June 4, 2003

Irish DPA threatens government with court case

According to an article in the Irish Times of 26 May, the Irish Data Protection Commissioner Mr Joe Meade has twice threatened to begin High Court proceedings against the Government for using an “invalid” Ministerial Direction to unconstitutionally store citizens’ phone, fax and mobile call data for 3 years. As reported in EDRI-gram nr. 3, […]

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January 29, 2014 · Blogs

Dutch Court finds Pirate Bay blocking disproportionate

In a new instalment of the Dutch saga of copyrightholders representative BREIN demanding courts to order ISPs to block The Pirate Bay this mostly worrisome string of court decisions takes a turn for the better: the The Hague Court of Appeals has judged that previous blocking orders that had been granted have been mostly ineffective […]

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April 5, 2017 · Blogs

What to do with the online platforms – the academics point of view

The rise of “platform economy” with rapid growth of online intermediary platforms, such as Airbnb, Uber, Amazon Marketplace, and also dating, gaming and other services is bringing new challenges not only for existing business models, but also for European legislation. In a meeting of Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) Committee Working Group on the […]

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September 25, 2019 · Blogs | On the ground | Information democracy | Freedom of expression online | Platform regulation

Facebook users blocked simply for mentioning a name?

Merely writing or including two words, in this case “Tommy Robinson”, in a Facebook post or link is enough to get the post removed and the writer blocked. At least it seems so in Denmark and Sweden.

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April 19, 2017 · Blogs

Data mining for profit and election result – how predictable are we?

Did Donald Trump become president because he hired the data mining firm Cambridge Analytica, which uses profiling and micro-targeting in political elections? Some say yes, many say no. But what we know is that we are subjected to extensive personalised commercial and political messaging on the basis of data, including metadata, collected and used without […]

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March 25, 2015 · Blogs

The evolution of the concept of privacy

In 1776, John Adams wrote that it had been the British right to search houses without justification that sparked the fight for independence. In other words, John Adams thought that it had been an unjustified violation of privacy that had kindled one of history’s most noteworthy revolutions. More than two centuries later, those unruly colonies […]

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May 17, 2016 · Blogs

Press Release: Dutch government prohibits price discrimination for internet access

The Dutch parliament has approved a proposal from the government to prohibit online price discrimination (“zero rating”). Zero rating is when telecom operators do not charge customers for data used by specific applications or internet services but charge them for others. The Netherlands’ vote is in accordance with the country’s history of upholding strong net […]

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September 5, 2017 · Blogs

Six states raise concerns about legality of Copyright Directive

According to a new leak, a number of EU Member States share our serious concerns about the proposal for mass surveillance and censorship of uploads to the internet in Europe, included in the European Commission’s proposal for a new copyright Directive. Those Member States seem unwilling to build a censorship machine forcing EU countries to […]

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May 23, 2007

The Italian Big Brother Awards for 2007

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) On 19 May 2007, the two-day e-Privacy Conference in Florence hosted the Big Brother Awards Italy. The candidates for the awards were selected by a jury made of seven members. The people’s choice price “The People’s lament” was won by far by Telecom Italia especially for the […]

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May 15, 2014 · Blogs

European Action Day #WePromiseEU

Presse release – Today, a coalition of 36 civil rights organisations from all over Europe invites everyone to participate in a EU-wide action day to demand that the next European Parliament defends digital civil and human rights. The European Parliament is taking more and more decisions that have a direct impact on our rights and […]

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June 21, 2006

EU proposes accessibility standards in public procurement

In a ministerial meeting that took place in Riga on 12 June 2006, ministers from European countries have signed a declaration to diminish the gap in Internet usage for groups at risk of exclusion, but also to increase broadband coverage. The Riga Ministerial Declaration was signed by ministers of 34 European countries from EU Member […]

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September 20, 2016 · Blogs

EU is now giving Google new monopolies

Originally published on The European Sting There is a lot of noise in the press and among lobbyists about an alleged hostility of the EU towards big American internet companies. Reality is more nuanced and more surprising – the policies appear to be hell-bent on giving Google new monopolies, to the detriment of European citizens […]

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