December 2, 2015 · Blogs

France enacts sweeping legislation limiting fundamental freedoms

On 13 November time stopped in France and around the world as the heart of Paris was attacked. One hundred and thirty people were killed while enjoying dinners with friends, celebrating birthdays, and dancing at a concert. The French government, with the support of most of the population and political groups, rapidly declared a state […]

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January 29, 2003 · Blogs | Open internet and inclusive technology | Freedom of expression online

Implementing the European Copyright Directive

One month after the implementation deadline of the European Copyright Directive, only 2 of the 15 member-countries have implemented the law. All over Europe, scientists, legal experts, civil rights and open source groups are warning about possible negative effects on free speech, innovation and academic research. In many countries, civil rights groups joined forces with […]

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March 31, 2011

Czech Constitutional Court rejects data retention law

The Czech Constitutional Court decided today, 31 March 2011, that the national implementation of the data retention directive is unconstitutional, in a complaint drafted by EDRi-member Iuridicum Remedium (IuRe). See below the full press release from IuRe and Translation in English of the decision Constitutional Court: Spying on Communication Declared Unconstitutional An ongoing campaign by […]

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March 27, 2019 · On the ground | Privacy and data protection | Artificial intelligence (AI) | Biometrics | Data protection standards | Privacy and confidentiality

EU Council Presidency outlines future counter-terrorism priorities

A note produced by the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union sets out the EU’s response to terrorism since 2015. It highlights the main measures adopted and calls for a “reflection process on the way forward” in a number of areas including “interoperability and extended use of biometrics”; implementing the EU Passenger […]

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November 3, 2005

Article 29 WP rejects data retention once more

In a carefully worded report, the coalition of EU privacy commissioners (the Article 29 Working Party) criticises both the Council and the Commission policies on data retention. The Article 29 Working Party calls for restraint and safeguards that have to date not appeared in any national or EU policy. “The Working Party questions whether the […]

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November 3, 2005

Citizens' Summit on the Information Society

A broad coalition of human rights organisations has announced they will organise a Citizens’ Summit on the Information Society in Tunis, from 16 to 18 November 2005, to coincide with the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). Citizens groups, civil society organisations, national, regional and international institutions, government delegations and all other interested parties […]

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December 3, 2014 · Blogs

Two steps forward and two steps back on net neutrality

The last few weeks have generated a lot of noise but little progress on net neutrality. A few weeks ago, the European Parliament had a strong position on the subject, having adopted its first reading of the Telecoms Single Market Regulation in April, while the Council, despite the best efforts of the Italian presidency-in-office had […]

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November 22, 2006

German draft law on data retention made public

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) On 8 November 2006, the German Minister of Justice Brigitte Zypries presented a draft law aimed at transposing the EU directive on data retention. The law would override the recent jurisprudence on IP logging by mandating the retention of traffic data for a period of six months. […]

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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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