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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Italian telecom authority gets the power to block websites
AGCOM, Italy’s Electronic Communications Authority decided on 12 December 2013 to take in its hands the powers to order the removal of any online content for alleged copyright violation, with the purpose to speed up the procedure. The authority had drafted new regulations allowing it to order a domain seizure or ISP blockade of any […]
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Interim ruling by European Court condemns massive storage of communications data
The Advocate General of the European Court of Justice today issued a devastating Opinion on the European Directive that requires European telecommunications providers to store details of all electronic communications for between six months to two years. The case was brought before the Court by EDRi-member Digital Rights Ireland and AKVorrat.at in close cooperation with […]
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“Rebuilding Trust In EU – US Data Flows” – Some Lowlights
On 27 November 2013, the European Commission finally published its Communication on the “Safe Harbor” agreement as part of a broader package on EU/US data flows. Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the Communication was the statement that the PNR agreement and other data sharing agreements work without substantiating any of those claims. Simply asking […]
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European Parliament Will Rule On Net Neutrality
EDRi has waited for years for concrete proposals to enshrine the net neutrality principle in the European Union law. Since 2010, there has also been an increasing number of calls from the European Parliament to guarantee net neutrality. Finally, in September 2013, the European Commission has proposed a draft Regulation which aims at protecting the […]
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Paris court orders search engines and ISPs to block websites
In a case dating back from December 2011, brought to court by the French Association of Cinema Producers, a group representing more than 120 companies including Paramount and Sony, together with other film industry organisations, the High Court of Paris has decided, on 28 November 2013, to order Google, Microsoft and Yahoo to completely de-list […]
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Google In Breach Of The Dutch Data Protection Act
The Dutch Data Protection Authority has recently issued a report concluding that Google is in breach of the Dutch Data Protection Act, with its new privacy policy. The report is a result of the investigations carried out at the initiation of the French data protection authority (CNIL) on behalf of all European data protection authorities […]
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ECJ Advocate General: Forcing ISPs To Block Websites Could Be Legal
The Austrian Supreme Court has sent a request to the European Court of Justice to clarify whether an ISP providing Internet access to those using an alleged illegal website was to be considered as an intermediary. It also asked for an interpretation of the EU rules on the content and procedure for the issuing of […]
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Ireland: Google Ordered To Remove Knowledge Graph Result
On 28 November 2013, Google received an ex-parte interim order from an Irish court to block the publication of a photo image of convicted solicitor Thomas Byrne which appears as a search result alongside the profile of Irish Senator Thomas Byrne, a solicitor himself. Google considers it cannot be held liable for what comes up […]
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No Warrant Internet Spying By French Authorities
On 26 November 2013, the French National Assembly discussed the draft of the military programming law which could give the authorities the power to collect, without a judge warrant and in real time, telecom users’ data as a result of an amendment introduced by the Senate in first reading. Presently the internal security code stipulates […]
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Bits of Freedom presents policy package against mass surveillance
On 4 December 2013 the EDRi member Dutch digital rights organisation Bits of Freedom launched a website petitioning the Dutch government to take numerous concrete measures to end mass surveillance. It officially presented the policy package to the Minister of Interior Affairs the day before. On the campaign website, bespied-ons-niet.nl (translated as: ‘don’t spy on […]
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European Parliament to decide on the future of the open Internet (Update)
The Internet has changed our society, enhanced our freedoms and our economy. One of the main reasons for this is the openness of the Internet – anyone has the potential to communicate with anyone, without permission and without discrimination. This is the essence of the neutral, open Internet. This is net neutrality. This openness is […]
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Bogus hearing of the UK intelligence agencies
On 7 November 2013, the heads of the three UK internal and foreign intelligence agencies, GCHQ, MI5 and MI6, were publicly heard by UK’s secretive intelligence and security committee (ISC) concerning Snowden’s leaks regarding the mass surveillance by US and UK intelligence. Although this was a historical even being the first instance when heads of […]
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