September 11, 2019 · On the ground | Information democracy | Freedom of expression online

Poland challenges copyright upload filters before the CJEU

On 24 May 2019, Poland initiated a legal challenge (C-401/19) before the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) against Article 17 of the Directive on copyright in the Digital Single Market. EDRi member Centrum Cyfrowe Foundation has previously tried to get access to the complaint using freedom of information (FOI) requests, without success. […]

Read more

 

June 19, 2003

UK acknowledges public criticism of identity-card

The UK Government has finally admitted that the public are overwhelmingly opposed to the idea of a national ID card. In response to a parliamentary question from member of parliament Anne McIntosh, Home Office minister Beverley Hughes has confirmed that over 5,000 of the 7,000 responses to a public consultation on the issue were opposed […]

Read more

April 5, 2017 · Blogs

Reckless social media law threatens freedom of expression in Germany

At the end of March 2017, with Federal elections on the horizon, the German Justice Minister Heiko Maas proposed a law on ill-defined “social networks”. Minister Maas has proposed the law which places a variety of obligations on the companies, in the apparent hope that this will lead profit-motivated companies to take over private censorship […]

Read more

 

September 25, 2019 · On the ground | Privacy and data protection | Surveillance and data retention

Portugal: Data retention complaint reaches the Constitutional Court

September 2019 brought us long-awaited developments regarding the situation of data retention in Portugal. The Justice Ombudsman decided to send the Portuguese data retention law to the Constitutional Court, following the Court of Justice of the European Union’s (CJEU’s) case law on blanket retention of data that lead to invalidation of Directive 2006/24/EC. This decision […]

Read more

 

February 15, 2006

French Big Brother Awards 2006

The 6th edition of the French Big Brother Awards taking place in Paris on 3 February has chosen the following in the 5 different award sections, for causing the most damage to personal privacy. The Orwell Award for State official – the winner was Jean-Michel Charpin, Directeur de l’Insee (INES) for his participation in the […]

Read more

July 2, 2003

Analysis: Privacy in the EU draft constitution

The draft European Constitution was presented in May 2003. The proposed treaty contains a section on Fundamental Rights and Citizenship of the Union. The European Charter of Fundamental rights, which was adopted at the Nice summit, in 2000, will be an integral part of the treaty (section II, article 5, paragraph 1). The right of […]

Read more

September 26, 2019 · Blogs | Open internet and inclusive technology | Artificial intelligence (AI) | Inclusive technologies | Profiling practices

Mozilla Fellow Petra Molnar joins us to work on AI & discrimination

Starting on 1 October, Petra Molnar will join our team as a Mozilla Fellow. She is a lawyer specialising in migration, human rights, and technology, and has a Masters of Social Anthropology from York University, a Juris Doctorate from the University of Toronto, and an LL.M in International Law from the University of Cambridge. Mozilla […]

Read more

 

July 2, 2003

German chancellor demands take-down of satirical website

A German comedian was ordered to take down his parody website about the German Federal Chancellor (Bundeskanzler). The comedian, Joseph Pohl, operated the website for almost 5 years. Two weeks ago, he received an email from the Chancellors press office, accusing him of infringing on their trademark. Even though the site is as clear a […]

Read more

February 12, 2014 · Blogs

European Parliament vote on Collective Rights Management Directive

On 3 February 2014, the European Parliament adopted new rules for collective management organisations and for cross-border licences for online music services. The Directive was adopted by 640 votes in favour, 18 against and 22 abstentions – which is an impressive majority. On one hand, the text improves the management of collective management organisations (CMOs), […]

Read more

May 16, 2018 · Blogs | Information democracy | Freedom of expression online

ENDitorial: Can design save us from content moderation?

Our communication platforms are polluted with racism, incitement to hate, terrorist propaganda and Twitter-bot armies.

Read more

 

July 2, 2003

Finnish plans to lower privacy protection employees

On 26 June, the Finnish Ministry of Labour released a draft new version of the law protecting privacy at the workplace. The proposal would make it legal to read employees’ email under certain circumstances. It also contains new regulations on camera surveillance (allowed as long as a single employee is not singled out) and drug […]

Read more

May 16, 2018 · Blogs | Privacy and data protection | Surveillance and data retention

New Dutch law for intelligence services challenged in court

On 21 March 2018, the Dutch voted in an advisory referendum on the new Intelligence and Security Services Act. A majority of Dutch citizens voted against the law in its current form – a clear signal that the law is in urgent need of reconsideration. EDRi member Bits of Freedom has been fighting against important parts of this law since the first draft in 2015, so the outcome of the referendum comes as a positive news.

Read more