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.
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The UK will treat online images of immigrants crossing the Channel as a criminal offence
On 17 January, the United Kingdom (UK) government announced that online platforms will have to proactively remove images of immigrants crossing the Channel in small boats under a new amendment to be tabled to the Online Safety Bill. The announcement, intended to bolster the UK’s hostile immigration policy, has been met with concern among the British public and charities working with people on the move.
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Under surveillance: (mis)use of technologies in emergency responses
In the months following the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, more than half the world’s countries enacted emergency measures. Within this broader context, we have seen a rapid scaling up of governments’ use of technologies to enable widespread surveillance. How has this impacted civil society groups globally?
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Update: UK’s Online Safety Bill heralds a trio of surveillance
The UK’s Online Safety Bill was back in the Westminster Parliament in December It had been stalled for five months whilst the new British government made a few changes. A Parliamentary debate on Monday (5 December 2022) revealed the shift in policy direction for the first time. It’s a relatively small change with big implications. Read more about the changes.
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Back to the Future: Activism, the copyright Directive and lessons for the present
The Copyright Directive marked a key moment in internet history. Civil society, and EDRi in particular, have reflected on the role we played in the political debate and what would that mean for future digital policy fights. In this blogpost, we look back to assess the success of the strategies we adopted and what are the takeaways we should keep in mind when challenging current human rights threats like chat control and facial recognition.
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Reclaim Your Face movement gathered in Brussels
Between 6 and 9 November 2022, more than 20 activists from across Europe gathered in Brussels to celebrate the successes of the Reclaim You Face movement. We got to meet each other in real life after months of online organising, reflected on our wide range off decentralised actions, and learned from each other how to couple grassroots organising with EU advocacy aimed at specific events and EU institutions. Read on to see what we did.
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PEGA hearing: state hacking and spyware in Germany
On 14 November, EDRi observer Andre Meister from German digital rights newspaper netzpolitik.org, spoke at the PEGA committee's hearing in his capacity as an investigative journalist, covering state hacking for over a decade. Check out what he had to say to the PEGA committee responsible for investigating the use of the Pegasus spyware in Europe.
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Mid-point EDRi strategy review: impact and adjustments in a changing field
In April 2020, during the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic in Europe, EDRi adopted its first network multi-annual strategy for the years 2020-2024. At the mid-term of the strategy implementation, what have we learned?
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Activists v. Poland. European Court of Human Rights hearing on uncontrolled surveillance
On 27 September, the hearing was held at the European Court of Human Rights, following the application against Poland lodged by activists from Poland’s Panoptykon Foundation and Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, joined by a human rights attorney.
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Europol is going to collect a massive collection of intimate conversations from European youngsters
This story begins with the creation of a new European agency, but ends with one of the world's largest databases of private chats and images shared by European youngsters—built by the police.
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PEGA hearing about spyware and ePrivacy
Following the public revelations of the widespread use of Pegasus and other spyware, the European Parliament formed the Committee of Inquiry to investigate the use of Pegasus and equivalent surveillance spyware (PEGA) in March 2022.
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Chat Control – A good day for privacy
The Austrian parliament voted in its EU committee to adopt a resolution that has a binding effect on the position of the Austrian government not to agree to the proposal for the controversial child sexual abuse regulation, if it is not brought in line with fundamental rights.
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Position Paper: State access to encrypted data
EDRi’s new policy paper on encryption highlights that our privacy and security must be strongly protected, keeping into account the recent policy developments on encryption and law enforcement. Trust in communication systems is vital for our lives and connections with others. This allows us to work, socialise, organise, express ourselves, and care for each other safely.
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