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Dutch Minister reveals plans for dragnet surveillance
Ronald Plasterk, the Dutch Minister of the Interior, wants to make sure that the Dutch secret services have the powers to spy on the behaviour of all citizens and gain insight in all of their communications: phone calls, emails, chat messages and website visits. This much is clear after he published an update of the […]
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ICANN considers banning privacy services
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is proposing a new Internet policy which comes at the expense of human rights, especially privacy and freedom of speech. The proposed rules are addressed to companies that provide WHOIS privacy/proxy services (which restrict access to domain registrant information) and limit their availability to individuals only, […]
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Surveillance technology company Hacking Team hacked
On 5 July, Italian surveillance technology company Hacking Team was hacked. 400GB of data from its servers was shared on BitTorrent, and Hacking Team employees’ emails, invoices and other documents posted publicly via the company’s own Twitter feed (that was renamed “Hacked Team” for the occasion). The authenticity of the documents has not been independently […]
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Press release: EDRi asks for more clarity on net neutrality
This morning, the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy of the European Parliament (ITRE) formally accepted the text of the informal trialogue negotiations on the “Telecommunications Single Market” Regulation, which covers net neutrality and roaming. The text represents a significant improvement on the incoherent, contradictory and destructive approach promoted by the EU Council and European […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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”. […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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