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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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.
Read more
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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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Electronic Frontier Norway (EFN) reports “Shinigami Eyes” to the Norwegian DPA for violation of GDPR
EDRi member Electronic Frontier Norway (EFN) found that the use of the program “Shinigami Eyes” and the operation of the database it uses constitute multiple violations of the GDPR and its Norwegian implementation. The most egregious of these being the clear violation of Article 9 which prohibits the registrations of people’s political views, philosophical convictions and physical persons sexual relations or sexual orientations etc.
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Targeted Online: How Big Tech’s business model sells your deepest secrets for profit
Surveillance-based advertising which is currently the business model used by Google, Facebook and many others is harmful to people and to society as a whole because it encourages the spread of disinformation. It's also bad for the media who lose control of their ad space and suffer from decreasing revenue as a result.
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Surveillance-based advertising: An industry broken by design and by default
Most online advertising today relies on huge amounts of personal data extracted from people without their knowledge. EDRi’s new guide book “Targeted Online” sheds light on this opaque data industry and explores how EU law should regulate it. This is the first blog post in a new series dedicated to the EU’s proposed Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act.
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ePrivacy strikes back
“And when we woke up, the ePrivacy Regulation was still there”, could be the EU bubble version of the famous micro-tale. Four years after the main text protecting privacy and confidentiality of people in the EU was proposed, Member States have finally given the green light to finalise the adoption. But, where will this lead us?
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Wiretapping children’s private communications: Four sets of fundamental rights problems for children (and everyone else)
On 27 July 2020, the European Commission published a Communication on an EU strategy for a more effective fight against child sexual abuse material (CSAM). As a long-term proposal is expected to be released by this summer, we review some of the fundamental rights issues posed by the initiatives that push for the scan of all private communications.
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Polish law on “protecting the freedoms of social media users” will do exactly the opposite
EDRi member Panoptykon Foundation carefully analyses the Polish law on “the protection of freedoms of social media users” which turns out to introduce data retention, a new, questionable definition of “unlawful content”, and an oversight body that is likely to be politically compromised.
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2021: 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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Looking back at digital rights in the era of a surveillance pandemic
2020 started as a year to build momentum to tackle various digital rights issues, including mass surveillance and freedom of expression online. Needless to say, the global pandemic disrupted not only these efforts but also our health, personal relations, basic survival needs and ways to organise around human rights. After 9 months of living and working in a pandemic, we look back at what we achieved and the ways forward from here.
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EU alphabet soup of digital acts: DSA, DMA and DGA
Members of the European Commission appointed in 2019 agreed to put digital policies as one of the cornerstones of EU legislation between 2019-2023. These include the Digital Services Act (DSA), the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and the Data Governance Act (DGA). So, what are the differences between these acts?
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A vicious circle? Enabling privacy-friendly alternatives to behavioural advertising
EDRi member Panoptykon Foundation published a report “To Track or Not to Track: Towards Privacy-Friendly and Sustainable Advertising” which argues that there is only one winner in this supposed “win-win” situation: the ad tech industry.
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