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The Freedom Index – easing access to information on rights issues
A diverse group of human rights defenders in the EU has launched an ambitious project that aims to radically change the way information relating to human rights is organised. If successful, the initiative will create a system that can permanently identify and preserve all human rights data across all languages, and radically improve its availability […]
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Proposed Copyright Directive – Commissioner confirms it is illegal
At a meeting of the European Parliament Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI) on 19 June, European Commission Vice-President Andrus Ansip made a statement that was both shocking and shockingly honest. He advertised the content filtering product of the US company Audible Magic as an affordable alternative to Google’s Content ID filtering technology for filtering European […]
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ENDitorial: AVMSD – the “legislation without friends” Directive?
When the European Commission proposed yet another revision of the TV Without Frontiers Directive in 2016, the Directive was really showing its age. The Directive was originally launched in 1989, revised just eight years later in 1997, again ten years later in 2007, and finally only three years after that in 2010. It has become […]
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#ALTwitter privacy revelation: European parliamentarian goes bananas
Recently, Mr Dunston (of the “Dunston Checks In” fame) came to the EDRi Brussels office looking for help. He complained that somebody from the European Parliament is messing up with his “holy banana collection” that he has been preserving since decades after he inherited it from his forefathers. Other than that we had no information.
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Access to e-evidence: Inevitable sacrifice of our right to privacy?
What do you do when human rights “get in the way” of tackling crime and terrorism? You smash those pillars of your democratic values – the same ones you are supposedly protecting. Give up your right to privacy, it is a fair price to pay for the guarantee of your security! This is the mantra […]
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Commission’s waiting game: Gambling with freedom of information
In April 2017, EDRi wanted to shed light on the industry lobbying in Brussels surrounding the copyright reform. We therefore filed a freedom of information (FOI) request to access the correspondence the European Commission received from rightsholders at the time it was finalising its proposal for the new Copyright Directive.
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Internet clampdown – convenient distraction from political turmoil?
There was unforeseen result in the United Kingdom general election. The Conservative Party was expected to increase their majority in government. However, it failed to achieve a majority and was forced to seek an alliance with the controversial Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in order to form a government.
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UN Rapporteur demands respect for freedom of expression online
The United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression David Kaye has released a new report, which gives an overview of the problems for freedom of expression and opinion in the Telecommunications and Internet Access Sector. The report also provides general recommendations for states […]
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Running an algorithmic empire: The human fabric of Facebook
Facebook, the most popular social networking platform, has undoubtedly become one of the most influential entities in our networked world. As SHARE Lab and researchers previously explained, Facebook can be seen as a huge, global factory of immaterial labour in which its users have basically one role – churn out as much personal data as […]
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Consumer Committee rejects upload filter but fails on “link tax”
On 8 June, the European Parliament Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) voted on the European Commission’s proposal for a Copyright Directive.
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Wanted: Community & Communications intern
European Digital Rights (EDRi) is an international not-for-profit association of 35 digital human rights organisations from across Europe. We defend and promote rights and freedoms in the digital environment, such as the right to privacy, freedom of expression, and access to information.
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UK government pushes for companies to weaken encryption
The terrorist attack in Manchester on 22 May has led to a relaunch of the encryption debate in the UK. In December 2016, the UK parliament passed the Investigatory Powers Act. This wide-ranging surveillance law gives government ministers the power to issue Technical Capability Notices (TCNs), which can force companies to modify their products.These powers could […]
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