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Freedom of information: EU Commission creates barriers for access to documents requests
It is crucial to know what the European institutions are up to in order to ensure that citizens’ fundamental rights are respected. Democracy requires vigilance and vigilance requires access to information. It is precisely for this reason that freedom of information legislation exists. Since the entry in force of Regulation 1049/2001 setting up the EU […]
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Belgian Big Brother Awards 2014: This year’s winners are…
On 4 June, EDRi member Liga voor Mensenrechten granted the Belgian Big Brother Awards. The public voted for the former public prosecutor Yves Liégeois for his views on DNA databases for newborn babies. The second prize, the professional jury’s prize, went to the “smartphone”, our ever-present pocket-size spy, and the third prize, the Lifetime Achievement […]
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Turkish government to acquire a tool to censor social media?
Turkish media reports that the government intends to buy NetClean software to remove unwanted material from Twitter. The negotiations are said to be ongoing with an exorbitant price tag of 40 million euros. NetClean is a Swedish software company that specializes in providing “intelligence solutions to block, detect and analyse digital media”. The Turkish government […]
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Report on Snowden – Government apathy but increased public concern
In the wake of the first anniversary of Edward Snowden’s first revelations, a global analysis was published, assessing the international impact of those disclosures. The report, “A crisis of Accountability” revealed not only that had most governments entirely ignored the Snowden revelations, but that some governments including the US and the UK have been actively […]
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Germany opens investigation on Merkel’s phone tap
Germany’s federal prosecutor annouced on 11 June 2014 that it has opened a formal investigation into the alleged monitoring of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s mobile phone by the US’s National Security Agency (NSA). The German government has reportedly announced its support to the investigation. Although Chancellor Merkel has asked the US President Barack Obama in person […]
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Facebook adds third-party website data to ad targeting profiles
Facebook announced in a blog post on 12 June 2014 that it will start expanding its users’ advertising data by letting marketers target ads based not only on users’ activities on the social network, but also on third-party websites. By clicking on an arrow in the corner of the ads, a user can see the […]
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2014: Consultations of importance to digital rights
The European institutions and international policy-making bodies frequently organise consultations, which are open not only to industry but also civil society and individual citizens. These are valuable opportunities to shape policy in a positive way from the outset rather than needing to take to the streets when the wrong policy is developed based on bad […]
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Google’s right to be forgotten – industrial scale misinformation?
When the European Court ruled on the Google Spain case, the press leaped on the decision as an example of the “right to be forgotten”. The Guardian explained that Google would “have to delete links to two pages on La Vanguardia’s website” and that “[l]egal experts said the ruling could give the go-ahead to deletion […]
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EU elections: These are your elected digital superheros
These are the candidates that signed our Charter of Digital Rights and were elected into the new European Parliament 2014-2019. You can also find them on our election campaign page WePromise.EU: http://ep2014.org/map/mep/3
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Interplay between data protection, competition law & consumer rights
On 2 June 2014, the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) hosted an event in the European Parliament to discuss its preliminary opinion entitled “Privacy and competitiveness in the age of big data: The interplay between data protection, competition law and consumer protection in the Digital Economy”. This opinion and event is an attempt by EDPS […]
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EC’s Scoreboard 2014: Broadband access improved, challenges remain
On 28 May 2014, the European Commission (EC) launched the “Digital Agenda Scoreboard 2014”, a report on the progress and trends of the EU Digital Agenda based on data from 2013. The report uses thirteen indicators to assess both the European Union and the Member states by means of comparing their performance with the goals […]
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Social media in key role in the Balkans floods – incited censorship
In late May 2014, the Balkans were hit by disastrous floods. Internet users began commenting and sharing information on social networks and blogs about the floods, but also criticised the government’s response to the disaster and relief efforts in certain areas. Social networks served as a channel quick sharing of information. They were in a […]
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