Fight back on data protection: Launch of European privacy campaign

Thirty six civil rights and data protection organsations have just launched the European campaign portal www.privacycampaign.eu in support of better protection for European citizens’ rights to privacy and data protection.

“This is our one opportunity to develop a strong legal framework, building trust and removing unnecessary red tape for business. We need a framework that is guided by clear, predictable legal principles and strong enforcement. Instead, we have an unprecedented wave of ill-informed, ill-advised and destructive corporate lobbying. Democracy needs to be injected back into this debate in order to protect the rights of European citizens” says Joe McNamee, Executive Director of European Digital Rights.

The joint campaign launched by European Digital Rights (representing 32 organisations), Privacy International, The Julia Group, La Quadrature du Net and Access aims at creating a counterweight to the massive lobbying by the US government, trade associations and big internet business on the data protection reform.

The organisations believe that without a successful reform of the data protection framework European citizens will be left with a series of legal loopholes and a range of unpredictable enforcement gaps where nobody, neither citizens nor business, knows what law will be enforced.