Blogs
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EDRi-gram, 25 October 2023
We’re in high spirits after mobilising 23 activists from over 13 European countries to come to Brussels in support early October. Representing over 200,000 supporters of EDRi’s Stop Scanning Me campaign, these activists urged Members of European Parliament (MEPs) to ensure everyone’s digital security amid mass surveillance measures in the CSA Regulation. Meta is up to no good again after the European Court of Justice declared their handling of user data illegal earlier this year. In a move to circumvent EU privacy law, the tech corporation reportedly plans to ask users to pay up to €228 a year to preserve their fundamental right to privacy on its platforms.
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Activists come to Brussels to tell MEPs to ensure everyone’s digital security amid mass surveillance measures in CSA Regulation
Between 9 and 11 October, 23 Stop Scanning Me activists from 13 European countries travelled to Brussels. They were students, parents, lawyers, young activists, human rights defenders and technologists. They came on behalf of the 200,000 people who signed the movement petition to tell their EU representatives in the European Parliament that the CSA Regulation proposal must be rejected to prevent mass surveillance.
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Political negotiations continue: EU lawmakers fail to agree on strong rules for regulating political advertising
On 10 October, the European Parliament, the Commission and the EU Council had their fifth meeting (in the so-called trilogues) to find an agreement on the transparency and targeting of political advertising. The three institutions could not come to a consensus. Here is why.
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EDRi-gram, 11 October 2023
The autumn leaves have started to fall but not our spirits. We organised 180 civil society groups and eminent experts to call on governments to stop the use of facial recognition surveillance by police, authorities and private companies. We also mobilised 80 media, journalists, and human and digital rights organisations to urge MEPs to ban the use of spyware against journalists & so much more!
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The UK data bridge: a sneak peek at the UK privacy race to the bottom to come
The UK extension to the EU – US Transatlantic Data Privacy Framework will come into force on 12 October. Its adoption provides a sneak peek at the future of UK international data transfers, and the erosion of essential guarantees against surveillance measures that the UK data protection reform would bring.
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How tech corporations like Google, Meta and Amazon should assess impacts on our rights
A new policy paper by EDRi members ECNL and Access Now outlines key recommendations on how to make fundamental rights impact assessments meaningful under the European Union's Digital Services Act (DSA).
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Position Paper: Age verification can’t ‘childproof’ the internet
EDRi has published its policy paper on age verification to shed light on the risks of the widespread use of age verification and to chart out possible alternative solutions.
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Event summary: Encryption in the age of surveillance
The EDRi-organised event on encryption, surveillance, and privacy brought together key policymakers, academics, activists and members of the press to build a better understanding of why encryption is important for people and democracy.
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Potential loopholes in the AI Act could allow use of intrusive tech on ‘national security’ grounds
Both the European Union (EU) and the Council of Europe (COE) negotiations are considering excluding AI systems designed, developed and used for military purposes, matters of national defence and national security from the scope of their final regulatory frameworks. If this indeed happens, we will have a huge regulatory gap regarding such systems.
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Polish Senate calls Pegasus illegal and demands scrutiny over secret services
The Senate of Poland concluded its investigation on the use of Pegasus by Polish secret services to spy on ia. opposition politicians and unapologetic public persons. They declared that Pegasus should be considered illegal in Poland and the secret services should be put under strict and independent scrutiny. Doubts also arose around the fairness of Poland’s 2019 elections.
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Czech police use facial recognition system, IuRe finds out details
EDRi member Iuridicum Remedium have details on the Czech police’s illegal use of a facial recognition system. The country’s data protection authorities were not consulted in advance on the system, which is being used for biometric identification
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EDRi-gram, 27 September 2023
The weather might be cooling off but the digital rights world is heating up with activity. Civil society continues to fight against dystopian surveillance technology. More than 85 organisations have called on EU governments to say no to the CSA Regulation until it fully protects online rights, freedoms, and security. Over 115 civil society organisations are urging EU lawmakers to regulate the use of AI technology for harmful and discriminatory surveillance by law enforcement. In Czech Republic, EDRi member Iuridicum Remedium have details on the Czech police’s illegal use of a facial recognition system.
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