May 24, 2006

Data Retention faces growing opposition in Germany

The EU directive on mandatory retention of communications traffic data went into force as an EU law on 3 May 2006, but its transposition into national laws seems more uncertain than before. 16 of the 25 member states of the EU have declared that they will delay the retention of Internet traffic data for an […]

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May 5, 2021 · Blogs | Press mentions | Information democracy | Artificial intelligence (AI) | Biometrics | Privacy and confidentiality | Surveillance and data retention

EU’s new artificial intelligence law risks enabling Orwellian surveillance states

When analysing how AI systems might impact people of colour, migrants and other marginalised groups, context matters. Whilst AI developers may be able to predict and prevent some negative biases, for the most part, such systems will inevitably exacerbate injustice. This is because AI systems are deployed in a wider context of systematic discrimination and violence, particularly in the field of policing and migration.

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December 4, 2024 · Blogs | Privacy and data protection | Artificial intelligence (AI) | Online tracking industry / AdTech | Surveillance and data retention

New European Commission confirmed: our takeaways on what to expect

On 1 December 2024, the new political leaders of one of the EU’s most powerful institutions – the European Commission – officially took office. As part of their nomination process, they shared their digital visions for the next five years. Spoiler alert: the fight for digital rights will be as important as ever, with data protection, encryption and privacy all on the chopping block.

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April 22, 2022 · Blogs | Privacy and data protection | Privacy and confidentiality

Internal documents revealed the worst for private communications in the EU; how will the Commissioners respond?

EDRi, Europe's biggest network for rights and freedoms across Europe and beyond, urge the European Commission to not put forward a CSAM proposal that would undermine the CJEU prohibition of general monitoring or subject Europeans to monitoring that would turn their devices into spyware.

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January 6, 2017 · Blogs

Chaos Communication Congress 2016

The 33rd annual four-day hacker conference Chaos Communication Congress, organised by EDRi member Chaos Computer Club, took place on 27-30 December 2016. The congress offered lectures, workshops and other events on various topics related to information technology and its effects on the society. These issues are now more pressing than ever, so in case you […]

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September 22, 2021 · Blogs | Privacy and data protection | Artificial intelligence (AI) | Data protection standards | Platform regulation | Privacy and confidentiality

Human rights focus missing in the State of the Union 2021 address

On 15 September, the yearly State of the Union 2021 address took place. The address is the event where the European Commission evaluates the preceding year and the Commission President announces key legislation or reactions to crucial international events.

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March 12, 2014 · Blogs

Facebook subject to German data protection law, court rules

A recent decision from the High Court of Berlin rules that Facebook is subject to German data protection law. The ruling contradicts a previous ruling by the Administrative Court of Appeals of the Federal State of Schleswig-Holstein, which ruled in April last year that Irish data protection rules applied over German data processing, since German […]

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October 5, 2011

French Internet users on the verge of being disconnected

This article is also available in: Deutsch: [Französischen Internet-Usern drohen Netzsperren | http://www.unwatched.org/EDRigram_9.19_Franzoesischen_Interne_Usern_drohen_Netzsperren?pk_campaign=edri&pk_kwd=20111011] The French authority in charge with fighting copyright infringement, Hadopi, presented on 29 September 2011 its first activity report covering 18 months, beginning of 2010 until June 2011. According to the report, since the beginning of its activity, the first warning stage […]

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September 25, 2013 · Blogs

Spain: New penal sanctions proposed for alleged illegal linking

Spain plans to toughen its legislation by including penal sanctions for publishing links to alleged pirated content. From a very relaxed environment some years ago, Spain is, more and more, giving in to US pressure after having been threatened to be put on the blacklisted countries. Since his election in December 2011, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has […]

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November 23, 2016 · Blogs

#5 Freedom not to be labelled: How to fight profiling

This is the fifth blogpost of our series dedicated to privacy, security and freedoms. In the next weeks, we will explain how your freedoms are under threat, and what you can do to fight back.

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May 4, 2011 · Blogs

French Digital Council with no representative from Internet users

This article is also available in: Deutsch: [Frankreichs Internet-Rat ohne Konsumentenvertreter | http://www.unwatched.org/EDRigram_9.9_Franzoesischer_Internetrat_ohne_Vertretung_der_Internetnutzer] On 27 April 2011, French President Nicolas Sarkozy officially installed the National Digital Council (Conseil national du numérique – CNN) which is to advise the French government on digital issues. Among the 18 personalities belonging to the newly established body, there is […]

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April 8, 2016 · Blogs

Special report: Poland’s secret services are still using and abusing telecom and Internet data

With almost two million requests for telecommunication data and more than two thousand requests for Internet data concerning Polish citizens in 2015, it is clear that the access to metadata in Poland by the country’s secret services is still out of control. Compared to 2014, the Polish Panoptykon Foundation found that the number of requests […]

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