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The art of dodging questions – Facebook’s privacy policies
Remember in April 2018, after the Cambridge Analytica scandal broke, we sent a series of 13 questions to Facebook about their users’ data exploitation policy. Months later, Facebook got back to us with answers. Here is a critical analysis of their response. Recognising people’s face without biometric data? The first questions (1a and 1b) related […]
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FSFE: Publicly funded software has to result in public code
As the European Parliament elections approach, EDRi member Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) intensifies the efforts for the “Public Money? Public Code!” campaign. In January 2019, FSFE published a new brochure to serve as guidelines for decision-makers, explaining the fundamental benefits of public code. Free Software for a Free Society Free and Open Source Software […]
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Record number of calls to the EU Parliament against upload filters
With just two weeks to go until the final vote on upload filters in the European Parliament, one hundred MEPs have pledged to vote against Article 13 of the proposed Copyright Directive. Many citizens feel like their legitimate fears about the future of the internet are not taken seriously as lawmakers insult them as being […]
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What will happen to our memes?
In Europe, new rules concerning copyright are being created that could change the internet fundamentally. The consequences that the upload filters included in the EU copyright Directive proposal will have for our creativity online raise concerns. Will everything we want to post to the internet have to pass through “censorship machines”? If the proposed Directive […]
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Women’s rights online: tips for a safer digital life
The internet is an incredible tool and has empowered women to speak up, react and organise to face patriarchy and oppression. But the internet is not a neutral place – sexist, racist, homophobic and other violent types of behaviour and content are disproportionately affecting women. This International Women’s Day, we would like to celebrate positive […]
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Join us in the European Parliament to #SaveYourInternet!
After more than 3 years of debates, the decisive moment to ensure that upload filters are not imposed in the European Union (EU) has arrived. In the following weeks (date to be confirmed), the European Parliament (EP) will be voting on the copyright Directive. In its current form, article 13 of the copyright Directive would […]
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ICANN and GDPR – nowhere near compliance
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Initial Report of the Expedited Policy Development Process (EPDP) on the Temporary Specification for generic Top Level Domain (gTLD) Registration Data Team makes for difficult reading. This is because, though it contains a serious attempt at complying with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) compliance, it […]
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New UK counter-terrorism law limits online freedoms
The Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Act 2019 became law in the United Kingdom (UK) in February, after passing through UK parliament with less debate than many had hoped, while Brexit dominated the political agenda. The new law is problematic in many ways, including the way in which it limits freedom of expression and access to […]
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Safeguarding fundamental rights in the new Cybercrime Protocol
On 20 February, European Digital Rights (EDRi), along with ten civil society organisations from across the globe, responded to a public consultation on the Council of Europe’s Second Protocol to the Convention on Cybercrime (also known as the Budapest Convention). The draft Protocol aims to establish international rules for cross-border access to personal data by […]
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Google and IAB: Knowingly enabling intrusive profiling
On 28 January, EDRi member Panoptykon joined a complaint against Google and the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) in Poland, after it had become clear that the advertising categories provided by these entities are enabling the processing of extremely sensitive data of European citizens. On 20 February, new evidence was published proving that the IAB was […]
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Upload filters: history and next steps
The proposal for a new copyright Directive was originally aimed at modernising the copyright framework. However, it has fallen short of the initial expectations. Instead, the current proposal for the Directive text forces the implementation of upload filters and brings only minor improvements in other areas. In effect, the proposal could lead to unlawful restrictions […]
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FRA and EDPS: Terrorist Content Regulation requires improvement for fundamental rights
On 12 February 2019, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) published an Opinion regarding the Regulation on preventing the dissemination of terrorist content online. In the same day, the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) submitted its comments on the topic to the responsible committee in the European Parliament. These two texts complement EDRi’s […]
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