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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Still no EU Data Protection Supervisor
European discussions can’t agree on the appointment of a European privacy-czar. The European parliament insists on choosing Joaquín Bayo Delgado, who has no experience in data protection issues, as the new EU Data Protection Supervisor. The Council favours the Dutch Data Protection Commissioner Peter Hustinx. Jorge Salvador Hernández Mollar, the President of the European Parliament’s […]
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First decision against spam in Poland
The Polish agency for Competition and Consumer Protection recently for the first time condoned a spammer. According to the agency, the Firm Edukacyjna Impuls Plus from the city of Grudziadz had violated the Provision of Electronic Services Bill by sending unsolicited commercial mail. The businessman was ordered to stop such actions and to publish a […]
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'Mandatory data retention is unlawful'
A legal opinion commissioned by EDRI-member Privacy International and provided by the law firm Covington & Burling concludes that mandatory data retention plans in the EU are unlawful. The opinion, which relates to an EU framework directive on the retention of communications data, has profound ramifications for ten EU states that have implemented, or are […]
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EU health chip
The European Union has taken steps towards the creation of an EU-wide health identity card. By 2008 there will be a new card with a microchip that can store a range of biometric and personal data. Approved by Union ministers in Luxembourg the plastic disk will slide into the credit-card pouch of a wallet or […]
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Dutch Big Brother Award for Minister of Justice
The Dutch Big Brother Awards were presented in front of a 300 person audience in Amsterdam on the 11th of October. With the Awards the person, company, governmental institution and initiative are rewarded for damaging the privacy of citizens in 2003 the most. The 4 winners of 2003 are: minister of Justice Piet Hein Donner; […]
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White paper on notice and take-down
The RightsWatch Project, a research project funded under the European Commission’s Information Society Technology programme, produced a white paper on notice and take-down of websites. During a 2 year project RightsWatch tried to develop consensus between providers, right holders and internet users about self-regulatory notice and takedown (NTD) procedures. The attempts miserably failed, since self-regulation […]
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Report of WSIS prepcom 3
From 15 to 26 September 2003 governments and civil society assembled in Geneva for the third preparatory conference for the World Summit on the Information Society. The two weeks ended with many key issues still unresolved, and with a last-minute proposal to reconvene for an extra session from 10 to 14 November. EDRI members IRIS […]
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IPR Enforcement: rapporteur ready for compromise
On 4 November there was a heated debate in the Judicial Affairs Committee (JURI) of the European Parliament about the proposed new directive on the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights. According to Social Democrat Willy Rothley from Germany “the EU Commission aggressively attempts to exceed its authorities and assume competencies it does not hold. Senselessly, […]
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French DPA against tracking of passenger movements
The French Data Protection Authority, the CNIL, considers the current use of chip-cards for public transport a serious danger for privacy. The cards combine identity-data with travel data like point of entrance to the subway, date and time, and even exact route in case the passenger switches route halfway. In its recommendation of 16 September, […]
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Protest against super database in Romania
Human rights experts in Romania issued harsh criticism at the government resolution adopted last week to set up an Integrated Information System (SII), as they consider it as extremely dense, imprecise and giving room to arbitrary interpretation. The SII is a database that will centralise the information held by all public institutions regarding natural and […]
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UK politicians call for more anti-spam measures
In the UK an influential group of Members of Parliament has called for more anti-spam measures. In a report published last Monday, the MPs ask for greater enforcement powers for the government watchdog responsible for tackling spam, the information commissioner. The All Parliament Internet Group is also urging the Department of Trade and Industry to […]
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Swiss jurisprudence about hyperlinks and virus tools
The appeal court of Zurich (Obergericht) recently published an interesting ruling about hyperlinks. Linking to an anti-racism page which contains links to hate sites does not breach Swiss anti-racism law. A former professor of computer science was accused of racism by setting a link to the site www.stop-the-hate.org. Both in first instance in 2000 and […]
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