Privacy and confidentiality
Privacy is a crucial element of our personal security, enabling free speech and democratic participation. The absolute and fundamental human right to privacy guarantees people respect for their private life and freedom from snooping and unlawful interference. It gives everyone the freedom to be themselves, to express and develop their opinions and ideas with dignity, and to practice their religion, as well as giving journalists and civil society the ability to report on violations of rights by states or businesses. Without sufficient privacy, people’s private interactions are exposed, which can be used to target or discriminate against them.
Filter resources
-
Online Safety Bill insecure: international organisations, academics and cyber experts urge UK government to protect encrypted messaging
EDRi, Open Rights Group and over 80 civil society organisations, academics and cyber experts from 23 countries have written to the UK government to raise the alarm about proposed powers in the Online Safety Bill.
Read more
-
Bits of Freedom monthly update on human rights & tech: April 2023
Read through the most interesting developments at the intersection of human rights and technology from the Netherlands. This is the fourth update in this series.
Read more
-
Open letter: Gender-inclusive and safe digital world that is free from violence for all
EDRi and 45 organisations call on the European Parliament to better protect those who face digitally facilitated gender-based violence.
Read more
-
Government bans TikTok (sort of), Facebook has a bad day in court, and civil society organisations mobilise against Big Tech
Read through the most interesting developments at the intersection of human rights and technology from the Netherlands. This is the third update in this series.
Read more
-
Commissioner Johansson cannot be trusted with the EU’s proposed CSA Regulation
In the midst of a wide range of concerning practices and behaviours, EDRi has found it necessary to raise a formal complaint against the EU’s Home Affairs department for possible breaches of independence.
Read more
-
The CSA Regulation: how did it reach this point?
How did we reach this point of even discussing a law (Child Sexual Abuse Regulation) that so manifestly undermines our democratic structures, threatens to override the fundamental rights that generations have been fighting for, and ignores solid evidence and unanimous professional expertise?
Read more
-
Do you trust the police? CJEU Advocate General accepts access to phones for any type of crime
In its opinion on the Bezirkshauptmannschaft Landeck case, the Advocate General of the European Court of Justice is failing to suggest adequate safeguards for police access to our smartphones.
Read more
-
PEGA Committee does not go all the way on spyware regulation
On 8 May 2023, the Committee of Inquiry of the European Parliament investigating the use of Pegasus and equivalent surveillance spyware (PEGA) adopted its final report and recommendation, after 14 months of hearings, studies and fact-finding missions.
Read more
-
LIBE lead MEP fails to find silver bullet for CSA Regulation
On 19 April 2023, the lead MEP on the proposed CSA Regulation, Javier Zarzalejos (EPP), published his draft report. Whilst we agree with MEP Zarzalejos about putting privacy, safety and security by design at the heart, many of his changes may pose a greater risk to human rights online than the European Commission’s original text.
Read more
-
Irish and French parliamentarians sound the alarm about EU’s CSA Regulation
The Irish parliament’s justice committee and the French Senate have become the latest voices to sound the alarm about the risk of general monitoring of people’s messages in the proposed Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) Regulation.
Read more
-
EU plans allow Big Tech to exploit your medical records, without permission
The EHDS would make physicians and other medical professionals complicit in the forced commercialisation and monetisation of every aspect of your health without ever asking for your consent. It would destroy the Hippocratic oath of confidentiality by which every medical professional is supposed to be bound.
Read more
-
Police cameras won Big Brother Awards in Czechia
EDRi member in the Czech Republic Iuridicum Remedium handed out its anti-prizes for the eighteenth time in March 2023. 2022 was exceptional: one of the "awardees" came for the award, and the others had to express themselves under the pressure from the media.
Read more