January 13, 2016 · Blogs

Case Closed: Ombudsman decides GCHQ letters are of public interest

Almost two years after having been opened, case 2004/2013/PMC was closed by Emily O’Reilly, the EU Ombudsman, on the 5 November 2015. The case concerned the complain of a German journalist about the European Commission’s refusal to allow access to documents on internet surveillance by the British secret services – mainly the Government Communications Headquarters […]

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November 22, 2006

FIPR report on children's databases – likely to harm rather than help

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) The UK Information Commissioner has just published a report on the UK Government’s plans to link up most of the public-sector databases that contain information on children. The report was written by experts from the Foundation for Information Policy Research (FIPR), who conclude that aggregating this data […]

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November 21, 2005

Unesco round table

In the UNESCO high-level round table ‘Shaping the Future through Knowledge’ on Thursday 18 November 2005 director-general Koïchiro Matsuura presented the four main pillars of knowledge societies: respect for human rights, especially for freedom of speech, universal access to information, respect for cultural and linguistic diversity and quality education for all. Those pillars have been […]

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November 21, 2007

Data Protection Act infringed by UK Foreign Office

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) Following an investigation into the online visa application system for UK, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) ruled on 13 November 2007 that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) was in breach of the Data Protection Act, having failed to properly protect visa applications made over the Internet […]

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January 28, 2016 · Blogs

Digital Single Market: The EU Parliament responds to the Commission

On 19 January 2016, the European Parliament voted to adopt its report “Towards a Digital Single Market Act”. This Resolution is a non-legislative statement, prepared by the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) and the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO), in response to the European Commission’s Digital Single Market (DSM) strategy presented on […]

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December 6, 2006

Britain takes another step toward a new Bill of Rights

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) The London School of Economics has commenced a project to help pave the way for strengthened constitutional rights in Britain. The initiative is to be conducted over the next two years by the School’s newly formed Policy Engagement Research Group that was founded earlier this year by […]

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January 14, 2015 · Blogs

European Ombudsman does not see sufficient transparency in TTIP

On 6 January 2015, the European Ombudsman, the EU authority dealing with maladministration in the institutions of the European Union, adopted ten recommendations for the Commission to become transparent in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations. In her decision, the Ombudsman followed recommendations made by EDRi in our response to the public consultation […]

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April 24, 2013 · Blogs

Facebook-funded “child protection” event turns into privacy bashing

This article is also available in: Deutsch: [Facebooks „Kinderschutz“-Veranstaltung führt zur Demontage des Datenschutzes | https://www.unwatched.org/EDRigram_11.8_Facebooks_Kinderschutz-Veranstaltung_fuehrt_zur_Demontage_des_Datenschutzes?pk_campaign=edri&pk_kwd=20130424] On 11 April 2013, a conference on the global fight against online child sexual abuse content took place at the European Parliament. It was organised by the Internet Watch Foundation, with the support of Facebook. The topic was the […]

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March 2, 2017 · Blogs

Civil society letter: Without reforms in US surveillance laws, the Privacy Shield must be suspended

A coalition of 17 global civil society organisations, including many EDRi members, wrote a letter to the European Commissioner for Justice and Consumers, Věra Jourová, to express the need for a reform of US surveillance laws. The coalition of civil rights group claim that Europe must suspend the data-transfer arrangement (the EU-US Privacy Shield) unless the […]

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July 3, 2019 · Blogs | Information democracy | Alternatives to dominant digital services | Freedom of expression online

Regulating online communications: Fix the system, not the symptoms

Our digital information ecosystem fails to deliver the communications landscape needed to sustain our democracies. In a problem analysis, EDRi member Bits of Freedom introduces and disentangles some of the key concepts and issues surrounding the dominant role of platforms and the resulting harms to our freedom of expression.

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January 17, 2007

EU knew about the US's system profiling all visitors

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) New controversial issues appear in the case of Passanger Name Record (PNR) deal with US that show the level of privacy from the US authorities is very far from the European standards. As Statewatch revealed, the EU Council Presidency admitted that the Council of the European Union […]

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June 24, 2020 · Blogs | On the ground | Privacy and data protection | Biometrics | Data protection standards | Surveillance and data retention

COVID-Tech: COVID-19 opens the way for the use of police drones in Greece

In EDRi’s series on COVID-19, COVIDTech, we explore the critical principles for protecting fundamental rights while curtailing the spread of the virus, as outlined in the EDRi network’s statement on the pandemic.

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