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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Germany: meta search engine responsible for hyperlinks
A Berlin court has ruled on 22 February 2005 that a meta search engine has exactly the same legal responsibilities as a regular search engine to prevent users from accessing illegal content. A meta search engine doesn’t have any databases of itself that could contain possibly illegal content, but should be able to filter the […]
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EDRI-member nominated in Blog contest
Reporters Without Borders has opened an awards competition for blogs defending freedom of expression. The blog of Markus Beckedahl from EDRI-member Neue Medien Netzwerk, www.netzpolitik.org is nominated by RSF as best international blog promoting freedom of expression. Until 1 June 2005 all Internet-users may vote online for award-winners from among 60 blogs defending freedom of […]
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EDRI-gram – Number 3.6, 24 March 2005
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Data retention news: EU Council, Germany, Spain
The Council of European Ministers of Justice and Home Affairs (JHA council) seems set for a frontal collision with the European Commission with the proposal for a framework decision on mandatory data retention. On 14 April 2005 the Council will discuss the proposal, possibly including a functional list, in spite of the urgent request from […]
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LSE report: UK ID card plans too risky
The UK Government’s plans for a national identity card have come under renewed criticism in a report published last week by the London School of Economics. The report, “The Identity Project: An assessment of the UK Identity Cards Bill & its implications”, featured contributions from experts across the LSE and from businesses that would be […]
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French jurisprudence about Google and cybersquatting
Search engine Google has lost an appeal on 10 March 2005 against a French court order to change its advertisement practices. The case about the advertisement practice was instigated by the travel companies Luteciel SARL and Viaticum SA. Competitors bought the search terms ‘bourse des vols’ and ‘bourse des voyages’ (flight exchange and trip exchange) […]
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EU rejects Microsoft's licence
The European Commission has rejected Microsoft’s proposal to comply with the EU anti-trust ruling. Microsoft needs to enable other software providers to interoperate with computers that run the Windows operating system. But the proposed Microsoft server interoperability licence contains a number of serious flaws including unjustifiably high royalty fees and the exclusion of open source […]
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No ban on wiretapping of Dutch lawyers
The Dutch association of criminal defence lawyers (NVSA) has lost a court case (preliminary proceedings) demanding an immediate stop to the practice of wiretapping their confidential telephone conversations with clients. On 15 March 2005 the administrative Court of the Hague ruled that these conversations do not per definition fall under the professional secrecy. There is […]
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Austrian power company demands take down critical website
The Austrian regional power company TIWAG (based in Tirol) has claimed 500.000 euro in damages if an activist doesn’t immediately take down a critical website. On 10 March they filed preliminary proceedings at the court of Innsbruck. On 23 March they sent another claim of 100.000 euro to the hosting provider of the site (based […]
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New defeat for Scientology in Dutch Internet case
The Dutch Attorney-General for the Supreme Court, Verkade, has once more righted internetprovider XS4ALL and author Karin Spaink in their decade long defence against legal attacks by Scientology. In his opinion for the Supreme Court Verkade argues “Although copyright resides under Article 1 of the First Protocol of ECHR and can therefore be regarded as […]
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Europe crowned as Internet Villain
Europe was crowned ‘Internet Villain’ of the year at the 7th Annual UK Internet Industry Award Ceremony, for “threatening the Country of Origin principle, which has encouraged e-commerce across the EU, and for the Draft Framework on Data Retention.” The awards are an initiative of the UK Internet Service Providers’ Association Council. Previous winners include […]
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Council adopts decision on attacks against information systems
On 24 February 2005 the JHA Council finally adopted the framework decision on attacks against information systems. The decision harmonises legislation in the EU for any offence committed against a computer infrastructure with the intention of destroying, modifying or altering the information stored on computers or networks of computers. The two key definitions in the […]
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