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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Consultation on multilateral investment court misses the point
The European Commission has launched a consultation on establishing a multilateral investment court, which would serve as a permanent body to decide investment disputes. The court would replace controversial investor-to-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanisms in existing and future trade and investment treaties. It would interpret the substantive rules in these treaties, which provide a high […]
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Proposed Espionage Act threatens free speech in the UK
The UK’s Law Commission has announced proposals that could mean journalists and whistleblowers are treated as spies if they “handle” official data. The ongoing open public consultation on the protection of official data, run by the Law Commission, suggests that the crime of espionage is changed so that it is “capable of being committed by […]
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Illegal surveillance against civil society continues in Macedonia
Macedonian civil society organisations advocating for human rights and democracy have come under increasing pressure by the authorities. They have previously been caught up in use of the state apparatus for massive illegal surveillance, including wiretapping of activists.
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Recklessly unclear Terrorism Directive creates significant risks for citizens’ security
On 16 February 2017, the European Parliament voted in favour of the EU Directive on combating terrorism. Weak, unclear, ambiguous wording in the Directive presents dangers for the rule of law, the right to privacy and freedom of opinion and expression of people in the European Union. Adopting a Directive that is unclear and wide […]
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Lead Parliamentarian for Culture Committee defends upload filtering
On 6 February 2017, the Parliamentarian in charge of the Copyright Directive for the European Parliament (EP) Committee for Culture and Education (CULT), Marc Joulaud, published his draft Opinion on the proposal for the Directive. As we described in our previous blogposts (here, here and here) the European Commission’s proposal has not fulfilled hopes for […]
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Citizens’ rights undermined by flawed CETA deal
On 15 February 2017, the European Parliament voted in favour of the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (CETA). This concludes the process at the EU level. The EU Member States will now have to ratify the agreement, without having a right to make changes to the text. CETA creates significant risks for citizens’ fundamental rights, especially […]
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The time has come to complain about the Terrorism Directive
Nearly a year has passed since we told that you’d be now complaining about the Terrorism Directive. On 16 February, Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) will vote on the draft Terrorism Directive. EU policy-makers have meaningfully addressed only very few of the concerns that EDRi and other NGOs have raised since the beginning of […]
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Nine controversies about obligatory prepaid registration
“Register your prepaid and get free calls/internet transfer/win a car” – you can hear from Polish telecom operators, as a reminder that all pre-paid SIM cards have to be registered by 1 February 2017. One could almost think that this is just a nicely coordinated campaign of leading telecoms, aimed at collecting a bit more data […]
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Dutch Parliament: Safety net for democratic freedoms or sleepnet?
Currently, Dutch parliament is doing everything they can to get a dragnet surveillance bill approved before the elections on 15 March 2017. If they succeed, soon the online communications of Dutch citizens can, on a massive scale, get caught up in the secret services’ dragnet. So what’s happened since the last time we reported to […]
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Are the US-EU data agreements still alive?
Late on the first day of Computers, Data Protection and Privacy (CPDP) Conference on 25 January 2017, word came through that US President Donald Trump had issued Executive Order (EO), “Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States”, which included the following: Privacy Act. Agencies shall, to the extent consistent with applicable law, […]
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ENDitorial: Fake news about fake news being news
We have heard a lot about fake news over recent months. We have heard urgent calls for action from politicians to deal with this new problem – governments should regulate truth, Facebook should regulate truth, new ministries of truth should regulate the truth. The political world is clear – somebody should do something, quickly! In […]
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Belgium agrees on passenger controls of international rail traffic
Belgium, the Netherlands, France and the United Kingdom have agreed on new checks of passengers’ identities on international trains. The agreement was reached on 26 January 2017 in an informal meeting between the Ministers of the Interior and Ministers of Justice in Malta. The Belgian Minister of the Interior and Security Jan Jambon announced the […]
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