November 20, 2013 · Blogs

Search Engines Pushed To Inefficient Internet Filtering

The UK government continues its endeavours to censor the Internet and has succeeded in convincing search engines to filter search term results “associated” with child abuse images within its child abuse policy, despite the lack of proof of any efficiency of such measures, the rinks to abuses and the dangers to the citizens’ democratic rights. […]

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April 30, 2025 · Blogs | Privacy and data protection

‘ProtectEU’ security strategy: a step further towards a digital dystopian future

The European Commission presented an internal security strategy that would undermine digital rights and even increase security threats. We unpack what ‘ProtectEU’ means for the EU’s future digital policy, including on encryption, data retention, and border surveillance.

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May 2, 2018 · Blogs | Privacy and data protection | Biometrics | Data protection standards | Online tracking industry / AdTech

Facebook: Unanswered questions

On 9 April 2018, EDRi received an invitation from Facebook to attend a meeting to the loss of trust in Facebook, following the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

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September 25, 2019 · Blogs | Privacy and data protection | Surveillance and data retention

Why EU passenger surveillance fails its purpose

The EU Directive imposing the collection of flyers’ information (Passenger Name Record, PNR) was adopted in April 2016, the same day as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The collection of PNR data from all flights going in and out of Brussels has a strong impact on the right of privacy of individuals and it […]

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November 20, 2019 · Blogs | Information democracy | Freedom of expression online | Platform regulation

A privately managed public space?

Our “public spaces” online where we meet each other, organise, or speak about social issues, are often controlled and dominated by private companies (platforms like Facebook and YouTube). Pushing platforms to decide which opinions we are allowed to express and which not is not going to solve major problems in our society. The EU rules […]

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March 26, 2008

UK: Phorm targeted advertising practices – under pressure

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) A large controversy has been lately spurred in the UK by the new technology Phorm, which can track users’ online surfing habits in order to better target ads. The Phorm system is apparently meant to assign a unique identifying number to a user’s browser, which, according to […]

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March 10, 2010

Survey on Chip implants in Germany

This article is also available in: Deutsch: [Gutachten zu Chipimplantaten in Deutschland | http://www.unwatched.org/node/1761] According to a survey carried out by German IT industry lobby group BITKOM, 23% out of 1000 German respondents would accept to have a microchip implanted in their body if that would bring concrete benefits from it. The survey was meant […]

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June 16, 2021 · Blogs | Privacy and data protection

Data retention, location data, cookie banners: the ePrivacy Regulation is coming

Besides cookies, the purpose of the ePrivacy Directive is to regulate a much wider area: it contains specific data protection provisions for electronic communications data, in particular content data, traffic metadata, and location data that accrues when using the internet or talking on the phone. Importantly, it also regulates if and to what extent public authorities can access this data: Article 15 of the Directive provides that restrictions of the data protection provisions need to constitute "a necessary, appropriate and proportionate measure within a democratic society to safeguard national security".

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October 21, 2022 · Blogs | Position papers | Privacy and confidentiality

Position Paper: State access to encrypted data

EDRi’s new policy paper on encryption highlights that our privacy and security must be strongly protected, keeping into account the recent policy developments on encryption and law enforcement. Trust in communication systems is vital for our lives and connections with others. This allows us to work, socialise, organise, express ourselves, and care for each other safely.

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May 5, 2021 · Blogs | EDRi-gram | Information democracy | Freedom of expression online | Platform regulation

Four measures to limit the dominance of platforms like YouTube and Facebook

For our public debate, we are far too dependent on the whims of dominant companies such as Google and Facebook. The time is nigh for politicians to step in, and here are four measures they should take.

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March 12, 2008

EDRi's Statement at WIPO SCCR

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) On 11 March 2008 Ville Oksanen, representing EDRi at the WIPO SCCR, made the following statement on the agenda item related to limitations & exceptions: “European Digital Rights, EDRI, represents 28 privacy and civil rights organisations from 17 different countries in Europe. As this is the first […]

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July 3, 2013 · Blogs

Future of Copyright Contest 2013

This article is also available in: Deutsch: [Wettbewerb ‘Future of Copyright’ 2013 | https://www.unwatched.org/EDRigram_11.13_Wettbewerb_Future_of_Copyright_2013?pk_campaign=edri&pk_kwd=20130703] This year, the EDRi member Modern Poland Foundation is again asking people all over the world about their vision of the future of copyright. There are now 4 days to go before the end of the crowd founding campaign and there […]

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