December 15, 2010

French law Loppsi 2 under debate again

This article is also available in: Deutsch: [Neue Debatte über französisches Loppsi 2 Gesetz | http://www.unwatched.org/node/2442] The so-called Loppsi 2 draft law (loi d’orientation et de programmation pour la performance de la sécurité intérieure – law on guidelines and programming for the performance of internal security) is being discussed these days in the French General […]

Read more

June 4, 2014 · Blogs

Anniversary of Snowden revelations: The year we fight back

On 5 June 2013, the Guardian published Edward Snowden’s first documents. These showed that the NSA was using a secret court order to collect millions of customers’ phone calls of the US company Verizon. Snowden’s subsequent disclosures confirmed what many privacy activists were suspecting for a long time: that the US government and its allies […]

Read more

July 27, 2016 · Blogs

Massive lobby against personal communications security has started

Since 2002, European citizens’ freedom of communication, the security of our communications devices, and the protection of our personal data in the online world have been safeguarded by the so-called e-Privacy Directive. This Directive is now up for renewal. Unsurprisingly, after the big online companies launched probably the biggest ever lobbying campaign to undermine the […]

Read more

 

November 7, 2012

Irish DPA announces action on failed police self-regulation

This article is also available in: Deutsch: [Fehlgeschlagene Selbstregulierung bei der Polizei: Irische Datenschutzbehörde kündigt Maßnahmen an | https://www.unwatched.org/EDRigram_10.21_Fehlgeschlagene_Selbstregulierung_bei_der_Polizei?pk_campaign=edri&pk_kwd=20121107] Apparently illegal abuses of the Irish police (“An Garda Síochána”) database show no sign of being brought to an end, despite repeated announcements on the issue by the Irish Data Protection Commissioner (DPC). Problems with the […]

Read more

November 7, 2018 · Blogs | Privacy and data protection | Cross border access to data | Data protection standards | Surveillance and data retention

Brussels up close – Experiences from the EDRi exchange programme

Learning and knowing abstractly how the EU works is one thing, seeing it up close and doing advocacy work right there is quite another! I am a Policy Advisor for the Austrian EDRi member organisation "epicenter.works – for digital rights" and, in October 2018, I spent two weeks with the EDRi office in Brussels. My aim was to get a better understanding of EU law making and advocacy.

Read more

 

July 5, 2006 · Blogs

Terrorist Finance Tracking Program raises privacy questions

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) On 22-23 June 2006, the New York Times published a story uncovering an international financial surveillance programme, called Terrorist Finance Tracking Program, run by the US authorities. After the 11 September 2001 attacks, the US Treasury Department and/or CIA starting getting access to international transfer data, available […]

Read more

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 […]

Read more

July 27, 2016 · Blogs

German surveillance laws: placebos, poison, and also bad sport

The German parliament, the Bundestag, voted in favour of two contentious surveillance laws in July 2016. These are not only disappointing with regard to their content but also as cases of dubious parliamentary procedure. Those observing international politics may be familiar with the phrase “burying bad news”. The phrase gained notoriety through leaked emails from […]

Read more

 

November 21, 2018 · Blogs | Information democracy | Freedom of expression online | Platform regulation

ENDitorial: Facebook can never get it right

In 2017, a man posted live footage on Facebook of a murder he was committing. The platform decides whether you get to see this shocking footage or not – an incredibly tricky decision to make. And not really the kind of decision we want Facebook to be in charge of at all.

Read more

 

June 18, 2014 · Blogs

Neelie Kroes’ campaign to kill net neutrality

Two months have passed since the European Parliament adopted amendments to enshrine net neutrality in EU law at the beginning of April 2014. The Telecoms Single Market proposal is now being reviewed by the Council (Member States) of the EU. Rather than sitting back and waiting for the Council to carry out its work, Vice […]

Read more

July 2, 2008

ENDitorial: Sweden is listening to all internet and phone conversations

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) In Denmark we already have Data Retention in place and the rest of Europe will follow soon. That means that our own countries demand that Internet companies and phone companies log who we phone, email with, chat with, which websites we visit, etc. This is something that […]

Read more

January 28, 2009

France: Who have they forgotten to control today?

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) The CNIL, the French Data Protection Authority, has published on 20 January 2009 a report on a massive control operation it conducted on the STIC (“Système de traitement des infractions constatées” or “Recorded offences treatment system”), a huge police database. The report reveals that the STIC is […]

Read more