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.
Filter resources
-
Report says Facebook tracking breaches EU law
On 31 March 2015, researchers of the University of Leuven and Vrije Univeristeit Brussel, Belgium, issued a report claiming that Facebook tracks online activity both of its users and non-users. According to the report, which was commissioned by the Belgian Privacy Commission, this type of tracking contravenes EU online privacy laws. Facebook uses a tracking […]
Read more
-
UPC Ireland trapped by its own ToS, has to introduce “three strikes”
UPC Ireland, a largest Irish telecoms provider, has been obliged, by injunction, to introduce a “three strikes” disconnection strategy by the Irish High Court. UPC’s own terms of service are at least partly at fault. In 2009, the former Irish monopoly telecoms provider, Eircom, entered into a voluntary arrangement with the music industry in order […]
Read more
-
Spanish Citizens’ Security law: There is still some hope
Despite considerable global criticism, the Spanish Citizens’ Security law was passed on 26 March 2015, together with the reforms of the Criminal Code, which include punishment of badly-defined “terrorist crimes” online. The Citizens’ Security law was greatly opposed by political parties, but that was not enough against the majority in the Parliament of the Popular […]
Read more
-
Data protection and privacy must be excluded from TTIP
Data protection is a contentious issue in the discussions about the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and other trade or investment agreements, such as the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA). Now that the European Parliament is preparing to issue a non-legislative resolution on TTIP, various parliamentary committees are giving their input to the committee […]
Read more
-
“We still need to watch you, really”: PNR back in the Parliament
Despite the decision of the European Parliament to refer the EU-Canada PNR agreement to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in December 2014, the urge to keep increasing surveillance citizens’ movements across Europe seems to be irrepressible. Timothy Kirkhope, Rapporteur (MEP in charge) of the Fight against terrorism and serious crime: use […]
Read more
-
French filesharers to be banned from flying?
A proposed European Directive threatens the ability of French filesharers to use airlines. The problem is a new attempt to adopt a Directive on the collection and storage of “passenger name record” (PNR) data. The European Commission’s plan is for air travellers’ data to be used for profiling individuals, to guess if they are involved […]
Read more
-
EDRi needs an intern!
European Digital Rights (EDRi) is an international not-for-profit association of 33 digital civil rights organisations from 19 European countries. We defend and promote rights and freedoms in the digital environment, such as the right to privacy, freedom of expression, communication and access to information. The internship will go from the 1st of September to the […]
Read more
-
Bad analogies and the threat to “cybersecurity”
In policy discussions about the online world a general pattern repeats: The online sphere is differentiated from its offline equivalent by adding the prefix “cyber”, giving it both immediacy and generating a fear of the unknown “cyberworld”. Then, in order to explain “cyberspace”, practitioners draw analogies between cyber and non-cyber, often being blissfully unaware of, […]
Read more
-
Denmark plans to preserve illegally collected medical data
In Denmark, a controversial plan to prevent illegally collected medical data from being deleted has become a hot topic for the government. The plan involves transferring the data to the National Archives, which has an exemption in the Danish data protection act. Under the Danish health care act, general practitioners can transfer medical data to […]
Read more
-
In Germany, Data Retention refuses to die
The debate is intensifying in Germany on whether telecommunications data retention should be reintroduced. At the centre of the controversy is Sigmar Gabriel, the leader of the Social Democrats (SPD, the smaller party in Germany’s “grand coalition” government since 2013), and consequently a government minister for the economy and chancellor Angela Merkel’s deputy. Gabriel’s role […]
Read more
-
The evolution of the concept of privacy
In 1776, John Adams wrote that it had been the British right to search houses without justification that sparked the fight for independence. In other words, John Adams thought that it had been an unjustified violation of privacy that had kindled one of history’s most noteworthy revolutions. More than two centuries later, those unruly colonies […]
Read more
-
EDRi joins the Document Freedom Day
Today, we are celebrating the Document Freedom Day to raise awareness for Open Standards. Open Standards allow us to share all kinds of data freely. They ensure availability, transparency and interoperability of software and document formats – and prevent us from being locked in to using a particular software or service. We believe that the […]
Read more