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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German industry position paper against data retention
The general German industry association (BDI) and the two telecommunication associations (BITKOM and VATM) have jointly published a strong position paper against the European proposals for mandatory data retention. The German industry calls on both the European Commission and the ministers of Justice and Home Affairs to provide a solid and adequate impact assessment, since […]
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Serbian B92 journalists under government attack
ANEM, the Association of Independent Electronic Media in Serbia has issued an alarming statement about the lack of respect for press freedom in the country. ANEM “protests strongly at the re-emergence of unacceptable and irresponsible rhetoric in the public arena in Serbia” and “urges all democratic public and professional journalism and media associations to express […]
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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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Petition update
The EDRI and XS4ALL petition against data retention has attracted almost 30.000 signatures, of which over 10.000 from the Netherlands (where the campaign was launched) and over 5.000 from Germany. The number three position is held by Finland, with almost 5.000 signatures. Runners-up in the daily country count are Bulgaria, Austria and Italy, with over […]
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Angry pro software patent company takes down FFII website
The long running legal fight between the German software company Nutzwerk (Leipzig) and the Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII, best known for its extensive lobby against software patents) has culminated in the takedown of the FFII.org website on 1 August 2005. Technically, the website itself wasn’t removed, but in a far more radical […]
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First Norwegian verdict on hyperlinks
On 27 January 2005 the Norwegian Supreme Court ruled on old case; the existence of the website napster.no, which Norwegian internet users could use in 2001 to find music files (not more than 170 in practice) on the Napster file-sharing system. The owner of the site is found guilty of accessory copyright infringement, for having […]
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German court outlaws wiretapping without court order
The German Constitutional Court has outlawed a special security law of the state of Niedersachsen that allowed police to wiretap telephone connections without any specific suspicion, as well as collect traffic data, GSM location data, e-mail and SMS traffic. The ruling also affects the state of Thuringen, with a similar law, and Bavaria, currently developing […]
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Romanian MPs propose wiretapping without court order
In Romania, 4 parliamentarians from the (opposition) Social Democrat Party (PSD) have initiated a draft law to drastically extend wiretapping powers in cases of defending national security. According to the draft law the interception of communications would be possible without a warrant from a judge in some cases. In special cases that involve the national […]
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New intellectual property legislation in Ireland
On 1 August 2005 the Irish Minister for Trade and Commerce, Mr. Michael Ahern, announced a package of new IP legislation to be presented to parliament before the end of the year. Ireland needs to bring the public lending right and the artists’ resale right into conformity with EU legislation and will simultaneously implement the […]
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