Results for going dark

February 2, 2022 · Blogs | Privacy and surveillance | Data protection standards | Privacy and confidentiality

A beginner’s guide to EU rules on scanning private communications: Part 2

Vital EU rules on human rights and on due process protect all of us from unfair, arbitrary or discriminatory interference with our privacy by states and companies. As we await the European Commission’s proposal for a law which we fear may make it mandatory for online chat and email services to scan every person’s private messages all the time, which may constitute mass surveillance, this blog explores what rights-respecting investigations into child sexual abuse material (CSAM) should look like instead.

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March 24, 2021 · Blogs | Information democracy and participation | Privacy and confidentiality | Surveillance and data retention

Campaign against surveillance: Nobody will tell you when they will follow you

The rapid growth of new technologies has been of “benefit” to secret services. However, it seems that the law has lacked behind showing its inability to reflect the new methods of surveillance used by secret services around the world. EDRi's member Panoptykon Foundation has launched a campaign in Poland to show the problem of unscrutinised powers of secret services.

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September 10, 2020 · Blogs | Just and open internet and technologies | Privacy and surveillance | Freedom of expression online | Privacy and confidentiality | Surveillance and data retention

Upload filters? Still no, thanks

Together with thousands of protestors, EDRi has fought against mandatory upload filters in the Copyright Directive. Despite the Directive having been adopted, including the infamous Article 13 (now 17) that could lead to upload filters, the Directive allows for some flexibility to prevent the worst impacts on our freedom of expression.

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February 19, 2025 · Blogs | Open letters | Privacy and surveillance | Data protection standards

GDPR Procedural Regulation: A critical opportunity to strengthen cross-border enforcement

As EU negotiators continue trilogue discussions on the GDPR Procedural Regulation, civil society organisations across Europe are raising the alarm: the proposed reforms risk failing to address the long-standing enforcement challenges that have undermined the GDPR’s effectiveness. In a joint letter, EDRi, Access Now and 34 fellow organisations call on policymakers to prioritise robust, rights-centred enforcement mechanisms that ensure individuals can meaningfully exercise their rights.

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February 10, 2021 · Blogs

Member in the Spotlight: Digitalcourage

Digitalcourage advocates for fundamental rights, privacy and protecting personal data. It wants to shape technology and politics with a focus on human dignity. It works against a society that turns people into targets for marketing, regards them as dispensable in times of a shrinking state, and places them under suspicion as potential terrorists.

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May 5, 2021 · Blogs | Privacy and surveillance | Freedom of expression online | Privacy and confidentiality

Companies are now allowed to scan your private communications

“Any restrictions on children’s right to freedom of expression in the digital environment, such as filters, including safety measures, should be lawful, necessary and proportionate”and any digital surveillance of children “should respect the child’s right to privacy and should not be conducted routinely, indiscriminately” nor “should it take place without the right to object to such surveillance”.

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February 10, 2023 · Blogs | Privacy and surveillance | Data protection standards | Online tracking industry / AdTech | Privacy and confidentiality

TrustPid: Baking ad tracking into the internet infrastructure

A consortium of Europe’s largest telecommunications operators (telcos) has proposed a new kind of tracking ads system to challenge commercial surveillance heavyweights like Google and Facebook. The new tracking system, misleadingly dubbed ‘TrustPid’, would be baked into the internet’s network infrastructure – potentially with little recourse or defence for users.

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December 15, 2021 · Blogs | Privacy and surveillance | Data protection standards | Privacy and confidentiality | Surveillance and data retention

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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September 11, 2024 · Blogs | Privacy and surveillance

Mass hacking and fundamental rights: a missed opportunity for the Court of Justice of the European Union?

On 30 April 2024, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) published its decision in the ‘EncroChat’ case. The case emerged from recent European police cooperation operations against organised crime, involving the mass interception of encrypted communications by means of spyware (‘hacking’).

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October 24, 2024 · Blogs | Privacy and surveillance | Data protection standards | Privacy and confidentiality | Profiling practices

Deported for reporting a crime: the paradox of securitisation policies

The review of the Return Directive, which governs detention and deportation procedures in the EU, should not lead to the criminalisation of undocumented people. Rather, it should uphold their fundamental right to personal data protection by establishing firewalls that allow them to report crimes without fears of being deported.

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April 22, 2021 · Blogs | Privacy and surveillance | Platform regulation | Privacy and confidentiality

Thousands Expected to Sue Facebook in Mass Action Against Privacy Breach

EDRi's member Digital Rights Ireland (DRI) will sue Facebook to recover damages for those affected by the recent breach of personal data by Facebook, a first for legal actions against tech companies in Europe. See how you can join the lawsuit if you were affected.

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February 18, 2026 · Blogs | Information democracy and participation | Freedom of expression online | Platform regulation | Privacy and confidentiality

US pressure on the Digital Services Act in the Netherlands

On 3 February 2026, the United States House Committee on the Judiciary launched a report in which EDRi member Bits of Freedom and Justice for Prosperity, among others, are called "censorous NGOs". In response, Bits of Freedom and Justice for Prosperity are issuing the following statement.

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