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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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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EDRi-gram, 25 May 2022
In this edition of the EDRi-gram, we urge the European Parliament to make good use of the chance that the AI Act offers to regulate harmful border technologies and truly protect people on the move. We also dive deeper in the needy-greedy details of the European Commission's recent proposal for a ‘Regulation laying down rules to prevent and combat child sexual abuse’ which creates major risks to the privacy, security and integrity of private communications, not just in the EU, but globally.
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Collective complaint against the Technopolice
Today, we have come to a point where the combination of these technologies creates a state of total surveillance in our streets:CCTV everywhere, enormous police databases, facial recognition and automated detection of behavior. In order to end stop this illegal mass surveillance, LQDN is launching a collective complaint against the French Ministry of the Interior. You will find the details of their argument and procedure on plainte.technopolice.fr (in French).
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European Commission wants to eliminate online confidentiality
This might sound attention-seeking, but we really believe to be not far off the mark. It really looks like the European Commission wants to cancel encryption.
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The AI Act: EU’s chance to regulate harmful border technologies
The AI Act will be the first regional mechanism of its kind in the world, but it needs a serious update to meaningfully address the profileration of harmful technologies tested and deployed at Europe’s borders.
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Personal data and competition: Mapping perspectives, identifying challenges and enhancing engagement for competition regulators and civil society
This report seeks to map the attitudes and perspectives of competition regulators and civil society across the world with regard to personal data and competition.
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Belgium wants to ban Signal – a harbinger of European policy to come
Last week, the Belgian government launched a proposal that would ban Signal. What's going on?
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How a Hollywood star lobbies the EU for more surveillance
The European Union debates a new law that could force platforms to scan all private messages for signs of child abuse. Its most prominent advocate is the actor Ashton Kutcher.
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European perspectives: Fight against disinformation by improving standards in journalism and empowering citizens
Disinformation cannot be suppressed by only regulation and laws, it is necessary to empower the media and journalists, invest in quality and independent journalism, as well as in democratic political culture, media literacy and digital literacy of the EU citizens, concluded the Gong conference “European Perspectives: Impact of Disinformation on Health” Democracy and the Digital Environment”.
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