EDRi-gram, 24 February 2021
For years, the EDRi network has exposed how people’s most sensitive identifying characteristics like our faces, fingerprints or the way we walk are unlawfully harvested on an industrial scale by European governments and corporations to make unfair judgements about us without our knowledge. Now, with the launch of our Reclaim Your Face campaign’s European Citizens’ Initiative, we are increasing the pressure on lawmakers to put our rights ahead of big businesses’ profits.
-
ECI: putting people’s voices before corporate greed
On 17 February 2021, EDRi with a coalition of 40 human rights and social justice groups launched a unique, officially-recognised EU petition, called a “European Citizens’ Initiative” (ECI)....
-
The Digital Markets Act must do more to protect end users’ rights
As the European Commission sets out plans for a Digital Markets Act, EDRi calls for the protection of users’ human rights to be at the centre of plans...
-
Mass facial recognition is the apparatus of police states and must be regulated
Scientists have shown the inherent structural discrimination embedded in biometric systems. Facial analysis algorithms consistently judge black faces to be angrier and more threatening than white faces. We also...
-
ePrivacy strikes back
“And when we woke up, the ePrivacy Regulation was still there”, could be the EU bubble version of the famous micro-tale. Four years after the main text protecting...
-
Italy proposes age verification and digital identities for accessing social media
EDRi member Hermes Center sheds light on the current case against TikTok in Italy, where three solutions are circulating on how to make sure that children will not...
-
Shedding light on the DWP staff guide on conducting fraud investigations
In 2019, the UK Department for Work and Pensions published their two-part staff guide on conducting fraud investigations. Privacy International went through the 995 pages to understand how...
Recommended
Do: Sign the ECI petition and #ReclaimYourFace
Producer: European Digital Rights
Can you go on holiday? Will you get that job? Are you dangerous?
All these decisions could be taken about YOU based on your body and behaviour (biometrics). This data will feed algorithms used by governments & companies to allow or deny access to loans, jobs, social security, healthcare etc.
A European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) is the official EU petition through which citizens can organise and demand a new law. We need 1 million EU citizens signatures to reach the ears of EU policy makers. Sign, #ReclaimYourFace and pass it on.
Listen: Mass Surveillance and Facial Recognition
Producer: European Data Protection Supervisor
In this first episode, Ella Jakubowska, Policy and Campaigns Officer at the European Digital Rights (EDRi), goes deep into the concept of mass surveillance. Current issues like the recently approved Global Security Law in France or the use of contact tracing on Covid-19 related apps, along more conceptual debates such as the difference between public and private surveillance and the idea of “function creep” are discussed during this 30-minute conversation.
Read: Emotion recognition tech report
Producer: Article 19
Emotion recognition technology is often pseudoscientific and carries enormous potential for harm. The technology is becoming integrated into critical aspects of everyday life such as where law enforcement authorities use it to label people as ‘suspicious’; where schools use it to monitor students’ attentiveness in class, and where private companies use it to determine people’s access to credit.
Watch: Reclaim your face, Reclaim your privacy
Producer: International Data Protection Conference
European Digital Rights’ Policy and Campaigns Officer Ella Jakubowska talks about how biometric technologies like face, voice, gait and ear canal recognition are being used to surveil and track each of us and how this data could be used against us at the International Data Protection Conference 2021.
Events
-
What can be done to advance high-quality research on and about social platforms?
Join this webinar to discuss the challenges as well as exciting new approaches to studying social media platforms and their impacts.
-
Balancing Trust and Safety in an Encrypted World
Stanford Internet Observatory Workshop Series organises a series of workshops on end-to-end encryption.
-
MozFest 2021
MozFest is a unique hybrid: part art, tech and society convening, part maker festival, and the premiere gathering for activists in diverse global movements fighting for a more...
-
LibrePlanet 2021
LibrePlanet is a vibrant multi-day event that attracts a broad audience of people who are interested in the values of software freedom. The event brings together software developers,...
-
3rd Workshop on obfuscation
TU Delft and Cornell Tech organise the online event Obfuscation strategies which represent creative ways to evade surveillance, protect privacy, improve security; as well as protest, contest, resist...
-
Data for Policy 2021
The sixth International Data for Policy Conference will take place in London in September 2021. The conference series is the premier global forum for multiple disciplinary and cross-sector...
Jobs
AWO | Legal and Policy Analyst | UK | deadline: 28.02.2021
Article 19 | Europe & Central Asia Programmer Officer | Brussels | deadline: 01.03.2021
Institute of International and European Affairs | Researcher | Ireland | deadline: 01.03.2021
Global Forum for Media Development | Membership and Engagement Manager | Belgium | deadline: 15.03.2021
Open Rights Group | Fundraising and Projects Manager | Remote | deadline: 22.03.2021
Digital Freedom Fund | Director | Berlin | deadline: 28.03.2021
Access Now | IT Digital Security Support | Multiple Locations | deadline: until filled
Wikimedia Foundation | Lead Program Officer, Community Learning and Evaluation; Lead Communications Specialist; Senior Public Policy Specialist & more | Remote | deadline: until filled
The Engine Room | Technical Project Manager | South Africa/Remote | deadline: 02.03.2021
European AI Fund | Programme Officer | Brussels | deadline: until filled
CitizenLab | Government Success Manager; Business Development Lead | Belgium; Germany | deadline: until filled
Mozilla | Common Voice Community Manager; Marketing Visual Designer | Multiple locations | deadline: until filled
HateAid | Policy and Advocacy Officer EU | Berlin | deadline: until filled
Brave | Privacy Engineer & Project Manager | Remote | deadline: until filled