EDRi-gram, 5 March 2025

What has the EDRis network been up to over the past two weeks? Find out the latest digital rights news in our bi-weekly newsletter. In this edition: Our call to reject the Europol reform, UK and France launch fresh attacks on encryption, & more!

By EDRi · March 5, 2025

Dear supporters,

Our position paper on the upcoming Europol reform, together with the #ProtectNotSurveil coalition, is fresh off the press. The message is clear: we call to fully reject the Europol reform. Read the comprehensive position paper or the spicy op-ed for our take on how this expansion of Europol’s digital surveillance powers would make people less safe and violate fundamental rights.

Meanwhile, we are seeing worrying attacks on encryption by multiple European countries. The French government just proposed additional surveillance capacities for intelligence services and police under the guise of a “war on drugs”. Yes, you are reading that right, and no, it is not the 1970s again. EDRi member La Quadrature du Net encourages fellow citizens to contact their representatives in France and to ask them to reject the law.

Similarly, in the United Kingdom, Apple felt forced to turn off the iCloud end-to-end encryption feature for UK users after the government issued a secret order to implement backdoors. Naturally, EDRi members in the country are pushing back: Privacy International criticised the move and explained what is happening. Open Rights Group launched a petition to save the security feature and is asking for your support.

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Save encryption

EDRi member, Open Rights Group

Apple is turning off cloud data encryption in the United Kingdom in response to a UK government request to build a backdoor into its encrypted services. EDRi member Open Rights Groups asks for your help to ‘Keep our Apple data encrypted’. Sign the petition here.

 

Read

Investigation: In Marseille as elsewhere, digital infrastructures are taking over the territory

EDRi member, La Quadrature du Net

Since the end of 2023, the Marseille collective ‘Le Nuage était sous nos pieds‘ has been investigating, analysing and fighting against the social, ecological and political impacts of digital infrastructures in Marseilles, in particular international undersea cables and data centres. This article presents a part of the collective’s investigation into digital infrastructures in Marseille, their socio-environmental impact and the noxious world they represent. Read the article.

 

watch

Facebook & Content Moderation

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

John Oliver discusses Facebook’s controversial new plans for content moderation during the latest ‘Last Week Tonight’ episode. He connects this shift in policy to the second term of Donald Trump as the US President. Although mostly US-focused, Oliver effectively communicates that Meta’s changes are dangerous and not about free speech. Watch the video.

 

Listen

The global struggle over how to regulate AI

Long Reads, Rest of World

Big AI companies like Google, Meta, OpenAI and Amazon, have come out hard against comprehensive regulatory efforts in the West — but are receiving a warm welcome from leaders in many other countries. This episode from Rest of World uses behind-the-scenes reporting from local journalists in India, South Africa, and Brazil, to give an in-depth look at the global struggle over how to regulate AI. Listen to the podcast.

 

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