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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UK wants to ban viewing of violent porn
The UK government is planning to outlaw the possession of “extreme pornographic material”. The proposed new law is outlined in a consultation document published by the UK Home Office. The consultation sets out “options for creating a new offence of simple possession of extreme pornographic material which is graphic and sexually explicit and which contains […]
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Finnish ISPs must voluntarily block access
Ms Leena Luhtanen, Minister of Transport and Communications, announced on 26 August 2005 that Finnish ISPs will implement a censorship system to curb access to foreign web pages containing child pornography. The announcement was accompanied by a study conducted by the ministry exploring the legal and practical aspects of such a system. The study concludes […]
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UK cancels Internet voting plans
The UK government has announced it will drop pilots with Internet and telephone votes, scheduled for the local elections in May 2006. Answering a parliamentary question, Harriet Harman, the minister responsible, said government no longer looked for pilot requests from local authorities. She explained the time was not yet right for e-voting. This is a […]
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New appeal Microsoft against European Commission
Microsoft has launched a second appeal case against the anti-trust decision by the European Commission in March 2004. On 10 August 2005 Microsoft filed a new complaint at the European Court of Justice (First Instance) in Luxembourg, asking for annulment of the decision to open up the Windows source code enough to create interoperability and […]
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Petition update
The EDRI and XS4ALL petition against data retention has attracted almost 42.000 signatures, of which over 16.000 from the Netherlands (where the campaign was launched) and over 5.000 from Germany and Finland. Runners-up in the daily country count are Sweden and Bulgaria (almost 2.000 each), followed by Austria (almost 1.500) and Italy (well over 1.000). […]
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Support EDRI!
European Digital Rights needs your help in upholding digital rights in the EU. Donations allow EDRI to hire part-time professional assistance in Brussels and invest in targeted campaigns. With the plans for mandatory data retention and the continuous erosion of digital civil rights, your donation could make a huge difference. If you wish to help […]
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Renewed speculations about RFID in Euro notes
The September edition of the German industry magazine Die Bank contains renewed speculation about the introduction of spy-chips in the Euro banknotes. The article discusses three possible new measures against the counterfeiting of the notes; a new biological paint, a colour-switch foil and the introduction of RFIDs (Radio Frequency Identification Devices) on every note. The […]
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Support EDRI!
European Digital Rights needs your help in upholding digital rights in the EU. Donations allow EDRI to hire part-time professional assistance in Brussels and invest in targeted campaigns. With the plans for mandatory data retention and the continuous erosion of digital civil rights, your donation could make a huge difference. If you wish to help […]
Read more
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EC: data protection inadequate in Austria and Germany
The European Commission has started infringement procedures against the governments of Austria and Germany for not creating adequate independence of the Data Protection Authorities. In Austria, the Commission was alerted by a complaint from the data protection association Arge Daten in October 2003. On 5 July 2005, the Commission responded by instigating official proceedings against […]
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NL and BE collecting societies to drop national exclusivity
The Belgian and Dutch music copyright collecting societies are to drop their claims of national exclusivity on the licensing of online rights. SABAM and BUMA, that manage the music copyrights for authors in Belgium and in the Netherlands, have announced this intention to the European Commission, after the Commission started in-depth investigations into the problems […]
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Belarus: legal proceedings against online satire
President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus (White Russia) apparently wasn’t amused by some satirical animated cartoons about him. The Minsk office of the Public Prosecutor started criminal proceedings against 3 activists from the organisation Third Way ‘for insulting the President’. Such behaviour can be punished with a maximum of 5 years prison sentence under article 367 […]
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Follow-up: jurisprudence hyperlinks
In response to the article about the Norwegian Supreme Court decision on hyperlinks in the previous EDRI-gram, subscriber Matthias Spielkamp from Germany pointed to an article he wrote about recent jurisprudence in Germany. Contrasting the Norwegian decision that a hyperlink can not be considered unlawful in a copyright context, irrespective of the legal or illegal […]
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