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India: Free Basics violates principles of a neutral Internet
India is Facebook’s second largest market after the US, and the social media giant has rolled out Free Basics, a new, “free” service which they claim has the ability to connect millions of people who have never connected to the Internet. In doing so, it is showcasing a new, aggressive corporate strategy. Both regulators and […]
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Open letter by global coalition to the world’s governments to demand security and encryption for all
This week, EDRi member “Access Now” launched the open letter and petition “Secure the Internet” to demand the protection of strong security and encryption tools for all. The letter addresses the leaders of the world’s governments and can be signed by individuals, organisations and companies:
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EDRi Awards 2015
For the second time and with great solemnity, EDRi presents the first ever second edition of its annual awards. 1. The “Humpty Dumpty Award” for the most silly “statistics” The award this year goes to French Home Affairs Minister Bernard Cazeneuve. He argued that 90% of radicalisation happens online – the source was a non-representative, […]
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Better Regulation Interinstitutional Agreement – we have concerns!
On 19 May 2015, European Commission First Vice-President Frans Timmermans presented the Better Regulation package, wherein the Commission committed to “deliver better rules for better results” and to design EU policies and laws that achieve their objectives at minimum cost. One of the central points of this package is the “Interinstitutional Agreement on Better Regulation”. […]
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Santa Claus confirms NSA attack on naughty or nice database
A press conference was organised this morning on behalf of Mr Santa Claus. At the conference, a spokes–elf confirmed that there had been repeated attempts to hack the “naughty or nice (NON)” database. The NON-database was thought to be used by Mr Claus to keep records of young inhabitants of planet earth, in order to […]
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EU Data Protection Package – Lacking ambition but saving the basics
Statement of European Digital Rights (EDRi), Bits of Freedom, Digitale Gesellschaft e.V, Open Rights Group (ORG), Digital Rights Ireland and Privacy International following the vote of the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties Committee on the Data Protection In January 2012, the European Commission, following extensive consultations, published a draft Regulation and a Directive to create a […]
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Data Protection Package – The bare essentials appear to have been salvaged from the lobby storm
Following the final EU trilogue negotiations yesterday, where an agreement was reached on the proposal for a General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Directive for Law Enforcement, and waiting for the provisional texts to be made public, EDRi would like to present the following statement: In January 2012, the European Commission, following extensive consultations, […]
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Data protection package concluded – 1420 days after being launched
On 15 December 2015, three years and ten months after the package was launched, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Directive on Data Protection in Police and Justice matters were finally completed. The reform package was launched in order to enhance data protection rights and improve their enforcement. Up until now, data protection in […]
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EU encourages cooperation between intelligence agencies
In the wake of the Paris attacks on 13 November 2015, the planning and implementation of measures taken in the name of fighting terrorism have been geared up on the EU level. After the publication of the Council of Europe report on foreign fighters, EU Counter-Terrorism Coordinator Gilles de Kerchove stated on 7 December 2015 […]
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German Supreme Court rules in favour of “blocking” websites
In a decision from 26 November 2015 the German Supreme Court in Karlsruhe ruled in favour of the “blocking” of websites. The Court came to this decision after dealing with two separate cases concerning websites that contained links to unauthorized music downloads. Firstly, the German music rights group Gema asked the Internet Service Provider (ISP) […]
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Copyright reform: Restoring the facade of a decrepit building
“The Special Rapporteur also proposes to expand copyright exceptions and limitations to empower new creativity, enhance rewards to authors, increase educational opportunities, preserve space for non-commercial culture and promote inclusion and access to cultural works.” These recommendations come from the 2014 report on Copyright policy and the right to science and culture, from the UN […]
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Will the European Parliament ask Court whether ISDS is legal?
In a letter to the European Parliament, Dutch EDRi member Vrijschrift suggests the Parliament ask the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) whether the investor-to-state dispute settlement (ISDS) is compatible with the EU treaties. Vrijschrift points out that the ISDS in the trade agreement with Singapore would expose our privacy to interference, expose […]
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