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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Civil society groups urge EU Parliament to use all its powers to ensure Digital Markets Act enforcement has necessary resources
On June 28, EDRi and 16 civil society organisations urged the European Parliament to focus its attention on the Digital Markets Act (DMA) enforcement.
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Hooray! Bits of Freedom freed the data of millions of people from the clutches of the secret services!
The Complaints Department of the Review Committee on the Intelligence and Security Services (CTIVD), the Dutch supervisor of the secret services, ruled that EDRi member Bits of Freedom is right!
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Belgium’s data retention law must not undermine people’s right to privacy
Belgium's Parliament will soon vote on the draft law on the collection and retention of identification data and metadata in the electronic communications sector and the provision of such data to authorities. This draft law, as it is and if adopted without adequate adjustments, would pose a threat to people’s rights, such as the right to privacy and data protection, freedom of expression and information, press freedoms and professional secrecy guarantees, and would potentially set a dangerous precedent for other Member States.
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The European Commission threatens to undermine the core values of the free and open internet
On 8 June, 34 civil society organisations from 17 countries published a joint statement to raise their concerns with Commissioner Magreth Vestager’s and Commissioner Thierry Breton’s public statement to alter the regulatory framework underpinning the free and open internet.
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EDRi-gram, 8 June 2022
In this edition of the EDRi-gram, EDRi and over 70 civil society organisations and professional bodies urge the European Commission to withdraw the CSA Regulation and call for an alternative that is compatible with the European Union's fundamental rights. The European Commission needs to understand that playing with online privacy and security affects everyone, including the very children it is supposed to help. Join us in our efforts to protect encrypted communications, open internet spaces and online anonymity.
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The state of privacy at Dutch municipalities
EDRi member Bits of Freedom has done research on the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)-compliance within the ten largest municipalities of the Netherlands. Unfortunately, most municipalities scored a failing grade, despite the fact that the GDPR has celebrated its fourth anniversary.
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Bits of Freedom files a complaint against intelligence services on behalf of millions of citizens
The Dutch secret services are illegally storing the data of millions of citizens. The supervisor does not have the means to do anything about this violation of the law, so EDRi member Bits of Freedom filed a formal complaint. It is high time that the secret services started to abide by the law. Our data should be removed from their servers.
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Policing: Council of the European Union close to approving position on extended biometric data-sharing network
The Council of the European Union is close to reaching an agreement on its negotiating position on the 'Prüm II' Regulation, which would extend an existing police biometric data-sharing network to include facial images and offer the possibility for national authorities to open up their databases of "police records" for searches by other member states.
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Statement on 4 Years of GDPR
When the GDPR became applicable on 25 May 2018, it was perceived as a watershed moment. Comments were somewhere between the EU getting serious about privacy and the internet breaking down at midnight. The past four years have shown that a law alone does not change business models that are based on the abuse of personal data and a culture within the privacy profession that is often focusing on covering up non-compliance. After a first moment of shock, large part of the data industry has learned to live with GDPR without actually changing practices. This is mainly done by simply ignoring users’ rights and getting away with it.
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European Commission must uphold privacy, security and free expression by withdrawing new law, say civil society
In May, the European Commission proposed a new law: the CSA Regulation. If passed, this law would turn the internet into a space that is dangerous for everyone’s privacy, security and free expression. EDRi is one of 134 organisations calling instead for tailored, effective, rights-compliant and technically-feasible alternatives to tackle this grave issue.
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Consumer and digital groups in Europe and the U.S. call for a full ban on surveillance-based advertising
On 1 June, the Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD), that EDRi is part of, published a policy resolution on banning surveillance-based advertising. The invasive practices of collecting, sharing, and processing of individual data to deliver personalized advertising, has become the primary business model in the online advertising space. Surveillance advertising is promoted by the world’s largest technology companies, like Meta (Facebook) or Alphabet (Google), and is a key driver behind the spread of misinformation, undermining democratic discourse, economic and political equity, marketplace competition, privacy, public health, and basic consumer protections.
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Stop data retention in Germany and the European Union
Germany must show true leadership and set a strong precedent in the EU against the use of mass data retention to fight serious crimes. Mass data retention is one of the most privacy-intrusive instruments that treat everybody as criminals by presumption. It is high time that European governments implement rights-respecting and proportionate solutions in police investigations. Read the open letter EDRi and 12 civil society organisations sent to the German ministers of the Federal Ministry of the Interior to urge them to stop the use of data retention practices in crime investigations.
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