European Court of Human Rights confirms: weakening of encryption can violate the human right to privacy
In a milestone judgment - Podchasov v. Russia - the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has ruled that weakening of encryption can lead to general and indiscriminate surveillance of the communications of all users and violates the human right to privacy.
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European Court of Human Rights confirms: weakening of encryption can violate the human right to privacy
In a milestone judgment - Podchasov v. Russia - the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has ruled that weakening of encryption can lead to general and indiscriminate surveillance of the communications of all users and violates the human right to privacy.
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A complete U-turn in jurisprudence: HADOPI and the future of the Court of Justice of the European Union’s authority
This blog post argues that, if followed by the Court, the interpretation proposed by the AG would lead to a severe weakening of the CJEU’s authority and legitimacy, more generally. This would be of great symbolic significance in an already challenging environment for the Court which is faced with increasing defiance of Member States in the field of data protection.
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Poland: the government declares no further extension of data retention obligation
Data retention obligation will not be further extended in Polish law on electronic communication. However, the current, unlawful scope of telecommunication data retention remains unchanged.
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2023: Important consultations for your Digital Rights!
Public consultations are an opportunity to influence future legislation at an early stage, in the European Union and beyond. They are your opportunity to help shaping a brighter future for digital rights, such as your right to a private life, data protection, or your freedom of opinion and expression.
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Advocate General recklessly calls for watering down privacy protections
On 27 October, the Advocate General (AG) Szpunar of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) released his opinion on the French ‘HADOPI’ system against online copyright infringements. The case has potentially important implications for the ongoing political debate on data retention by private companies for access by law enforcement authorities.
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New Europol rules massively expand police powers and reduce rights protections
The new rules governing Europol, which came into force at the end of June, massively expand the tasks and powers of the EU’s policing agency whilst reducing external scrutiny of its data processing operations and rights protections for individuals.
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New Data Retention ruling is a victory for civil society
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has announced a historic judgement today: the current telecommunications data retention in Germany violates the fundamental rights of people in the European Union. The underlying data retention law is therefore null and void.
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Belgium’s data retention law must not undermine people’s right to privacy
Belgium's Parliament will soon vote on the draft law on the collection and retention of identification data and metadata in the electronic communications sector and the provision of such data to authorities. This draft law, as it is and if adopted without adequate adjustments, would pose a threat to people’s rights, such as the right to privacy and data protection, freedom of expression and information, press freedoms and professional secrecy guarantees, and would potentially set a dangerous precedent for other Member States.
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2022: Important consultations for your Digital Rights!
Public consultations are an opportunity to influence future legislation at an early stage, in the European Union and beyond. They are your opportunity to help shaping a brighter future for digital rights, such as your right to a private life, data protection, or your freedom of opinion and expression.
Read more
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EU: Data retention strikes back? Options for mass telecoms surveillance under discussion again
In June 2021 the European Commission sought the views of member states on ways to reintroduce the bulk retention of telecoms traffic, location and internet connection data on everyone in the EU. Responses from seven member states, published here, show a divergence of views on what data to retain and when, but a majority in favour of new EU legislation.
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New Belgian data retention law: a European blueprint?
On 21 April 2021, the Belgian Constitutional Court canceled the country’s data retention law, which has allowed every Belgian’s telecom, location and internet metadata to be retained for 12 months, for its potential use in criminal investigations. The Belgian Constitutional Court followed the Court of Justice of the European Union’s (CJEU) judgment released a few months earlier, which declared that practice of general and indiscriminate retention of personal data illegal (for the third time).
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Big brother at the Prague airport. The state refuses to explain how the biometric camera system works
When Václav Mach, collaborator of the Czech digital-legal organization, an EDRi member, Iuridicum Remedium (IuRe) and law student at the University of Olomouc, asked the state for more detailed information on the use of smart biometric cameras at Prague's Václav Havel Airport, he obtained just general phrases. "They kept secret what they could. Their non-transparency doesn’t add to their credibility,“ he says in an interview with HlídacíPes.org. The article below is a summary of the more extensive interview, translated from Czech into English by EDRi member IuRe.
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