EDRi-gram, 22 September 2021
In this EDRi-gram, we challenge the technical ‘debiasing’ as the main solution to AI-driven structural inequality and call on policymakers to tackle the root causes of the power imbalances caused by the pervasive use of AI systems. We also look at how Big Tech platforms are harming users and join forces with EDRi's member Panoptykon Foundation, along with 49 civil rights organisations, to urge the EU to empower users and ensure effective oversight of algorithms in their amendments to the Digital Services Act.
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EDRi-gram, 22 September 2021
In this EDRi-gram, we challenge the technical ‘debiasing’ as the main solution to AI-driven structural inequality and call on policymakers to tackle the root causes of the power imbalances caused by the pervasive use of AI systems. We also look at how Big Tech platforms are harming users and join forces with EDRi's member Panoptykon Foundation, along with 49 civil rights organisations, to urge the EU to empower users and ensure effective oversight of algorithms in their amendments to the Digital Services Act.
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Digital Dignity Document Pool
Digital technologies can have a profound effect on our societies, but sufficient attention is rarely given to how certain applications differentiate between, target and experiment on communities at the margins. This document pool gathers resources for those that are interested in learning about and contesting the harms to dignity and equality that arise from uses of technology and data.
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EDRi-gram, 8 September 2021
In the first post-summer edition of the EDRi-gram, we are excited to announce EDRi's new staff members who have recently become part of the team. Join us in welcoming Fenya Fischler, who will be our Membership and Community Officer & Belén Luna, our new Campaigns Officer! We are also celebrating a big milestone in our signature collection to ban biometric mass surveillance as 60 000 people have signed the #ReclaimYourFace petition (hurray)
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No place for emotion recognition technologies in Italian museums
An Italian museum trials emotion recognition systems, despite the practice being heavily criticised by data protection authorities, scholars and civil society. The ShareArt system collects, among others, age, gender and emotions of people. EDRi member Hermes Center called the DPA for an investigation.
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Who will not be blocked by Facebook? SIN wins the first court battle
The District Court in Warsaw (Appellate Division) upheld its interim measures ruling from 2019 in which it temporarily prohibited Facebook from removing fan pages, run by the Polish NGO “SIN”, on Facebook and Instagram, as well as from blocking individual posts. This means that – until the case is decided – SIN’s activists may carry out their drugs-related education on the platform without concerns that they will suddenly lose the possibility to communicate with their audience. The decision is now final. EDRi's member Panoptykon Foundation sheds some light on the case and what it means on the broader scale.
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They can hear you: 6 ways tech is listening to you
Voice recognition technology often violates human rights, and it’s popping up more and more. Recently EDRi's member Access Now called out Spotify for developing voice recognition tech that claims to be able to detect gender and emotional state, among other things. But it’s not just Spotify. Some of the most powerful companies in the world are deploying similar abusive tech because harvesting data about you is profitable. The market for voice recognition is growing, expected to be worth a whopping $26.8 billion by 2025.
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EU privacy regulators and Parliament demand AI and biometrics red lines
In their Joint Opinion on the AI Act, the EDPS and EDPB “call for [a] ban on [the] use of AI for automated recognition of human features in publicly accessible spaces, and some other uses of AI that can lead to unfair discrimination”. Taking the strongest stance yet, the Joint Opinion explains that “intrusive forms of AI – especially those who may affect human dignity – are to be seen as prohibited” on fundamental rights grounds.
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EDRi-gram, 14 July 2021
Whilst EU laws say that each of us is innocent until proven guilty, the prevalence of biometric mass surveillance practices across Europe flips this on its head. Each of us is treated as suspicious until ‘proven’ innocent, by often discriminatory and persecutory deployments of systems that never should have been rolled out in the first place.
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EDRi-gram, 30 June 2021
Covid 19 brought the often invisible power of tech into sharp focus as it fostered the digitalisation of our lives forcing us to rely more heavily on technology to meet all our needs. In response, EDRi emphasised that measures taken should not lead to discrimination of any form, and governments must remain vigilant to the disproportionate harms that marginalised groups can face.
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The #PaperBagSociety challenge
The #PaperBagSociety is a social media challenge part of the #ReclaimYourFace campaign that invites everyone to share online the impact of living life with a paperbag on the head. With it, we aim to raise awareness of how ridiculous is to avoid facial recognition technologies in public spaces and why we need to build an alternative future, free from biometric mass surveillance.
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EDRis interactive Annual Report: A year in review of the digital rights field
Despite a challenging year, the European Digital Rights network has been relentlessly working to advocate for better digital policies, challenge creepy surveillance, inform and mobilise people across Europe. Read more about the need of digital rights and our impact in 2020 in our newly launched interactive Annual Report.
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Workplace, public space: workers organising in the age of facial recognition
‘Surveillance capitalism’ is increasingly threatening workers’ collective action and the human right to public protest.
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