November 26, 2004

An Open Letter to the European Parliament on Biometric Registration of all EU Citizens and Residents

!!To the Members of the European Parliament, We the undersigned are calling on you to reject the ‘Draft Council Regulation on standards for security features and biometrics in passports and travel documents issued by Member States’. This is an unnecessary and rushed policy that will have hazardous effects on Europeans’ right to privacy. This policy […]

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May 10, 2006

Public debate on draft anti-terror act in Denmark

On May 10 2006, a public hearing was held in the Danish Parliament on a new proposal for an anti-terror act including surveillance measures. The proposed law may increase camera surveillance, obliges carriers to store passenger data for one year and introduces new measures for the intelligence service. According to the proposal, the intelligence service […]

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September 26, 2012

Freedom Not Fear 2012

This article is also available in: Deutsch: [Freiheit statt Angst 2012 | https://www.unwatched.org/EDRigram_10.18_Freiheit_statt_Angst_2012?pk_campaign=twun&pk_kwd=20121008] The 4-day “Freedom Not Fear 2012” (FNF 2012) event came to a successful end on Monday, 17 September 2012. Organisations and individuals from 11 EU-member states participated to raise their voice for better privacy safeguards, to protest against emerging surveillance measures and […]

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January 15, 2004

UK: 4 million surveillance cameras

With four million CCTV cameras watching the public, the UK now has the highest level of surveillance in the world. The number of closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras has quadrupled in the past three years, and there is now one camera for every 14 people in the UK. According to an article in the newspaper […]

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May 21, 2014 · Blogs

Artist collective threatened with legal action for Google Nest spoof

At the tech conference re:publica which took place on 6-8 May, numerous participants fell for a hoax by the Peng! Collective. During a one-hour presentation on the main stage with the title “your data, our future”, the artist group unveiled a site called “Google Nest” which mimicked the tech giant’s corporate design. The site introduced […]

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November 14, 2011 · Publications

Booklet: Why you should care about ACTA

The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is a plurilateral agreement which proposes international standards for enforcement of intellectual property rights. The Agreement, negotiated by a handful of countries1 in coordination with certain parts of industry, is controversial in both process and substance. If ratified, it will have major implications for freedom of expression, access to culture […]

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December 16, 2009

Italy: The Anopticon project – putting surveillance back in its place

This article is also available in: Deutsch: [Italien: Das Anopticon Projekt – wie Überwachung in seine Schranken gewiesen wird| http://www.unwatched.org/node/1633] Nowadays, CCTVs are the practical implementation of the “Panopticon”, theorised in 1791 by Jeremy Bentham as the “ideal prison”, one that keeps people in place by using their natural fear of being surveilled. The Anopticon […]

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June 18, 2008

UK MPs report: A Surveillance Society?

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) A report of the Home Affairs Committee shows concerns that Britain might be in danger of becoming a Big Brother type of state and calls on the UK ministers to take the necessary measures to provide safeguards and minimize the amount of the citizen’s information collected and […]

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January 28, 2009

EU proposal puts confidential communications data at risk

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) Civil liberties groups La Quadrature du Net, European Digital Rights (EDRi), AK Vorrat, and Netzpolitik.org are urging the European Parliament to heed advice given by the European Data Protection Supervisor Peter Hustinx and scrap plans dubbed “voluntary data retention”. “A proposal currently discussed in the European Parliament […]

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July 2, 2008

German Protests in over 30 cities against surveillance

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) On 31 May 2008, privacy activists organized new rallies in more than 30 cities across Germany. Following the November 2007 protests under the motto “Freedom not Fear”(“Freiheit statt Angst”), thousands of citizens participated in this year street actions. Numerous demonstrations, rallies, information events, as well as workshops […]

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January 28, 2009

Austria: Some EU data protection policy developments in 2008

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) In Austria the international data protection day on 28 January will pass by widely unrecognised. This year, as already in 2008, the Data Protection Commission (DSK; the Austrian Data Protection Authority) and the Data Protection Council (DSR; a political advisory board) will together organise a meeting for […]

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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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