Our work

July 19, 2003

French consumer unions fight CD copy protection

In a first result of legal procedures against record companies instituted by two French consumer unions, EMI Music France is condemned for deception. Within a month, they must print the following warning on copy protected CD’s: ‘Attention, this CD cannot be read by all players or car-radio’s.’ Late in May, the 2 unions started legal […]

July 19, 2003

Opinion EU data protection authorities on WHOIS data

The associated European data protection authorities (the Article 29 Working Party) issued a formal opinion on WHOIS directories. These directories associate social information (like holder’s identity and contact information) with network identifiers such as domain names or IP addresses. The opinion is focused on domain name WHOIS, especially the fact that personal data about individual […]

July 16, 2003 · Blogs

EDRI-gram – Number 13, 16 July 2003

July 16, 2003

Preparations for biometric chip in EU passports

International technical standards bodies (ISO) and civil aviation bodies (ICAO) are preparing plans for ‘globally interoperable machine readable passports’. The technology should consist of RFIDs (Radio Frequency Identification) that contain ‘details that enable the machine-assisted identification of the presenter’. These technical descriptions point at passports that can transmit biometric data over a radio frequency. The […]

July 16, 2003

RFID developers aim to neutralise opposition

Developers of Radio Frequency Identification (RFIDs) are making plans to ‘neutralize opposition’ to their new technology. The strategy is discussed in confidential documents from the Auto-ID Center, in which RFID developers work together. The documents were uncovered by Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering (CASPIAN) through a security glitch on the Auto-ID Center’ website. […]

July 16, 2003

Commission workshop on Privacy Enhancing Technology

On 4 July, the European Commission organised a technical workshop on Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETS) in Brussels. 39 experts, from Europe, the USA and Canada were invited to participate, ranging from Commission officials to academic experts, from data protection authorities to business representatives. Amongst the invitees were also 2 EDRI-members; FIPR and Bits of Freedom. […]

July 16, 2003 · Blogs

Four new EDRI-members

On 5 and 6 July, European Digital Rights (EDRI) held its first general assembly in Paris. During the assembly four new members were admitted from 4 different countries. With the acceptance of the Belgian Association Electronique Libre (AEL), ISOC-Bulgaria, the Spanish chapter of CPSR and the Swiss Internet User Group (SIUG) EDRI now has 14 […]

July 16, 2003 · Blogs

Danish agreement on digital civil rights

On 4 July, the Danish Committee on citizens IT-rights published a list of 10 recommendations on digital civil rights. The committee was established in September last year by the Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation. The recommendations deal with communication with the public sector, with privacy and registration, with freedom of expression and with […]

July 16, 2003

Swiss data protection chief criticizes USA

The head of Switzerland’s data protection commission says the United States’ war on terror is undermining personal privacy. Hanspeter Thür calls for tighter controls on the campaign against terrorism and for more money to safeguard individual rights. According to him, the Bush administration is pursuing a repressive policy with little regard for data protection. The […]

July 2, 2003

Finnish plans to lower privacy protection employees

On 26 June, the Finnish Ministry of Labour released a draft new version of the law protecting privacy at the workplace. The proposal would make it legal to read employees’ email under certain circumstances. It also contains new regulations on camera surveillance (allowed as long as a single employee is not singled out) and drug […]

July 2, 2003

2 million DNA-profiles in UK police database

On the 100th anniversary of George Orwell, a UK police database with DNA-profiles of suspects reached the number of 2 million. According to an article in the English daily The Guardian, Home Secretary (minister of internal affairs) David Blunkett said the five-year-old database was well on the way to its target of holding 3 million […]

July 2, 2003

Dutch court orders ban on foreign gambling websites

Last Tuesday, a Dutch court ordered 21 foreign gambling websites to ban Dutch visitors. The sites are located in 10 different countries, from a well-known gambling paradise like Antigua to companies based in Canada and Australia. The case was instigated by the national Dutch lottery (Lotto). This 100% state-owned company became very confident after winning […]