May 11, 2023 · Press releases | Privacy and data protection | Artificial intelligence (AI)

EU Parliament sends a global message to protect human rights from AI

Today, the Internal Market Committee (IMCO) and the Civil Liberties Committee (LIBE) committees took several important steps to make this landmark legislation more people-focused by banning AI systems used for biometric surveillance, emotion recognition and predictive policing. Disappointingly, the MEPs stopped short of protecting the rights of migrants.

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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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February 2, 2016 · Blogs

European Commission defence of European rights sinks in an unsafe harbour

Following the decision of the European Court of Justice to overturn the EU/US “Safe Harbor” Agreement last year, EU/US negotiations have been ongoing to reach a new deal, which would facilitate transfer of data across the Atlantic. Having failed to reach an agreement before 1 February, the European Commission today announced plans to back down […]

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December 5, 2005

Illegal video surveillance on Slovenian motorways

In Slovenia the number of installed surveillance video cameras on the roads is increasing rapidly. Apart from the CCTV systems on sections of so called “smart motorways” – which enable real-time monitoring of important traffic parameters and the informing of drivers via traffic portals – a large number of surveillance video cameras is installed on […]

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December 20, 2006

Proposal of computers online searching in Germany

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) Earlier this year, Ingo Wolf, the Minister of the Interior of the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia, and Wolfgang Schäuble, the German Federal Minister, proposed certain plans that would give the police and the Interior Federal Office of Criminal Investigation permission to access online computers of […]

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May 7, 2003

Danish company convicted for spamming

The Danish company Fonndanmark was convicted for spamming last week. The company, specialised in human resource software, has to pay a fine of EUR 2.000 for sending out 156 unsolicited commercial e-mails to 50 different addresses. In Denmark, spamming is forbidden since June 2000, under section 6a(1) of the Danish Marketing Practices Act (Markedsforingsloven). The […]

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January 15, 2014 · Blogs

Google was fined by French and Spanish Data Protection Authorities

On 19 December 2013, Google was fined by the AEPD – Spanish Data Protection Authority (DPA) with 900 000 Euro for breaching the Spanish data protection provisions. Later on, on 3 January 2014, Google was given the maximum 150 000 Euro fine by CNIL (the French Data Protection Authority) ‘s Sanctions Committee for non-compliance with […]

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July 22, 2019 · Blogs | Open internet and inclusive technology | Privacy and data protection | Equal access to the internet | Platform regulation

Von der Leyen: An ambitious agenda for digital rights

On 16 July 2019, the European Parliament elected Ursula von der Leyen as President of the European Commission with 383 votes, which is only nine votes above the minimum needed. Parts of the Socialists, Liberals, and Greens initially had doubts regarding the candidate. However, her speech in the Plenary before the vote and the agenda […]

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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.

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May 29, 2024 · Blogs | Press mentions | Information democracy

Digital futures for all

In recent years, protecting and advancing digital rights feels like a never-ending battle as more and more of our lives get entangled with the digital world. Challenges to our freedoms online and offline continue to pile up as we face tech corporations with ginormous budgets and states with carte blanche to do anything for ‘national security’ reasons.

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June 13, 2018 · Blogs | Privacy and data protection | Cross border access to data

Wiretapping & data access by foreign courts? Why not!

After the European Commission published two new legislative proposals for law enforcement authorities to be able to reach across EU borders to have access to data directly from service providers, the EU Member States started working on this new “e-evidence” package. The proposal has so far become the object of wide-spread criticism from service providers, […]

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May 29, 2024 · Blogs | Information democracy | Alternatives to dominant digital services | Freedom of expression online | Transparency

The new EU Commission must address information power

Ahead of the European Parliament elections, ARTICLE 19 shares its recommendations for the new European Commission, urging it to strive for a more open information environment across the EU.

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