July 4, 2016 · Blogs

Rush to “fight terrorism” threatens our fundamental rights and security

Today, on 4 July 2016, the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties (LIBE) waved through a compromise text for a Directive on “combating terrorism”. The compromise comes after a series of secret negotiations between a handful of parliamentarians. Our freedoms and security are being threatened by unclear provisions on key issues like internet blocking and […]

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July 22, 2015 · Blogs

EU Commission – finally – confirms that its promise on data protection will be respected

Last April, EDRi, supported by other sixty-five NGOs from the European Union, North, Central and South America, Africa, Asia and Australia sent a letter (PDF) to the European Commission. The letter asked if the Commission would respect the “absolute red line” that the protection levels in the 1995 Data Protection Directive would be maintained. This […]

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September 9, 2015 · Blogs

EDRi identifies key challenges to freedom of expression online

On 13 November 2014, EDRi met with the European External Action Service (EEAS) for a civil society consultation on the EU Human Rights Guidelines on Freedom of Expression Online and Offline. The EEAS aims at improving the Guidelines in the future and was seeking input to that end. EDRi had already outlined its position in […]

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October 26, 2017 · Blogs | Information democracy | Freedom of expression online | Platform regulation

Leak: Three EU countries join forces for restrictions & copyright chaos

Leaked documents concerning the Copyright Directive show that France, Spain and Portugal have joined forces in the Council of the European Union to attack the cornerstones of internet freedom in Europe. The documents show that the three countries propose elevating fighting copyright violations to a special status – above combating terrorism, child abuse and serious […]

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July 30, 2014 · Blogs

Summary report of the responses to the copyright public consultation

On 23 July 2014 the European Commission Directorate General Internal Market and Services (DG MARKT) published Summary Report of the Responses to the public consultation on the review of the EU copyright rules. The consultation held between 5 December 2013 and 5 March 2014 was part of the European Commission’s effort to review and modernise […]

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November 29, 2017 · Blogs | Privacy and data protection | Data protection standards | Surveillance and data retention

Eurojust: No progress to comply with CJEU data retention judgements

A recently published Eurojust report on data retention in Europe confirms that EU Member States failed to make meaningful progress towards complying with fundamental rights standards, as clarified by the two Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) rulings banning blanket data retention.

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September 17, 2014 · Blogs

Public Oversight and The Rule of Law

Between 15th-19th of September, in the week leading up the first year anniversary of the 13 Necessary and Proportionate Principles, EDRi, the EFF and the coalition behind the Principles will be conducting a Week of Action explaining some of the key guiding principles for surveillance law reform. Every day, we’ll take on a different part […]

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February 11, 2013 · Blogs

Lobby groups take CTRL+V of data protection proposal

From Wired to the New York Times, every news platform has been reporting about the massive lobbying efforts against the data protection reform over the past few months. Vice-President of the EU Commission Viviane Reding has stated in the Telegraph that the proposed rules were subject to the most aggressive lobbying she has ever witnessed. […]

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November 18, 2015 · Blogs

The School of Rock(ing) EU Copyright: United to #fixcopyright

As part of our ongoing work on the copyright reform, EDRi in cooperation with Centrum Cyfrowe, Communia and Wikimedia, organised the School of Rock(ing) EU Copyright in Warsaw on 5-6 November. The date and location of the event were chosen taking advantage of the Copycamp event on 4 November, which gathers hundreds of copyright experts […]

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December 15, 2021 · Blogs | Privacy and data protection | Data protection standards | Privacy and confidentiality | Surveillance and data retention

EU: Data retention strikes back? Options for mass telecoms surveillance under discussion again

In June 2021 the European Commission sought the views of member states on ways to reintroduce the bulk retention of telecoms traffic, location and internet connection data on everyone in the EU. Responses from seven member states, published here, show a divergence of views on what data to retain and when, but a majority in favour of new EU legislation.

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December 2, 2015 · Blogs

EDPS Opinion: Effective data protection needed for “big data”

On 19 November 2015, the European Data Protection Supervisor published an Opinion on the challenges of “big data”. The Opinion is entitled “A call for transparency, user control, data protection by design and accountability”. The title alone shows how extensive and complicated the issue of big data really is, and squeezing all of these issues […]

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November 30, 2016 · Blogs

European Union Directive on counterterrorism is seriously flawed

BRUSSELS—European Union Member States must ensure that a new effort to standardise counterterrorism laws does not undermine fundamental freedoms and the rule of law, a group of international human rights organisations said today. Amnesty International, the European Network Against Racism (ENAR), European Digital Rights (EDRi), the Fundamental Rights European Experts (FREE) Group, Human Rights Watch […]

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