September 7, 2016 · Blogs

ENDitorial: “When crypto is outlawed, only outlaws will have crypto”

Fortunately, all terrorists are law-abiding citizens. That must have been what the interior ministers of France and Germany were thinking when they asked on 23 August the European Commission to draft a new law that would require services such as Telegram to cooperate with the decryption of encrypted communications. In their joint press statement, the […]

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July 19, 2006

"Free cultures – Free Internet"

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) This was the motto of a Swiss symposium on Internet Governance held on 7 July at ETH Zurich. Inspired by the international efforts of convening an Internet Governance Forum (IGF) the symposium in Zurich was co-organized by ETH Zurich, a leading Swiss technical university and SWITCH, a […]

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February 19, 2020 · Blogs | Open internet and inclusive technology | Privacy and data protection | Artificial intelligence (AI) | Biometrics | Data protection standards | Profiling practices | Surveillance and data retention

A human-centric internet for Europe

The European Union has set digital transformation as one of its key pillars for the next five years. New data-driven technologies, including Artificial Intelligence (AI), offer societal benefits – but addressing their potential risks to our democratic values, the rule of law, and fundamental rights must be a top priority. “By driving a human rights-centric […]

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July 19, 2006

Commission strengthens the data protection policy

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) Following a complaint by a German citizen against the Hamburg State on the way the public authorities may handle the personal data and a series of arguments from the European Ombudsman and European Data Protection Supervisor, the European Commission decided to review its interpretation of the Data […]

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January 9, 2019 · Blogs | Information democracy | Privacy and data protection | Data protection standards | Privacy and confidentiality

Bits of Freedom announces winner of privacy award

The Dutch Big Brother Awards will take place on 22 January 2019 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. This year’s distinguished winner of the Felipe Rodriguez Award is Kirsten Fiedler, Managing Director of European Digital Rights. With this award, a Dutch digital rights organisation, EDRi member Bits of Freedom recognises people and organisations who have made a remarkable […]

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August 2, 2006 · Blogs

EDRI-gram in German

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) Starting with July 2006, EDRI-gram will be available also in German, a few days after the English edition. The translation is done by Andreas Krisch from the EDRI-member VIBE!AT – Austrian Association for Internet Users. Translations are available for all 2006 editions back to issue 3.23 at […]

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February 17, 2009

Open letter to the European Parliament – Telecom Package

Dear Members of the European Parliament, We welcome the various statements by the EU to incorporate citizen’s interests within the policy-making process for the Internet and we would like to draw your attention to some serious concerns we have in respect to the Telecoms Package, which is about to enter the Second Reading stage in […]

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March 11, 2020 · On the ground | Privacy and data protection | Biometrics | Data protection standards | Privacy and confidentiality

Security Information Service wins the Czech Big Brother Awards

The Czech Big Brother Award (BBA) 2019 winners are the Czech Security Information Service (BIS), the antivirus company Avast, and the energy company PRE. Positive prize of Edward Snowden went to the city of Prague.

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August 2, 2006 · Blogs

End of activities Bits of Freedom

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) From 1 September 2006 the Dutch NGO Bits of Freedom (BOF) will cease its activities. Since its establishment in 2000, Bits of Freedom has successfully defended digital civil rights, such as privacy on the Internet and online freedom of speech in the Netherlands. The board of Bits […]

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August 1, 2007

A German court held Skype responsible for having failed to meet GPL terms

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) Following a complained filed by gpl-violations.org which holds the copyright for parts of the Linux kernel, the Munich District Court found Skype in infringement of the General Public Licence (GPL) terms. Skype offered SMC WSKP100 VoIP telephone produced by the Spanish manufacturer SMC Networks, running with Linux, […]

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July 30, 2014 · Blogs

French Digital Council publishes report on platform neutrality

The CNNum (Conseil National du Numérique), the French National Digital Council, published a report on 13 June 2014. The report follows a 2013 request from the Ministry of the economy and digital affairs as well as the secretary of state on digital affairs on two issues: the European Commission’s investigation of Google’s dominant market position […]

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January 16, 2019 · On the ground | Information democracy | Freedom of expression online

We can no longer talk about sex on Facebook in Europe

Sometime in late 2018, Facebook quietly added “Sexual Solicitation” to its list of “Objectionable Content”. Without notifying its users. This is quite remarkable, to put it mildly, as for many people sex is far from being a negligible part of life.

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