Open internet and inclusive technology
New digital technology and the internet brought with it a promise of equal access to knowledge, openness and connection. Their ubiquity has brought opportunity for progress. However, access to digital technology is vastly unevenly distributed. Technology, especially when relying on artificial intelligence, location and biometric data, can amplify social, racial and environmental injustices. We work to bring back the original purpose of an open internet and enable inclusive, sustainable technologies that work for all and for the greater good.
Filter resources
-
EDRi-gram, 30 June 2021
Covid 19 brought the often invisible power of tech into sharp focus as it fostered the digitalisation of our lives forcing us to rely more heavily on technology to meet all our needs. In response, EDRi emphasised that measures taken should not lead to discrimination of any form, and governments must remain vigilant to the disproportionate harms that marginalised groups can face.
Read more
-
EDRi-gram, 16 June 2021
Some surveillance technologies are so dangerous that they inevitably cause far more problems than they solve. The use of facial recognition and remote biometric technologies in publicly accessible spaces enables mass surveillance and discriminatory targeted surveillance. In such cases, the potential for abuse is too great, and the consequences too severe. We must ban such practices once and for all.
Read more
-
Telecom reform in Austria: consumers must benefit from Router Freedom
Austria is reforming its telecommunications law to incorporate the new European directives on electronic communications. The Austrian government has now an unique opportunity to leverage router freedom at the legislative level to protect consumers and the market. EDRi's member epicenter.works sheds some light on the reform.
Read more
-
EDRi-gram, 2 June 2021
The GDPR is still in its infancy, and while it is too soon to consider revisions to the law, EU regulators and decision-makers have the power to improve enforcement and fulfil its promise for vindicating data protection rights and spurring the development of privacy-protecting business models. The past three years hold important lessons for decision-makers and regulators to leverage to deliver on that promise. A lot is at stake.
Read more
-
EDRi-gram, 19 May 2021
The increasing use of facial recognition and other biometric surveillance technologies – on our streets, in train stations, at protests, at sports matches and even in our global ‘town square’, Facebook – means that our freedom to be anonymous in public spaces, our freedom to just be, really does face an existential threat. The mask is a symbol of resistance against the growing use of mass facial recognition. Get this symbolic merch and support the work EDRi does.
Read more
-
Spotify, don’t spy: global coalition of 180+ musicians and human rights groups take a stand against speech-recognition technology
“You can’t rock out when you’re under constant corporate surveillance. Spotify needs to drop this right now and do right by musicians, music fans, and all music workers.” - Tom Morello
Read more
-
EU Parliament adopts the Covid Pass: risks for data protection and new forms of discrimination
At first glance, teh Digital Green Certificate may sound interesting, but upon further reflection, it quickly becomes clear that the proposed system has the potential to divide society and expose certificate holders to far-reaching surveillance by the authorities that issue the documents. Even worse, it exacerbates inequalities and increases social exclusion, shares EDRi's member epicenter.works.
Read more
-
EDRi-gram, 5 May 2021
The shady AdTech business model used by Big Tech targets mothers who just had stillbirths with baby ads, and serial gamblers who are trying to quit with gambling ads. EDRi is working to create a better digital future, where people are put before profit. Will you donate to us to help make that happen?
Read more
-
Dominant tech companies make their products incompatible deliberately
Imagine buying a new dining table from IKEA and although it’s a great table, it can only be used with IKEA-made chairs. For security reasons, the furniture maker tells you, the table is incompatible with chairs from third party vendors, sorry. Sounds ridiculous? Welcome to today’s online platform economy.
Read more
-
EDRi-gram, 22 April 2021
Issues of non-discrimination and fundamental rights would have to be at the core of the approach to artificial intelligence, rather than considered after competition and industrial policy. A truly people-centred AI regulation would take a step back and acknowledge the inherent harms AI will perpetuate if deployed for certain purposes.
Read more
-
Creating Conditions for a Decolonised Digital Rights Field
Since 2019, DFF and EDRi have been working to initiate a decolonising process for the digital rights field. Reflecting on the increased challenges to our digital rights, we realised how imperative it is that the field truly reflects everyone in European society. This means improving representation in the digital rights field, but more crucially undoing the power structures preventing us from protecting digital rights for everybody.
Read more
-
EDRi-gram, 7 April 2021
Reflecting on the increased challenges to our digital rights, we realised how imperative it is that the field truly reflects everyone in European society. This means improving representation in the digital rights field, but more crucially undoing the power structures preventing us from protecting digital rights for everybody. Approaching digital rights through the lens of decoloniality invites us to interrogate how digital space is occupied, the people who are displaced, and the mechanisms of extraction it requires to exist. This process requires extra work, extra care, extra patience, extra humility as we interrogate that what seems natural.
Read more