-residential Fellow of the Center for Internet and Society at the Stanford Law School. He was in the board of the EU umbrella of 45+ digital rights NGOs (EDRi) and since 2024 he is Chair of the Governance Working Group of the UN dpi-safeguard initiative and member of the Jury for the German eIDAS Wallet and the Ad-Hoc Technical Advisory Group on eIDAS of the European Commission.
✉ tanja.mally <AT> epicenter.works
Fingerprint: 9FEE 7E03 0712 AF51 39D8 93AB 296C 0017 6840 96CE
spent most of her professional life in the media industry. Since 2014, she has supported charitable institutions with her experience in networking and partner management. As an attentive citizen with a pronounced sense of justice, her fundamental rights are particularly important to her. Tanja is the managing director of epicenter.works and, together with Daniel, managing director of epicenter.academy GmbH. She is also responsible for fundraising as well as the support of the steadily growing number of cooperation partners. Solid funding and strong allies are the foundation of the successful work of our organization.
Tanja Fachathaler
✉ tanja.fachathaler <AT> epicenter.works
Fingerprint: 1391 070A 0734 1B01 F116 2416 9E51 8576 A350 7829
studied law, Latin American studies and human rights and democratization in Vienna, Venice and Seville. She has several years of experience in different positions in the legal sector, both in Austria - for example in administrative justice or in a law firm - and in Brussels for human rights organizations and a consulting firm working for the EU institutions. Tanja is multilingual and is also involved as an election observer and in human rights education. Since August 2021, she has been bringing her experience to epicenter.works as a Policy Advisor.
Sebastian Kneidinger
✉ sebastian.kneidinger <AT> epicenter.works
Fingerprint: E853 0047 8DB8 8583 E507 73FA 55B1 860A 6094 88E2
was already interested in data protection and digital policy during his law studies in Vienna and Madrid. He was also involved in these topics during his time in student politics, where he was a member of the Senate of the University of Vienna. After working in the field of data protection at an Austrian financial institution and in risk management at an international management consultancy, Sebastian is now contributing to epicenter.works as a policy advisor.
✉ daniel.lohninger <AT> epicenter.works
Fingerprint: 3C45 08EE 8CF6 9B46 1074 0800 697D 96E2 9F42 6946
has a multimedia education and has studied information and communication pedagogy. Daniel first joined epicenter.works as a graphic designer and has been coordinating our activities in Styria since 2017. He is particularly involved in surveillance and data protection. In addition, he acts as a contact person for data protection in the education sector. Since 2017, he has been holding workshops and training courses on data protection for schools, universities, companies, associations and interest groups. Since 2021, together with Tanja, Daniel has been managing director of epicenter.academy GmbH.
✉ dominik.polakovics <AT> epicenter.works
Fingerprint: 195A FF41 481E BFD4 6EE6 A143 7EB6 219B CE69 28EC
started programming at a very early age. Instead of torturing himself with his skills at the technical high school, he preferred to become a web developer right away. When that also became boring, he dedicated himself directly to redesigning the IT structure in the same company. Equipped with enough experience, he founded his own company, in which he has since planned and implemented many complete IT systems. He was also part of the winning team at the first Cyber Security Challenge Austria. At epicenter.works Dominik is our "nerd on duty" and takes care of order and security in the IT systems. He analyzes strengths and weaknesses in terms of data security and data protection with and for us.
Elisabeth Kury
✉ elisabeth.kury <AT> epicenter.works
Fingerprint: 35F4 B808 8859 3396 F0A6 42BD 70CD 5B82 D6F0 FC5A
studied business law at WU Vienna. She deepened her enthusiasm for socio-political issues with a specialization in public & non-profit management. In her positions in content development and digital marketing, she gained valuable skills in the field of communication. Her strong sense of justice brought her to epicenter.works where she now uses her experience to draw attention to important topics in her role as Communications Manager.
is a practicing radio producer and emeritus IT-machinist. He has been on the internet since 1992, and therefore is just as long faced with digital rights issues. Yet, he is always surprised by the developments in this field, albeit less of the directions taken than their dynamics. Herbert entered into AKVorrat as co-signatory on the lawsuit against data retention filed with the Austrian Constitutional Court or ECJ.
Okan Kaya
has spent most of his professional life working in law firms. Disproportionate encroachments on fundamental and human rights are on the rise. The rule of law is a necessary condition for a functioning democracy. The state must always respect the constitution in any situation, no matter how difficult. Okan fights against disproportionate interventions in human rights by politics.
Erwin Ernst Steinhammer (@eest9)
is a digital rights activist and studies Political Science. He worked as a software consultant for a long time and has also dealt with the social impact of automation. As an advocate of fundamental rights, in particular the Freedom of Information Act, he soon became interested in the state protection law. When the "Federal Trojan" (Bundestrojaner) was introduced, he was one of the first to criticize the parliamentary review process. Today, he keeps a close watch on epicenter.works' digital rights developments, both in parliament and in government.
Herbert Waloschek
is a creative practitioner of ripe old age and works as an auditor at epicenter.works. His motto is the architecture of the future: designing tomorrow's world with today's fantasy about the world. He is always learning, critical, and open to new ideas. Occupation and vocation are one to him, because it is always about the design of human-machine interfaces with humane demands.
Manuel Jany
Manuel supported epicenter.works as a legal intern from January until August 2021. In addition to his work in a data protection law firm, he already focused on fundamental rights during his studies. Manuel sees our individual freedom as increasingly threatened by measures such as the surveillance package or government facial recognition. Fundamental rights and freedoms take a decisive role in the contest against this escalating surveillance. For this reason, he fights at epicenter.works for the protection and preservation of our privacy as we know it.
Julia Wolfschütz
has studied Political Science, Sociology and Anglistics & American Studies at the Leopold Franzens University Innsbruck. For her, the digital transformation is the crucial point of social and political development in the 21st century. Therefore, she is committed to a free Internet, digital education and a society that uses technology critically and sustainably. As a member of the local hackerspace, she always participates in the latest developments. Julia supports epicenter.works from Innsbruck and coordinates our activities there.
Elisabeth
supports the organisation with translations. She changed careers and became an accountant after an education and professional experience in translation. Languages and numbers are only superficially opposite – both require thoroughness and attention to detail. She joined epicenter.works because she recognized that the societal transformations wrought by the Digital Revolution would renew the necessity of a fight for all of our civil rights. Moreover, she appreciates about volunteering that the work is driven by internal motivation and not external forces. She lives in Vienna.
Mathilde Spitzer
has studied Sinology in Vienna and Kunming. Her interest in Chinese typography sparked her pursuit of graphic design. She spent several years working in printing after studying at the “Graphische Wien” before deciding to pursue her passion for programming. Data protection and free access to information are very important to her. She is always ready to help us with anything related to visuals. She helps us turn data for transparency reports into easily understandable diagrams, works on the visual implementation of campaigns (like with the AMS algorithm), and designs stickers and flyers for us.
Paul Kloker
studies Embedded Systems in Vienna and has been a volunteer at epicenter.works since early 2022. In order to strengthen digital civil rights, he uses his technical know-how to support us in our campaigns. His first project was the design and construction of the AMS Algomat, a slot machine intended to illustrate the discriminatory unequal treatment of the planned AMS algorithm.
