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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EU Commission discards criticism of net neutrality enforcement
On 30 April 2019, EDRi and 31 other civil rights organisations sent an open letter to the EU Commission and BEREC. The letter criticised the lack of enforcement of current net neutrality rules in Europe. The signatories also emphasised that the EU finally needs to act against the widespread use of zero-rating practices. Zero-rating favours […]
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E-Commerce review: Opening Pandora’s box?
The next important battle for our rights and freedoms in the digital sphere is looming on the horizon. While the public debate has recently focused on upload filters for alleged copyright infringements and online “terrorist” content, a planned legislative review will look more broadly at the rules for all types of illegal and “harmful” content.
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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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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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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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Fighting defamation online – AG Opinion forgets that context matters
On 4 June 2019, Advocate General (AG) of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), Maciej Szpunar, delivered his Opinion on the Glawischnig-Piesczek v Facebook Ireland case. The case is related to injunctions obliging a service provider to stop the dissemination of a defamatory comment. Looking carefully at this Opinion is important, as […]
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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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BEREC workshop: Regulatory action by NRAs and consumer empowerment
On 29 May 2019, EDRi was invited to participate in a workshop of the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) on the planned update of its Net Neutrality Guidelines. Thomas Lohninger from Austrian EDRi member Epicenter.works and Jesper Lund from Danish EDRi member IT-Pol represented our network. Lund provided the following input to […]
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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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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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