On the ground
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Technologies for border surveillance and control in Italy
This research points out that identification and categorisation systems for migrants, refugees, and asylum-seekers, rely on vast quantities of biometric data including fingerprints and facial images. It is, however, often difficult to assess how these procedures are managed. Upon identification, the aforementioned groups have limited knowledge and awareness about where and how their personal and biometric data are going to be stored and used, hindering them from countering the pressure that this flow of information puts on their subsequent living conditions in Italy and in the European Union.
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Belgian authority finds IAB Europe’s consent pop-ups incompatible with the GDPR
Following a number of complaints filed in 2018 and 2019, including by EDRi-members Panoptykon and Bits of Freedom, and coordinated by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, the Belgian Data Protection Authority has found that the consent system developed and managed by the adtech industry body IAB Europe, and used by many websites in the EU, is illegal under the GDPR.
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Digital Dissidents will introduce those who do not use technology
Czech digital legal organisation and an EDRi member Iuridicum Remedium (IuRe) organised the Big Brother Film Festival in Prague a few months ago, at the end of 2021. Thanks to a collaboration with the Kinolab group and director Barbora Johansson, a movie was created in connection to the festival, which deals with the topics of the digital gap and digital exclusion.
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Orwell’s Wallet: European electronic identity system leads us straight into surveillance capitalism
In June 2021 the European Commission launched a reform of the 2014 eIDAS Regulation to overhaul Europe’s framework for electronic identity (eID) systems. This ambitious reform tries to create a counterbalance to the widespread login systems of Google, Facebook and Apple, as well as to provide widely-adopted eID systems for eGovernment and eCommerce applications to the population.
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Hide and Seek: Polish DPA agrees that people should be able to access their advertising profiles, but there’s no way to do so
Following EDRi member Panoptykon’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) complaint against one of the biggest Polish news website, Interia.pl - the Polish Data Protection Authority has confirmed that online publishers should give users access to their advertising profiles generated for the purposes of delivering behavioural ads.
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Romania uses the EECC Directive implementation to extend communication surveillance
A new proposal to extend communication surveillance and to intercept encrypted communications was hidden by the Romanian Government in the national implementation of the European Electronic Communications Code (EECC Directive) and was passed without any discussion in the Romanian Chamber of Deputies on 7 December 2021.
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The ICO provisionally issues £17 million fine against facial recognition company Clearview AI
Following EDRi member Privacy International's (PI) submissions before the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), as well as other European regulators, the ICO has announced its provisional intent to fine Clearview AI.
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Algorithmic persecution based on massive privacy violations used to justify human rights abuses, says new report
More than 13,000 Turkish military personnel have been dismissed since July 2016 on the basis of an algorithm used by the authorities to assess the alleged “terrorist” credentials or connections of military officers and their relatives in violation of multiple human rights, says a new report published today by Statewatch.
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Transposition of the Copyright Directive in Spain
The transposition of the Copyright Directive in Spain has been done with no Parliament debate. While the political parties could ask for it, they will likely not do so for fear of conflicting with certain famous artists from the copyright lobby, who are lobbying for an extreme position on copyrights.
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Noyb files another complaint against Amazon Europe – black box algorithm discriminates customers
The e-commerce giant offers customers the possibility to pay for products later via "Monthly Invoicing". A customer was automatically rejected from using this payment method without Amazon giving any reasons why. When Amazon’s customer service could not provide any further information, the customer submitted an access request under Article 15 GDPR in order to find out why he was rejected – but the company still refused to provide any information.
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Big brother at the Prague airport. The state refuses to explain how the biometric camera system works
When Václav Mach, collaborator of the Czech digital-legal organization, an EDRi member, Iuridicum Remedium (IuRe) and law student at the University of Olomouc, asked the state for more detailed information on the use of smart biometric cameras at Prague's Václav Havel Airport, he obtained just general phrases. "They kept secret what they could. Their non-transparency doesn’t add to their credibility,“ he says in an interview with HlídacíPes.org. The article below is a summary of the more extensive interview, translated from Czech into English by EDRi member IuRe.
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Human Rights Groups Submit Complaint to European Ombudsman Calling for Investigation into EU Surveillance Aid
Privacy International (PI), together with 5 other human rights groups, has submitted a complaint to the European Ombudsman calling for an investigation into EU surveillance aid to non-EU countries.
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