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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EU Commission under investigation for EU Internet Forum documents
In the past year, EDRi made numerous formal requests to get more information about the EU Internet Forum. This Forum was set up by the EU Commission to persuade companies to do “more” to fight terrorism. After months of obstruction from the European Commission, EDRi made a maladministration complaint to the European Ombudsman. As a […]
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European Parliament confirms that “Privacy Shield” is inadequate
The European Parliament has adopted a Resolution on the “Privacy Shield”. This is the new agreement to permit data to be transferred from the EU to the USA. The previous agreement – “Safe Harbour” – was overturned by the European Court of Justice in October 2015. The Parliament’s resolution confirms that the new agreement has […]
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European fundamental rights to be regulated by companies
Today, on 25 May, the European Commission published two new proposals of their Digital Single Market strategy: its update of the Directive on audiovisual media services (ADVMS) and a Communication on online platforms, together with the evidence document for the platforms Communication. The Communication on Platforms worries us the most. For instance, the proposals with […]
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EU Council & Commission plan to give law enforcement authorities access to data of foreign IT companies
EU Commissioner Věra Jourová revealed plans to increase the competences of criminal law enforcement authorities in a speech at the European Criminal Law Academic Network. She announced that the Council of the European Union is currently drafting Conclusions. This draft document calls for law enforcement agencies to have direct cross-border access to personal data held […]
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Copyfails: Time to #fixcopyright!
We believe that new technologies bring new ways to access culture – they are not a threat for creators. We believe that the legitimacy crisis of the current EU copyright regime is created by the system itself. We believe there’s a need for a modernised copyright regime which takes into consideration the needs of all parts […]
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Copyfail #1: Chaotic system of freedoms to use copyrighted works in the EU
This article is the first one in the series presenting Copyfails. The EU is reforming its copyright rules. We want to introduce to you the main failures of the current copyright system, with suggestions on how to fix them. You can find the nine key failures here. COPYFAIL #1 How has it failed? The current […]
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Looking back through the French anti-terror arsenal
Following the publication of the Action Plan Against Terrorism and Radicalisation by the French Government, summarising the whole anti-terror strategy of France, built up law by law during the past years, it is important to look back on the main measures presented in this report, especially those affecting civil rights and liberties on the Internet. […]
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Danish ticketing system a threat to privacy
Like many countries, Denmark is replacing paper tickets for public transportation with electronic tickets. The Danish system, called Rejsekort (“travel card”), is a contactless chip card similar to the Oyster card in the United Kingdom and the OV-chipkaart in the Netherlands. At the start of the journey, the passenger holds the card in front of […]
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Advocate General: Dynamic IP address can be personal data
On 12 May Manuel Campos Sánchez-Bordona, Advocate General (AG) of the European Court of Justice (CJEU), gave his opinion in the Case Patrick Breyer against the Federal Republic of Germany, C-582/14. Patrick Breyer sued the German government for violating his right to data protection by storing the data about him visiting websites of the German […]
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Big Brother Awards Germany 2016
The annual gala for the German Big Brother Awards (BBA), organised by EDRi member Digitalcourage, was held on 22 April 2016 in Bielefeld, Germany. English-language coverage of the event was stepped up this year. While English translations of most of the laudations have been available on the website in previous years, this year Digitalcourage’s interpreter […]
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Europol: Non-transparent cooperation with IT companies
Will the European Police Office’s (Europol’s) database soon include innocent people reported by Facebook or Twitter? The Europol Regulation, which has been approved on 11 May 2016, not only provides a comprehensive new framework for the police agency, but it also allows Europol to share data with private companies like Facebook and Twitter. The history […]
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Hungary: New government proposals raise concerns
The Hungarian government is ramping up its “terrorist” measures; a constitutional amendment that establishes a new state of exception is one of the measures it foresees as necessary to keep the population safe. The threat of terrorism in Hungary is considered to be low by the UK Foreign Office, the CIA, and Hungary’s Strategic Defense […]
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