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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Damages on online defamatory statements in UK
Michael Keith Smith, a former parliamentary candidate for the UK Independence Party has received £10,000 in damages in a defamation case occurred on the internet Smith was a participant in a discussion on the Iraq war held on a discussion board run by Yahoo!. Tracy Williams, another participant in the discussion, posted under pseudonym series […]
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Swedish Foreign Minister resigned following pressure on website
Laila Freivalds, the Swedish Foreign Minister resigned on 21 March after having been cornered by the press on her involvement in the closure on 9 February of a far-right party’s website. The Web site, which was planning to publish caricatures of Muhammad like those that led to deadly protests by Muslims all over the world, […]
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TACD debate on the politics and ideology of intellectual property
Civil society groups from around the world met in Brussels 20/21 March to discuss the politics and ideology of intellectual property. Speakers included representatives from WIPO and the EU, former US Patent Commissioner Bruce Lehman, consumer and development campaigners and noted IP academics Peter Drahos and Susan Sell. The conference tried to step back from […]
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Commission progress report on electronic signatures
A new progress report by the European Commission on the evolution of the electronic signatures in the European Union was made public on 17 March 2006. The report highlights the low usage of the qualified electronic signatures by European businesses and citizens. The report focuses on the “Directive on a Community framework for electronic signatures” […]
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EDRI-gram – Number 4.5, 15 March 2006
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CoE works on new instrument on children empowerment on the net
The Council of Europe Group of Specialists on Human Rights in the Information Society (CoE MC-S-IS) held its 4th meeting on 9-10 March in Strasbourg, with EDRI participating in its capacity of non governmental observer. Among the many issues on the agenda were: – the analysis of answers to the questionnaire sent by the group […]
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EU public consultation on RFID
During a high-level panel discussion at CeBIT 2006 Mrs. Viviane Reding, European Commissioner for Information Society and Media, announced a new public debate on RFID, organised by the European Commission. Its purpose is to make an inventory of concerns that might necessitate legislative changes. Mrs. Reding said that “These networks and devices will link everyday […]
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German Constitutional Court ruling on seizure of emails
On 2 March 2006, the German Constitutional Court has ruled that emails and mobile phone text messages that have already been transmitted and are still stored on the recipient’s device do not fall under the special constitutional protections for telecommunication privacy. The decision was made after a German judge had her computer seized by law […]
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Results data protection inspection EURODAC kept secret
The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) has completed a first inspection of the central unit of EURODAC, but the complete results of the report have not been made public, arguing sensitivity of the information. EURODAC is a community-wide information technology system for the comparison of the fingerprints of asylum seekers, which was adopted on 11 […]
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What's so special about French EUCD transposition?
With its succession of coups de theatre, the pathetic show of the French EUCD transposition (DADVSI draft law) is going on. After the surprising adoption, on Christmas Eve, of an amendment legalising the exchange of music and video files on the Internet as private copies, compensated by a monthly fee (‘global license’) collected by ISPs […]
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Commission considers Microsoft still not compliant with EC Treaty
The European Commission sent a letter to Microsoft on 10 March 2006 stating Microsoft was still not compliant with the EC Treaty rules on abuse of dominant position. In March 2004, The Commission ordered Microsoft to disclose complete and accurate interface documentation, which would allow non-Microsoft workgroup servers to achieve full interoperability with Windows PCs […]
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Deep linking is legal in Denmark
In a long awaited ruling, the Maritime and Commercial Court in Copenhagen has decided that so-called deep linking is legal in Denmark. The decision is expected to have a major impact on many Danish online-services and search engines. Controversially, the Maritime and Commercial Court has decided to go against a prior verdict by a lower […]
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