December 15, 2021 · Blogs | Highlights | Privacy and data protection

2021: Looking back at digital rights in the year of resilience

We started 2021, hoping to leave the tremendously challenging year of 2020 behind. The Covid-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on our societies, causing unprecedented harm to people and economies. If 2020 was the year of the pandemic shock, 2021 was the year of resilience. We had to learn to live in a constant uncertainty of what it would take to keep defending human rights: Could we work and walk down the streets without being constantly surveilled? Would efforts to tackle disinformation distort legitimate content, or would they bring down Big Tech instead? Will 2022 be 2021 2.0? 

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November 30, 2011

Two years into the Stockholm Programme: on the way to e-Fortress Europe?

This article is also available in: Deutsch: [Zwei Jahre Stockholm Programm: Europa auf dem Weg zu einer elektronischen Festung? | https://www.unwatched.org/EDRigram_9.23_Zwei_Jahre_Stockholmer_Programm_Europa_auf_dem_Weg_zu_einer_elektronischen_Festung?pk_campaign=edri&pk_kwd=20111130] It has been two years now since the Stockholm Programme – a 5-year plan for Justice and Home Affairs – was adopted. On 24 November 2011, an experts’ and activists’ round table, organised in […]

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December 1, 2021 · Blogs | Open internet and inclusive technology | Alternatives to dominant digital services | Platform regulation

EU Parliament Takes First Step Towards a Fair and Interoperable Market

The EU’s Proposal for a Digital Market Act (DMA) is an attempt to create a fairer and more competitive market for online platforms in the EU. It sets out a standard for very large platforms, which act as gatekeepers between business users and end users. As gatekeepers “have substantial control over the access to, and are entrenched in digital markets,” the DMA sets out a list of dos and don'ts with which platforms will have to comply.

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February 11, 2009

House of Lords Constitution Committee report on surveillance and privacy

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) The report Surveillance: Citizens and the State recently issued by the House of Lords Constitution Committee supports privacy and considers executive and legal limits must be imposed to surveillance and data collection. The report is a positive step in the promotion of individual freedom and liberty and […]

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March 17, 2022 · Blogs | Highlights | Open letters | Privacy and data protection | Privacy and confidentiality | Surveillance and data retention

Private communications are a cornerstone of democratic society and must be protected in online CSAM legislation

On 17 March 2022, EDRi and 34 other civil society organisations jointly raised our voices to the European Commission to demand that the forthcoming EU ‘Legislation to effectively tackle child sexual abuse’ complies with EU fundamental rights and freedoms. We are seriously concerned that the draft law does not meet the requirements of proportionality and legitimacy that are rightly required of all EU laws, and would set a dangerous precedent for mass spying on private communications.

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December 22, 2011

PrivacyCamp.eu – UnConference on Privacy and Data Protection

24 January 2012 What? The Privacy-Camp.eu is an event in Brussels on privacy and data protection challenges and possibilities in Europe, launched by European Digital Rights (EDRi), the Law, Science, Technology and Society research group at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB-LSTS) and the Facultés universitaires Saint-Louis (FUSL). This event is a free-to-attend pre-conference of Computers, […]

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August 20, 2024 · Blogs | Open internet and inclusive technology | Alternatives to dominant digital services

European Commission cuts funding support for Free Software projects

The Next Generation Internet initiative has supported Free Software projects with funding and technical assistance since 2018. Despite its proven success, the European Commission made the decision to cut this funding in the current draft for the Horizon Europe 2025 Work Programme. This decision highlights the larger problem of the lack of motivated and sustainable public funding for Free Software projects.

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March 11, 2020 · Blogs | Information democracy | Artificial intelligence (AI) | Disinformation and electoral interference | Equal access to the internet | Freedom of expression online

Who should decide what we see online?

Online platforms rank and moderate content without letting us know how and why they do it. There is a pressing need for transparency of the practices and policies of these online platforms.

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March 16, 2020 · Blogs | Information democracy | Privacy and data protection | Data protection standards | Freedom of expression online

Terrorist Content Online Regulation: Time to get things right

Closed-door negotiations (“trilogues”) on the Regulation to prevent the dissemination of terrorist content continue in Brussels. After our open letter from December things have moved on fairly slowly at first, but, recently, new texts are quickly being discussed in order to try to reach an agreement soon. Nonetheless, according to MEP Patrick Breyer, many key issues remain open for discussion.

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April 1, 2020 · Blogs | Information democracy | Open internet and inclusive technology | Privacy and data protection | Alternatives to dominant digital services | Equal access to the internet | Freedom of expression online | Privacy and confidentiality | Surveillance and data retention

#PrivacyCamp20: Event Summary

The 8th edition of Privacy Camp revolved in 2020 around the topic of Technology and Activism, the schedule being composed of ten sessions in different formats. What were these about? Read below a summary of each discussion, with references to full session recordings.

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January 16, 2013 · Blogs

Privacy Camp: civil society warm-up for the CPDP

22 January 2013 in Brussels The Privacy Camp is an event in Brussels on privacy and data protection challenges and possibilities in Europe, launched by European Digital Rights (EDRi), the Law, Science, Technology and Society research group at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB-LSTS) and the Facultés universitaires Saint-Louis (FUSL). This event is a free-to-attend pre-conference […]

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December 18, 2020 · Blogs | Highlights | Open internet and inclusive technology | Privacy and data protection | Online tracking industry / AdTech | Platform regulation | Surveillance and data retention | Transparency

The EU’s attempt to regulate Big Tech: What it brings and what is missing

This week, the European Commission has proposed two long-awaited pieces of digital legislation, the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act. Despite a number of good provisions, there are also major shortcomings which must be addressed to guarantee the protection of digital rights.

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