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Data Retention in Austria: Constitutional Court turns to the CJEU
This article is also available in: Deutsch: [VDS in Österreich: Verfassungsgericht wendet sich an Europäischen Gerichtshof | https://www.unwatched.org/EDRigram_11.1_VDS_in_Oesterreich_Verfassungsgericht_wendet_sich_ein_Europaeischen_Gerichtshof?pk_campaign=edri&pk_kwd=20130125] The Austrian Constitutional Court has reservations that the EU Directive on the Retention of Data could be incompatible with the European Charter of Fundamental Rights. For this reason, the 14 constitutional judges have addressed the Court of […]
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Irish EU Council Presidency proposes destruction of citizens' right to privacy
The Irish Presidency of the European Council has distributed a “discussion paper” on the protection of citizens’ personal data ahead of this week’s Justice and Home Affairs Council in Dublin. As the first Presidency in this “European Year of the Citizen”, we had every reason to expect the Irish to produce novel ways of protecting […]
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Commission’s own internal review condemned CleanIT’s incoherence and cost
The CleanIT project has received a huge amount of criticism from outside of the EU institutions. But imagine if the Commission had been alerted to the incoherence of the planned project. Imagine if, before investing 325.796 Euro in CleanIT, the European Commission had been warned that the project lacked methodology and did not represent value […]
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European Parliament Data protection draft – compromise or compromised?
The draft Report of the European Parliament on the European Commission’s proposed Data Protection Regulation was published today. The Parliamentarian responsible, German Green MEP Jan Albrecht, has sought to improve on the Commission’s initial proposal and also to address many of the concerns raised by his colleagues in the discussions that have taken place so […]
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WCIT: what happened and what it means for the Internet
This article is also available in: Deutsch: [WCIT: Was passiert ist und was es für das Internet bedeutet | https://www.unwatched.org/EDRigram_10.24_WCIT_Was_passiert_ist_und_was_es_fuer_das_Internet_bedeutet?pk_campaign=edri&pk_kwd=20121219] After two weeks of intensive negotiations, the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) adopted the revised International Telecommunications Regulations (ITRs), a controversial treaty, which has been viewed by many as an attempt by the International […]
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Innovation at risk in EU – the EU unitary patent adopted by EP
This article is also available in: Deutsch: [ Innovation in Gefahr: EP verabschiedet einheitliches EU-Patent | https://www.unwatched.org/EDRigram_10.24_Innovation_in_Gefahr_EP_verabschiedet_einheitliches_EU-Patent?pk_campaign=edri&pk_kwd=20121219] Despite strong and long opposition and criticism from patent lawyers, legal experts, SMEs and civil society groups , on 11 December 2012, the European Parliament (EP), putting at risk any innovatory efforts, adopted a flawed proposal of unitary […]
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EC decided: no need for more databases for law enforcement
This article is also available in: Deutsch: [Europäische Kommission: Keine weiteren EU-weiten Datenbanken für Strafverfolger | https://www.unwatched.org/EDRigram_10.24_Europaeische_Kommission_Keine_weiteren_EU-weiten_Datenbanken_fuer_Strafverfolger?pk_campaign=edri&pk_kwd=20121219] On 7 December 2012, the European Commission issued a communication regarding information exchanges within EU, concluding that no new law enforcement databases were needed presently. This communication comes as a result of the Stockholm Programme invitation for the […]
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The European Parliament supports net neutrality
This article is also available in: Deutsch: [Europäisches Parlament setzt sich Netzneutralität ein | https://www.unwatched.org/EDRigram_10.24_Europaeisches_Parlament_setzt_sich_fuer_Netzneutralitaet_ein?pk_campaign=edri&pk_kwd=20121219] On 11 December 2012, The European Parliament (EP) issued, in a large majority, two non-legislative resolutions asking that net neutrality should be enshrined in the European Union law. In one of the resolutions, “Completing the Digital Single Market”, the EP […]
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Companies abuse a loophole in data protection law
This article is also available in: Deutsch: [Firmen nutzen Lücke im Datenschutzgesetz | https://www.unwatched.org/EDRigram_10.24_Firmen_nutzen_Luecke_im_Datenschutzgesetz?pk_campaign=edri&pk_kwd=20121219] Personal data of internet users are often processed on a legal basis too weak to provide a real protection of the users’ right to privacy. On 11 December 2012, EDRi member Bits of Freedom published a report about the flaws of […]
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UK government said no to default filtering for online pornography
This article is also available in: Deutsch: [Britische Regierung sagt Nein zur automatischen Filterung pornografischer Inhalte | https://www.unwatched.org/EDRigram_10.24_Britische_Regierung_sagt_Nein_zur_automatischen_Filterung_pornografischer_Inhalte?pk_campaign=edri&pk_kwd=20121219] The UK government announced on 14 December 2012 that it rejected a proposal to force Internet providers to block online pornography. The government’s response to the strong campaigns led by Claire Perry MP and the Daily Mail […]
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Digitale Gesellschaft promotes net neutrality with Vodafail actions
This article is also available in: Deutsch: [Vodafail: Digitale Gesellschaft setzt sich für Netzneutralität ein | https://www.unwatched.org/EDRigram_10.24_Vodafail_Digitale_Gesellschaft_setzt_sich_fuer_Netzneutralitaet_ein?pk_campaign=edri&pk_kwd=20121219] There are only a few telecom operators in Germany which offer mobile Internet. The two largest, Deutsche Telekom and Vodafone, harm net neutrality in numerous of their tariffs – deeply hidden in their contract terms. The federal government […]
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Export Controls for Digital Weapons
This article is also available in: Deutsch: [Exportbeschränkungen für digitale Waffen | https://www.unwatched.org/EDRigram_10.24_Exportbeschraenkungen_fuer_digitale_Waffen?pk_campaign=edri&pk_kwd=20121219] While the European Governments often praise the positive role the Internet can have on the society in helping empower people and promoting freedom of information and expression, European mass surveillance and censorship software is being exported under their watch. Some governments not […]
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