Privacy and data protection
Privacy and data protection are essential for us to live, connect, work, create, organise and more. Governments and companies have long used mass surveillance for control trying to legitimise snooping for health, security or other reasons. The near-total digitisation of our lives has made it easier to control, profile and profit from our attention, data, bodies and behaviours in ways that are very difficult for us to understand and challenge. European data protection standards such as the GDPR are a good step forward but we need more to effectively ensure enforcement and protection against unlawful surveillance practices.
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New privacy alliance to be formed in Russia, Central and Eastern Europe
Civil Society advocates from Russia, and Central and Eastern Europe have joined forces to form a new inter-regional NGO to promote privacy in countries bordering the EU.
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EU worries over the possibility of losing wiretapping powers
5G telecoms networks could render obsolete the “lawful interception” techniques that police is traditionally using, unless the European Union and national governments take action. This was revealed in internal EU documents obtained by EDRi member Statewatch, that has published a new analysis explaining the issues and calling for a public debate. “It is unsurprising that […]
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German Big Brother Awards – one “winner” reacts and appears
The German Big Brother Awards (BBA) gala was held on 8 June 2019 in Bielefeld, Germany. Organised annually since 2000 by EDRi member Digitalcourage, this year’s gala was the third to be streamed live in English in addition to the original German. For the second time, the venue was Bielefeld theatre, where the stage set […]
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Danish DPA approves Automated Facial Recognition
On 13 June 2019, the Danish football club Brøndby IF announced that starting in July 2019, automated facial recognition (AFR) technology will be deployed at Brøndby Stadium. It will be used to identify persons that have been banned from attending Brøndby IF football matches for violations of the club’s own rules of conduct. The AFR […]
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Greece: Complaint filed against breach of EU data protection law
On 30 May 2019, EDRi observer Homo Digitalis filed a complaint to the European Commission against a breach of EU data protection law by Greece. The European Commission registered the complaint under the reference number CHAP(2019)01564 on 6 June 2019, and its services will assess the complaint and provide a reply within 12 months.
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Poland: Banks obliged to explain their credit decisions
Owing to the initiative of the Polish EDRi member Panoptykon, bank clients in Poland will have the right to receive an explanation of the assessment of their creditworthiness. The initiative proposed and fought for amendments in the Polish banking law, and resulted in an even higher standard than the one envisioned in the General Data […]
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EU rushes into e-evidence negotiations without common position
On 6 June 2019, the Justice and Home Affairs Council (JHA) – which gathers all EU Member States Ministers of Justice – asked the European Commission to start international negotiations on cross-border access to electronic evidence in criminal matters (so-called “e-evidence”) in the upcoming months. The Commission should enter into bilateral negotiations with the United […]
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Data Retention: EU Commission inconclusive about potential new legislation
On 6 June 2019, representatives from eight civil society organisations (including EDRi members) met with officials from the European Commission (EC) Directorate General of Home Affairs (DG HOME) to discuss data retention. This meeting, according to the EC officials, was just another one in a series of meetings that DG HOME is holding with different […]
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Facebook and Google asked to appoint representatives in Serbia
Three months before the new Serbian Law on Personal Data Protection becomes applicable, EDRi member SHARE Foundation asked 20 data companies from around the world – including Google and Facebook – to appoint representatives in Serbia as required by the new law. This is crucial for providing Serbian citizens and competent authorities with a contact […]
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Facebook fails to avoid CJEU judgment on NSA case
On 31 May 2019, the Irish Supreme Court decided over an unprecedented application by Facebook. The decision is part of an ongoing procedure on Facebook’s involvement with the United States Nationa Security Agency (NSA) under the so-called “PRISM” surveillance program before the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) and the Irish High Court.
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Czech Constitutional Court rejects complaint on data retention
Czech EDRi member Iuridicum Remedium (IuRe) has fought for 14 years against Czech implementation of the controversial EU data retention Directive which was declared invalid by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). After years of campaigning and many hard legislative battles, the fight has finally come to an end: on 22 May […]
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Captured states – e-Privacy Regulation victim of a “lobby onslaught”
Compared to non-governmental organisations and trade unions, private corporations are far better equipped to influence European level decision-making. A report “Captured states: when EU governments are a channel for corporate interests” by Corporate Europe Observatory’s (CEO) describes the various ways corporations approach the Member States of the European Union to maximise their impact.
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