February 8, 2017 · Blogs

Are the US-EU data agreements still alive?

Late on the first day of Computers, Data Protection and Privacy (CPDP) Conference on 25 January 2017, word came through that US President Donald Trump had issued Executive Order (EO), “Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States”, which included the following: Privacy Act. Agencies shall, to the extent consistent with applicable law, […]

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March 13, 2017 · Blogs

#NetCompetition wants an improved Electronic Communications Code

Today, on 13 March 2017, #NetCompetition, an alliance of consumer organisations, service providers and network operators, digital rights organisations and online content providers, adopted its position paper on the European Commission’s proposal for a European Electronic Communications Code. Despite some general positive aspects, we have concluded that the proposed Directive to establish a European Electronic Communications […]

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May 17, 2017 · Blogs

ALTwitter – profiling with metadata

When we are sharing links, events or ideas through social media, we leave behind a trace of metadata: when and how often, which days of the week, in which language, using which hashtag, linking to which users or websites, and so on. Those details might not say much when we look at each piece of […]

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September 20, 2017 · Blogs

Should video-sharing platforms be part of the AVMSD?

The Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD) is currently being reformed. After going through several legislative stages, the AVMSD is now being negotiated in trilogues, that is, informal, secret negotiations between the European Parliament (representing citizens) and the Council (representing EU Member States), facilitated by the European Commission (representing EU interests). As part of the negotiations, […]

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September 20, 2017 · Blogs

Secret documents reveal: BND attacked Tor and advises not to use it

The German spy agency BND developed a system to monitor the anonymity network Tor and warned federal agencies that its anonymity is “ineffective”. This is what emerges from a series of secret documents published by the German Netzpolitik blog. The spies handed a prototype of this technology over to the US National Security Agency (NSA), […]

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October 17, 2017 · Blogs | Information democracy | Data protection standards | Freedom of expression online

EU Council legal services unclear about censorship filters

On 16 October 2017, Politico leaked the response from the Legal Services of the Council of the European Union (CLS) to the questions raised by six member states about the legality of the upload filter proposal in the Article 13 of the Copyright Directive proposal. As the censorship filter is about restricting fundamental rights, it […]

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November 29, 2017 · Blogs | Privacy and data protection | Surveillance and data retention

Dutch mass surveillance law receives two BBA nominations

Until 9 November 2017 people in the Netherlands could nominate individuals, organisations and companies for a Big Brother Award. The three most “popular” nominees are now in the running to become the biggest privacy offender of the year. Two of the three nominees, Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) parliamentary party leader Sybrand Buma and the Cabinet, […]

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December 21, 2017 · Blogs

Holiday must reads – our best of 2017

The year 2017 has been a busy one. We’ve been fighting the censorship machine, supporting the adoption of a strong ePrivacy Regulation, working towards a balanced approach to law enforcement online and defending data protection in the context of trade negotiations. We also published 221 articles on our website – to sum up the most […]

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December 21, 2017 · Blogs

Have yourself happy privacy friendly holidays!

It’s (nearly) holiday time. And with holidays, there come the family’s holiday gatherings holding forth the possibility of awkward or tense moments. But fear not – it is time to take over the conversation and educate your family about digital rights!

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January 10, 2018 · Blogs | Privacy and data protection | Data protection standards

Commission claims that general monitoring is not general monitoring

Will everything we do on the internet be monitored and checked against by a non-transparent mechanism that decides what can be published? It is a real threat, and currently it is coming from an area that patently does not require such draconian measures: EU copyright law. This threat is a peculiar one, because there are […]

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February 21, 2018 · Blogs | Information democracy | Freedom of expression online

Copyright reform: The Bulgarian Presidency strikes back

Article 13 is a key issue in the discussions on the “Proposal for a Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market” that have been going on since 2016. It proposes requiring services that store content on the internet for users to “take measures, such as content recognition technologies, aimed at preventing the upload of […]

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March 28, 2018 · Campaigns | Information democracy | Freedom of expression online | Platform regulation

Proposed internet filter will strip citizens of their rights: Your action is needed!

Policy makers are working on the largest internet filter we’ve ever seen.

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