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The EU must take action to protect whistleblowers
The right of citizens to report wrongdoing is a natural extension of the right of freedom of expression, and is linked to the principles of transparency and integrity. – Transparency International Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden are some of the most famous whistleblowers, thanks to their huge impact on the protection of human rights. However, there […]
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ENDitorial: Consumer protection MEPs launch attack on consumers
Documents leaked by Julia Reda, a Member the European Parliament (MEP) show that parliamentarians on the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO), whose job it is to protect consumers and improve legal consistency in the EU, are planning an assault on citizens’ fundamental rights, legal coherence and even the ultimate authority of […]
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EU discusses future of data retention: “Indiscriminate retention no longer possible”
This is a translation of an article originally written by Anna Biselli on netzpolitik.org. Translation: Anna Biselli, Kirsten Fiedler. The German government is maintaining its unswerving commitment to make communications data retention obligatory from July 2017 onwards. Meanwhile, different EU level groups and institutions are discussing if or how data retention measures are compatible with […]
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Parliamentarians encourage online platforms to censor legal content
On 18 May 2017, the European Parliament Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) and the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) adopted a report on the Online Platforms and the Digital Single Market.
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ALTwitter: The treasure trove behind 140 characters
One of the main reasons why metadata is used broadly for surveillance and targeted advertisement is its extensive capability to capture more dimensions of useful information than the data itself. An ordinary internet user fails to see the mysterious nature of metadata because it is invisible to the naked eye. Law enforcement agencies and advertisers, on […]
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EU Commission on FOI request: Incompetence or ill-intent?
In April 2017, we got a little curious about industry lobbying in Brussels surrounding the copyright reform. We therefore filed a freedom of information (FOI) request to access the correspondence that the Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (DG CNECT) of the European Commission received by rightsholders shortly before the reform proposal was finalised […]
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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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Irish police phone tapping undermines citizens’ rights
An Garda Síochána, the Irish police force has fallen, yet again, under public scrutiny for privacy violations of innocent citizens. An investigation by the Irish Independent newspaper has found that members of the public had their phones tapped without proper justification. The widespread phone tapping was revealed after a senior officer tried to highlight his […]
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EU action needed: German NetzDG draft threatens freedom of expression
On 22 May 2017 six civil society and industry associations sent an open letter to eight EU Commissioners asking to take action against the German bill on “Enforcement on Social Networks”, the “NetzDG”.
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Looking back on our 2016 victories
Technological advancements in the digital world create new opportunities but also new challenges for human rights. Especially in the past year, the fear of extremism on the one side and extreme measures on the other resulted in the desire for swift political action and made defending citizen’s rights and freedoms online a difficult task. In […]
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ENDitorial: Commissioners’ oath – a broken promise on fundamental rights
On 3 May, 2010, the entire European Commission travelled to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in Strasbourg to, for the first time in the history of the Union, take an oath that included a solemn declaration to “respect the Treaties and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union in […]
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UK Digital Economy Act: Millions of websites could be blocked
The Digital Economy Act has become law in the United Kingdom. This wide-ranging law has several areas of concern for digital rights, and could seriously affect privacy and freedom of expression of internet users. One of the main concerns is that it will compel legal pornographic websites to verify the age of their users. The British […]
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