Open letters
Filter by...
-
EU’s AI proposal must go further to prevent surveillance and discrimination
The European Commission has just launched the EU draft regulation on artificial intelligence (AI). AI systems are being increasingly used in all areas of life – to monitor us at protests, to identify us for access to health and public services, to make predictions about our behaviour or how much ‘risk’ we pose. Without clear safeguards, these systems could further the power imbalance between those who develop and use AI and those who are subject to them.
Read more
-
Civil society calls for stronger protections for fundamental rights in Artificial Intelligence law
In light of the recently leaked draft of the Regulation on A European Approach For Artificial Intelligence from January 2021 , EDRi and 14 of our members signed an open letter to the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen to underline the importance of ensuring the necessary protections for fundamental rights in the new regulation.
Read more
-
European Commission must ban biometric mass surveillance practices, say 56 civil society groups
On 1 April, a coalition of 56 human rights, digital rights and social justice organisations sent a letter to European Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, ahead of the long-awaited proposal for new EU laws on artificial intelligence. The coalition is calling on the Commissioner to prohibit uses of biometrics that enable mass surveillance or other dangerous and harmful uses of AI.
Read more
-
Coalition of human rights and journalist organisations express concerns for free speech
On 25 March, 61 human rights and journalist organisations sent a joint letter to Members of the European Parliament, urging them to vote against the proposed Regulation on addressing the dissemination of terrorist content online.
Read more
-
Civil society calls for AI red lines in the European Union’s Artificial Intelligence proposal
European Digital Rights together with 61 civil society organisations have sent an open letter to the European Commission demanding red lines for the applications of AI that threaten fundamental rights.
Read more
-
Consumer and citizen groups continue to have serious concerns about Google Fitbit takeover
Regulators investigating Google’s takeover of Fitbit are reportedly seeking commitments from Google to allow them to clear this deal. It is widely recognised that this takeover raises serious competition and privacy concerns and risks harming citizens and consumers in several markets including wearables, advertising and digital health.
Read more
-
EDRi with 25 organisations urge Parliament to protect journalists, doctors, lawyers, social services
Together with a coalition of 25 organisations and companies, EDRi urges members of the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee (LIBE) to include strong procedural safeguards in the so called “E-Evidence Regulation”.
Read more
-
Open Letter: EDRi calls on IBM to clarify stance on facial recognition
On 25 June, EDRi sent an open letter to the CEO of IBM in response to their 8 June statement on racial equality and facial recognition in the US.
Read more
-
Open Letter: ending gag lawsuits in Europe – protecting democracy and fundamental rights
The European Digital Rights network joined 118 civil society organisations from across the globe in signing an open letter (the latest act of a longstanding movement) addressing the need to end gag lawsuits that threaten the public interest by allowing powerful actors to silence those that would speak against them.
Read more
-
Open Letter: EDRi urges enforcement and actions for the 2 year anniversary of the GDPR
On 25 May 2020, for the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) 2 year anniversary, EDRi sent a letter to Executive Vice-President Jourová and Commissioner Reynders to highlight and urge action to the tackle the GDPR’s vast enforcement gap.
Read more
-
Open letter: Civil society urges Member States to respect the principles of the law in Terrorist Content Online Regulation
On 27 March 2020, European Digital Rights (EDRi) and 12 of its member organisations sent an open letter to representatives of Member States in the Council of the EU. In the letter, we voice our deep concern over the proposed legislation on the regulation of terrorist content online and what we view as serious potential threats to fundamental rights of privacy, freedom of expression, etc.
Read more
-
Copyright: Open letter asking for transparency in implementing guidelines
Today, on 15 January 2020, EDRi joined 41 other human rights and users’ rights organisations to demand increased transparency during the implementation of the EU copyright Directive. Specifically, the open letter asks the European Commission to publish any draft guidelines when available and to include concerns raised by the signing organisations during the stakeholder dialogues […]
Read more