All hands on deck: What the European Parliament should do about the DSA
After the European Commission’s proposal for a Digital Services Act (DSA) in December 2020, no less than seven committees in the European Parliament are now drafting their reports and opinions on the DSA. In parallel, member states are deliberating about the Council’s position, too. Yet, while the Commission has carefully tried to modernise the ageing rules of the E-Commerce Directive and make them fit for the platform economy, several of the committees’ draft reports propose—deliberately or not—to turn the DSA into a dystopian fundamental rights nightmare.
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All hands on deck: What the European Parliament should do about the DSA
After the European Commission’s proposal for a Digital Services Act (DSA) in December 2020, no less than seven committees in the European Parliament are now drafting their reports and opinions on the DSA. In parallel, member states are deliberating about the Council’s position, too. Yet, while the Commission has carefully tried to modernise the ageing rules of the E-Commerce Directive and make them fit for the platform economy, several of the committees’ draft reports propose—deliberately or not—to turn the DSA into a dystopian fundamental rights nightmare.
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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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It’s official. Your private communications can (and will) be spied on
On 6 July, the European Parliament adopted in a final vote the derogation to the main piece of EU legislation protecting privacy, the ePrivacy Directive, to allow Big Tech to scan your emails, messages and other online communications.
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Joint Civil Society Statement Urges IMCO Committee to Uphold Fundamental Rights in the DSA
On 1 July 2021, along with 6 leading civil society organisations EDRi signed a joint statement urging Members of the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee (IMCO) in the European Parliament to uphold fundamental rights and democratic principles in the final Digital Services Act (DSA) regulation.
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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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Fear and loathing in the UK adequacy decision
The Council of the European Union unanimously approved the United Kingdom (UK) draft adequacy decision. In an ideal world, this would indicate that the UK offers an adequate level of protection for personal data, and would signal their willingness to retain those standards. Unfortunately, reality tells a different story, that should be worrying for human rights advocates on both sides of the channel.
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Five reasons to claim victory on the EU Digital COVID Certificate
On 8 June 2021, the European Parliament voted on the interinstitutional compromise text on the regulation(s) on the EU Digital COVID Certificate (EU DCC, also known as the Digital Green Certificate and the European Green Pass). The proposed legislation regulates the “framework for the issuance, verification and acceptance of interoperable certificates on vaccination, testing and recovery” with aim of facilitating free movement during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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How Europol’s reform enables ‘NSA-style’ surveillance operations
“More than 100 million”. That’s the number of encrypted messages that French and Dutch law enforcement announced they had collected after infiltrating Encrochat in 2020, a company selling encrypted communication services and devices, writes EDRi's Chloé Berthélémy.
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German Big Brother Awards call out top privacy abusers
On Friday, 11 June 2021, the German Big Brother Awards (BBA) gala was held in Bielefeld, Germany. Organised by EDRi member Digitalcourage with jury members and support from several German groups, including other EDRi members, these awards have been held since 2000
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EDRi joins the Tracking-Free Ads Coalition in the European Parliament
Today, European Digital Rights (EDRi) together with 25+ other organisations joins the Tracking-Free Ads Coalition, led by Members of the European Parliament, as supporters. The coalition is made up of a group of 19 Members of European Parliament committed to ending the pervasive tracking and data mining that has poisoned online advertising across every corner of the internet.
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How online ads discriminate
The risks and harms that are associated with hyper-targeted online ads have been widely documented. Yet, the same amount of attention has not been shown to the many ways in which harms and risks of online advertising are unequally distributed, and how targeted online advertising can have discriminatory effects. This is the focus of EDRi’s newly launched report.
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IuRe teams up with journalist to sue the Czech state for mobile phone data collection
The Czech state has been collecting data on the mobile communications of all its citizens. While the content of the communication remains unknown, other types of data are stored for six months through telecommunication operators. The stored data includes information on phone traffic and the locations of the internet connection. However, according to EDRi's member Iuridicum Remedium (IuRe), such large-scale data collection conflicts with European legislation. Therefore, together with investigative journalist Jan Cibulka, it has decided to sue the Czech state and demand an apology for illegal data collection.
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