Our work
EDRi is the biggest European network defending rights and freedoms online. We work to to challenge private and state actors who abuse their power to control or manipulate the public. We do so by advocating for robust and enforced laws, informing and mobilising people, promoting a healthy and accountable technology market, and building a movement of organisations and individuals committed to digital rights and freedoms in a connected world.
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Tear down the tracking wall
It has become a daily routine: “consenting to” being tracked, on the basis of meaningless explanations (or no explanation at all) before you’re allowed access to a website or online service. It’s about time to set limits to this tracking rat race.
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No justification for internet censorship during Catalan referendum
The ruthless efficiency with which the Spanish government censored the internet ahead of the referendum on Catalan independence foreshadowed the severity of its crackdown at polling places on 1 October. EDRi member Electronic Frontier Foundation previously wrote about one aspect of that censorship; the raid of the .cat top-level domain registry. But there was much […]
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The privacy movement and dissent: Art
This is the third blogpost of a series, originally published by EDRi member Bits of Freedom, that explains how the activists of a Berlin-based privacy movement operate, organise, and express dissent. The series is inspired by a thesis by Loes Derks van de Ven, which describes the privacy movement as she encountered it from 2013 […]
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TiSA impact assessment report ignores crucial human rights concerns
In 2013, the European Commission decided to subject the draft Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA) to a Trade Sustainability Impact Assessment (SIA) in support of the negotiations. The Final Report, which was published in July 2017, fails to address several key fundamental rights concerns.
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Battle lines drawn between citizens and internet giants in EU e-Privacy Regulation
On 2 October, the European Parliament Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI) and the Industry Research and Energy Committee (ITRE) voted on the e-Privacy Regulation, the Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) voted on 28 September. These votes will feed into the final decision to be taken by the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice […]
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Commission’s position on tackling illegal content online is contradictory and dangerous for free speech
Today, on 28 September, the European Commission published its long-awaited Communication “Tackling Illegal Content Online”. This follows a leaked copy we previously analysed. The document puts virtually all its focus on internet companies monitoring online communications, in order to remove content that they decide might be illegal. It presents few safeguards for free speech, and […]
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European Parliament Consumer Protection Committee chooses Google ahead of citizens – again
On 28 September, the European Parliament Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) adopted its Opinion on the proposed e-Privacy Regulation. Just as it did when reviewing the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), it is fighting hard to minimise the privacy and security of the European citizens it is meant to defend.
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Letter to the FCC: The world is for net neutrality
Today, 26 September 2017, European Digital Rights (EDRi) and over 200 other civil society organisations and businesses joined forces to send a letter to the head of the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) with a clear message: the world is for net neutrality. In the letter, we express concerns about the negative impact the rollback […]
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Leaked document: Does the EU Commission really plan to tackle illegal content online?
On 14 September, Politico published a leaked draft of the European Commission’s Communication “Tackling Illegal Content Online”. The Communication contains “guidelines” to tackle illegal content, while remaining coy in key areas. It is expected to be officially published on 28 September.
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Dutch digital investigation: Pushing the boundaries of legality
The Dutch court is currently considering the case against Naoufal F, in which the police made use of several advanced digital investigation methods that challenge the boundaries of the law. A key issue in the case is the way in which the police gained access to and analysed the secure communication of suspects. Inez Weski, […]
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Cross-border access to data has to respect human rights principles
The Council of Europe started preparing an additional protocol to the Cybercrime Convention – a new tool for law enforcement authorities (LEAs) to have access to data in the context of criminal investigations. Ahead of the first meeting of the Drafting Group, EDRi coordinated a civil society submission, signed by 14 organisations from around the […]
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Human Rights Court sets limits on right to monitor employees
On 5 September 2017, the Grand Chamber of the European Court for Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled on the Bărbulescu v. Romania case. It found that there was a breach of the right to family life and correspondence (Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights), as claimed by Mr Bărbulescu. Mr Bărbulescu was fired […]
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