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Why EU passenger surveillance fails its purpose
The EU Directive imposing the collection of flyers’ information (Passenger Name Record, PNR) was adopted in April 2016, the same day as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The collection of PNR data from all flights going in and out of Brussels has a strong impact on the right of privacy of individuals and it […]
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Your mail, their ads. Your rights?
In the digital space, “postal services” often snoop into your online conversations in order to market services or products according to what they find out from your chats. A law meant to limit this exploitative practice is stalled by the Council of European Union
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E-Commerce review: Safeguarding human rights when moderating online content
This is the fourth and last blog post in our series on Europe’s future rules for intermediary liability and content moderation. You can read the introduction here. In our previous blog posts on the upcoming E-Commerce review, we discussed examples of what can go wrong with online content regulation. But let’s imagine for a moment […]
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How security policy hijacks the Digital Single Market
On 22 August, when Politico leaked an internal European Commission document that outlined policy plans for the upcoming mandate from all corners of the EU’s executive branch, Brussels was at high alert. Although the document is an internal note, not an official Commission position, it isn’t irrelevant: Its purpose is to inform the incoming Commissioners […]
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E-Commerce review: Mitigating collateral damage
This is the third article in our series on Europe’s future rules for intermediary liability and content moderation. You can read the introduction here. Asking social media and other platform companies to solve problems around illegal online content can have serious unintended consequences. It’s therefore crucial that new EU legislation in this field considers such […]
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Diego Naranjo becomes EDRi’s new Head of Policy
European Digital Rights is happy to announce that – following an open recruitment process – Diego Naranjo will step up from his role as Senior Policy Advisor, and start his work as EDRi’s Head of Policy in September 2019.
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Your family is none of their business
Today’s children have the most complex digital footprint in human history, with their data being collected by private companies and governments alike.
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Von der Leyen: An ambitious agenda for digital rights
On 16 July 2019, the European Parliament elected Ursula von der Leyen as President of the European Commission with 383 votes, which is only nine votes above the minimum needed. Parts of the Socialists, Liberals, and Greens initially had doubts regarding the candidate. However, her speech in the Plenary before the vote and the agenda […]
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More responsibility to online platforms – but at what cost?
In the European Commission’s internal note published by Netzpolitik.org on 16 July 2019, the Commission presents current problems around the regulation of digital services and proposes a revision of the current E-Commerce Directive. Such a revision would have a huge impact on fundamental rights and freedoms. This is why it’s crucial for the EU to […]
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The digital rights of LGBTQ+ people: When technology reinforces societal oppressions
Online surveillance and censorship impact everyone’s rights, and particularly those of already marginalised groups such as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer and others (LGBTQ+) people. The use of new technologies usually reinforces existing societal biases, making those communities particularly prone to discrimination and security threats. As a follow-up to Pride Month, here is an […]
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“SIN vs Facebook”: First victory against privatised censorship
In an interim measures ruling on 11 June 2019, the District Court in Warsaw has temporarily prohibited Facebook from removing fan pages, profiles, and groups run by Civil Society Drug Policy Initiative (SIN) on Facebook and Instagram, as well as from blocking individual posts. SIN, a Polish non-profit organisation promoting evidence-based drug policy, filed a […]
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E-Commerce review: Technology is the solution. What is the problem?
This is the second article in our series on Europe’s future rules for intermediary liability and content moderation. You can read the introduction here. When it comes to tackling illegal and “harmful” content online, there’s a major trend in policy-making: Big tech seems to be both the cause of and the solution to all problems.
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