Privacy and data protection
Privacy and data protection are essential for us to live, connect, work, create, organise and more. Governments and companies have long used mass surveillance for control trying to legitimise snooping for health, security or other reasons. The near-total digitisation of our lives has made it easier to control, profile and profit from our attention, data, bodies and behaviours in ways that are very difficult for us to understand and challenge. European data protection standards such as the GDPR are a good step forward but we need more to effectively ensure enforcement and protection against unlawful surveillance practices.
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European Parliament backs Europol expansion: “A dangerous step towards mass surveillance in the EU”
Today, the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) voted in favour of a new Europol Regulation, part of the EU’s so-called Facilitators Package, despite widespread warnings from civil society and the European Data Protection Supervisor. The vote was voted for by 59 MEPs, whilst 10 voted against and 4 abstained.
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EDRi-gram, 29 October 2025
What has the EDRi network been up to over the past few weeks? Find out the latest digital rights news in our bi-weekly newsletter. In this edition: we're pondering digital fairness, budget cuts for the Austrian DPA and more.
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Czech police forced to turn off facial recognition cameras at the Prague airport thanks to the AI Act
The shutdown of the facial recognition cameras at the Václav Havel Airport in Prague came after years of criticism from EDRi member IuRe. The legitimacy of the criticism was confirmed by the Czech Office for Personal Data Protection. However, the Czech police continue to systematically violate the law in further processing of biometric data.
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Budget cuts incapacitate Austrian DPA: NGOs complaint to the EU Commission
Despite its growing responsibilities, the Austrian Data Protection Authority continues to be impaired by budget cuts. epicenter.works and noyb are filing a complaint with the European Commission about Austria not fulfilling its obligations of sufficiently funding its data protection authority and leaving millions of Austrians to deal with consequences of limited access to the fundamental right to data protection.
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A Privacy Nightmarе: Understanding Spyware, a new book by SHARE Foundation
SHARE Foundation’s new book ‘A Privacy Nightmare: Understanding Spyware’ examines spyware through technical, legal, and practical lenses, offering a systemic understanding of its threats and reinforcing the call for a global ban.
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EDRi-gram, 16 October 2025
What has the EDRi network been up to over the summer? Find out the latest digital rights news in our bi-weekly newsletter. In this edition: Digital protection at stakes – and how we are fighting back.
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Consultation response to the European Commission’s call for evidence on the Digital Omnibus
The European Commission launched a call for evidence on the forthcoming “Digital Omnibus” initiative, which is expected to be presented around the 19 November 2025. The package is framed as an effort to “simplify” the EU’s digital policy framework, but the EDRi network warn that it risks dismantling key protections that uphold fundamental rights in the digital age.
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CSA Regulation Document Pool
This document pool contains updates and resources on the EU's proposed 'Regulation laying down rules to prevent and combat child sexual abuse' (CSA Regulation)
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Chat Control: What is actually going on?
In summer 2025, so-called “Chat Control” became a huge topic of public attention. This is because in a major vote planned for 13 or 14 October, EU governments will decide whether to endorse or reject a mass surveillance, encryption-breaking and anonymity-ending law: the EU CSA Regulation. However, there remain many democratic checks-and-balances in the EU lawmaking system that mean we still have a strong chance to stop measures that would amount to Chat Control.
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Open Letter: The European Commission and Member States must keep AI Act national implementation on track
EDRi, along with a broad coalition of civil society organisations, demands urgent action from the European Commission and Member States to ensure that the rights enshrined in the AI Act do not remain hollow promises, but that the Commission and Member States act decisively and immediately to ensure the timely national implementation of the AI Act now.
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ProtectNotSurveil coalition raises alarm about EU’s Frontex expansion plans
The European Commission is set to reform Frontex’s mandate again in 2026. Frontex is the European Border and Coast Guard agency. Responding to the consultation call, the ProtectNotSurveil coalition highlights how reckless the expansion of Frontex’s surveillance capacities would be and how the Commission’s foreseen plans go in the opposite direction of what migrants and affected communities are calling for.
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Consultation response to the European Commission’s call for evidence on a new Europol regulation
The European Commission launched a call for evidence to gather views on the reform of Europol’s mandate. Europol is the EU law enforcement cooperation agency. EDRi along with Resist Europol coalition members submitted a response to the consultation, sharing their concerns about this renewed expansion of powers, despite Europol’s numerous issues around opacity and lack of accountability.
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