Blogs
Filter by...
-
Press release: European Parliament pushes for more surveillance and profiling of EU citizens
Civil Liberties Committee (LIBE) of the EU PNR proposal, European Digital Rights (EDRi) statement: Today, the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties (LIBE) Committee adopted a proposal for the long-term storage of passengers on all flights entering and leaving the EU. The data will be used for profiling of innocent individuals as possible serious criminals. Two years […]
Read more
-
EU PNR: Unproven, ineffective strategies are not security
“When people are scared, they need something done that will make them feel safe, even if it doesn’t truly make them safer. Politicians naturally want to do something in response to crisis, even if that something doesn’t make any sense.” Bruce Schneier, Security expert The proposal for a EU PNR Directive (Fight against terrorism and […]
Read more
-
EU Parliament to vote on indiscriminate collection and storage of travel data on 15 July
Two years after rejecting the Commission proposal for a Directive on Passenger Name Record (PNR) in April 2013, the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) is expected to vote again on the adoption of this blanket surveillance measure on 15 July. The purpose of the Directive is to collect and store the […]
Read more
-
TTIP Resolution: what did the Parliament say about Digital Rights?
On 8 July, 2015, the European Parliament finally adopted a resolution on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The TTIP resolution contains non-binding recommendations to the Commission regarding digital rights, among other topics. At the beginning of 2015, EDRi published its red lines, which was later developed into a booklet “TTIP and Digital Rights”. […]
Read more
-
European Digital Rights asks the European Commission to investigate illegal data retention laws in the EU
European Digital Rights (EDRi) this morning sent a letter to European Commission First Vice-President Frans Timmermans, asking the European Commission to investigate the data retention laws in EU Member States which appear to be illegal in light of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruling on this issue from 8 April last […]
Read more
-
AFET Committee adopts its Report on Human rights and technology
The European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET) adopted its Report on “Human rights and technology: the impact of intrusion and surveillance systems on human rights in third countries” on 26 May 2015. The Rapporteur, Marietje Schaake (ALDE, Netherlands) welcomed the adoption of the Report and stressed that “the European Union must assess the impact […]
Read more
-
WiFi tracking and the ePrivacy Directive in Denmark
Citizens are increasingly being monitored and tracked by public authorities and commercial interests. Many carry digital devices which, by design, emit a unique identifier, such as the WiFi Media Access Control (MAC) address of a smartphone. Even though the MAC address does not directly reveal the identity of a person, the fact that it is […]
Read more
-
An open letter to Mark Zuckerberg from suspended user Giz
I am confused. When your Chief of Personal Products, Chris Cox was speaking with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence he said that Facebook’s policy never required anyone to use their legal name. He said that Facebook wants users to use our authentic identities, the names our people call us, like Sister Roma and Little Miss […]
Read more
-
JURI Committee adopts disastrous Trade Secrets provisions
The proposed Trade Secrets Directive, previously reported in EDRi-gram, was adopted on 16 June by the European Parliament Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI). To put it briefly, this proposal would create a new pseudo-intellectual property right for businesses to protect information that is not covered by traditional intellectual property rights. Commercially sensitive information is now […]
Read more
-
Google admits it was wrong on “right to be forgotten”
In the widely publicised “Google/Spain” ruling of the European Court of Justice (CJEU), it was decided that the results of Google searches sometimes infringe the rights of individuals. In such circumstances, individuals can complain – to Google in the first instance – and ask for searches involving their name to be de-linked from the unfair […]
Read more
-
Belgian coalition demands suspension of the TTIP negotiations
On 26 June 2015, the Belgian EDRi member Liga voor Mensenrechten, together with a wide coalition of other Belgian human rights and consumer organisations, trade union confederations, and environmental and development NGOs, published a declaration asking for an immediate suspension of the negotiations for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) that are currently ongoing […]
Read more
-
Blurry, ambiguous “net neutrality” deal is an abdication of responsibility
Fifteen months after the European Parliament voted in favour of clear protection for net neutrality in Europe, a messy, ambiguous “deal” was reached around 2am in the morning on 30 June. In the coming days, negotiators will finalise explanatory notes (known as “recitals”) which may add some clarity. However, the apparently deliberate ambiguity of the […]
Read more