January 28, 2004

European Commission communication on spam

The European Commission has finally published a Communication on spam, just in time for the OECD conference on spam, hosted by the Commission on 2 and 3 February. The Communication focusses on actions to be taken by the EU member states in order to make the ban on spam more effective. Clearly, implementing the EU […]

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November 16, 2011

2011 Public Voice Civil Society Conference: "Privacy is Freedom"

This article is also available in: Deutsch: [2011 Public Voice Konferenz der Zivilgesellschaft: “Privacy is Freedom” | https://www.unwatched.org/EDRigram_9.22_2011_Public_Voice_Konferenz_der_Zivilgesellschaft?pk_campaign=edri&pk_kwd=20111116] The Public Voice meeting that took place on 31 October 2011 in Mexico City began with a discussion of the 2009 Madrid declarations (both those from DPAs and civil society). Most participants felt there had been little […]

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July 27, 2016 · Blogs

EU Ombudsman demands trilogue reform, following our advice

On 12 July 2016, the European Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly adopted a decision that asks for a reform of trilogues. In her decision, she follows many of our recommendations. The Ombudsman is the body dealing with maladministration in the European Union (EU).

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December 22, 2010 · Blogs

A snapshot of the EDRi's Brussels Office

The EDRi Brussels office is the main link between the association and the political institutions of the European Union – the European Parliament, European Commission and the Council of the European Union. As an office representing 29 organisations from 18 countries, EDRi Brussels must follow the development of legislative and non-legislative initiatives in the institutions […]

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February 27, 2004

UK government welcomes report about data retention

The UK Government has given a guarded welcome to a review of its data retention powers. The review came from the Newton Committee, which was set up by the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 that created these powers. The Committee, even though empowered to revoke some powers, supports the principle of data retention for […]

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March 11, 2004

Proposal EU Parliament to reject PNR transfer

The European parliament’s committee on Citizens’ Freedoms and Rights, Justice and Home Affairs is preparing to vote on a proposal by MEP Johanna Boogerd-Quaak to reject the draft decision of the EU Commission under which airline passenger data are transferred to the US Bureau of Customs and Border Protection. The proposal calls upon EU Member […]

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September 9, 2015 · Blogs

Romania: After PNR, a proposal for retention of tourist data

On 15 July 2015, the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) of the European Parliament narrowly voted in favour of the EU Passenger Name Record (PNR) Directive proposal (32 in favour, 26 against, no abstentions), a mass surveillance measure to collect and process air traveller data for profiling purposes. This came after […]

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February 11, 2009

Data retention directive has the correct legal basis

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) On 10 February 2009 the European Court of Justice (ECJ) decided that the data retenion directive was correctly adopted on the basis of the EC Treaty as it relates predominantly to the functioning of the internal market. This was the conclusion of the court in the suit […]

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December 2, 2011 · Blogs

EDRi transparency complaint to EU Ombudsman

EDRi launches complaint on lack of transparency of European Parliament on ACTA Over the past six months, EDRi has made repeated requests to the European Parliament for access to ACTA documents. Despite having voted not fewer than four times in favour of more transparency in this dossier, the Parliament has consistently refused our applications. Regrettably, […]

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October 31, 2017 · Blogs | Information democracy | Data protection standards | Transparency

The European Parliament calls for protection of whistleblowers

On 24 October, the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling on the European Commission to propose legislation protecting whistleblowers in the European Union (EU). The institution made a clear statement recognising the essential role that whistleblowers play in our society, as well as the need to protect them. Whistleblowers fight for transparency, democracy and the […]

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May 19, 2004

Council adopts bad position on software patents

Tuesday 18 May the Council of the European Union adopted by a qualified majority in its Competitiveness meeting a Common position for the Second Reading of the Software Patent Directive. The text is described by the Foundation for a free Information Infrastructure as ‘the most uncompromisingly pro-patent text yet’. The Common Position, which was agreed […]

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May 19, 2004

New telecommunications act in Germany

On Wednesday 5 May, the Mediation Committee, a common organ of the two German legislative bodies, adopted a compromise regarding the new German Telecommunications Act. It brought back a number of privacy restrictions that were already contained in the Government’s draft act (See EDRI-gram nr. 21), but had been rejected by the Deutsche Bundestag, the […]

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