December 5, 2018 · On the ground | Information democracy | Profiling practices | Surveillance and data retention

Germany: New police law proposals threaten civil rights

The number of police laws in Germany has increased in recent months.

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October 3, 2024 · Privacy and data protection | Privacy and confidentiality | Surveillance and data retention

Dutch decision puts brakes on Chat Control

This controversial draft EU law has seen so many twists and turns that it’s giving us whiplash. Under renewed pressure from Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, some lawmakers had hoped they could finally get enough support for the controversial bill this autumn. But following a vital last-minute decision by the Netherlands, we are safe from “Chat Control” – for now.

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December 5, 2018 · On the ground | Information democracy | Cross border access to data | Surveillance and data retention

EDRi members in joint protest against “surveillance zone” in Saxony

A new proposal for a surveillance law in the German state of Saxony is threatening to lead to abhorrent consequences on a stretch of Germany’s international border.

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February 12, 2020 · Blogs | Privacy and data protection | Cross border access to data | Data protection standards | Surveillance and data retention

Double legality check in e-evidence: Bye bye “direct data requests”

After having tabled some 600 additional amendments, members of the European Parliament Committee on Civil Liberties (LIBE) are still discussing the conditions under which law enforcement authorities in the EU should access data for their criminal investigations in cross-border cases. One of the key areas of debate is the involvement of a second authority in […]

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March 11, 2020 · Blogs | Privacy and data protection | Artificial intelligence (AI) | Biometrics | Data protection standards | Profiling practices | Surveillance and data retention

Stuck under a cloud of suspicion: Profiling in the EU

As facial recognition technologies are gradually rolled out in police departments across Europe, anti-racism groups blow the whistle on the discriminatory over-policing of racialised communities linked to the increasing use of new technologies by law enforcement agents.

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September 20, 2025 · Blogs | Privacy and data protection | Data protection standards | Surveillance and data retention

Consultation response to the European Commission’s call for evidence on a new Europol regulation

The European Commission launched a call for evidence to gather views on the reform of Europol’s mandate. Europol is the EU law enforcement cooperation agency. EDRi along with Resist Europol coalition members submitted a response to the consultation, sharing their concerns about this renewed expansion of powers, despite Europol’s numerous issues around opacity and lack of accountability.

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March 11, 2020 · On the ground | Privacy and data protection | Cross border access to data | Privacy and confidentiality | Profiling practices | Surveillance and data retention

Germany: Invading refugees’ phones – security or population control?

In its new study, EDRi member Society for Civil Rights (GFF) examines how German authorities sniff out refugees’ phones. The aim of “data carrier evaluation” is supposed to be determining a person’s identity and their country of origin. However, in reality, it violates refugees’ rights and does not produce any meaningful results.

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October 24, 2017 · Blogs | Privacy and data protection | Data protection standards | Surveillance and data retention

Last-ditch attack on e-Privacy Regulation in the European Parliament

The ECR, the right-wing, Eurosceptic political group in the European Parliament has joined forces with German Conservatives, Axel Voss and Monika Hohlmeier, as well as the Danish Liberal Morten Løkkegaard to try to overturn progress made on the e-Privacy Regulation. The Regulation applies to confidentiality of communications, online and offline tracking and device security. It […]

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January 31, 2022 · Blogs | Privacy and data protection | Profiling practices | Surveillance and data retention

Secret negotiations about Europol: the big rule of law scandal

In negotiations held behind closed doors, the Council of Member States and the European Parliament are about to torpedo all the efforts of the European data protection watchdog’s to hold Europol accountable for its illegal data practices.

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February 12, 2020 · Highlights | On the ground | Privacy and data protection | Data protection standards | Surveillance and data retention

PI and Liberty submit a new legal challenge against MI5

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November 15, 2021 · Blogs | Highlights | Information democracy | Artificial intelligence (AI) | Biometrics | Surveillance and data retention

EDRi urges Portugal government to oppose proposed video surveillance law

EDRi member and Reclaim Your Face lead organisation D3 (Defesa Dos Direitos Digitais) are raising awareness of how the Portuguese government’s new proposed video surveillance and facial recognition law – which Ministers are trying to rush through the Parliament - amounts to illiberal biometric mass surveillance. It also endangers the very foundations of democracy on which the Republic of Portugal rests.

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September 20, 2025 · Privacy and data protection | Data protection standards | Surveillance and data retention

ProtectNotSurveil coalition raises alarm about EU’s Frontex expansion plans

The European Commission is set to reform Frontex’s mandate again in 2026. Frontex is the European Border and Coast Guard agency. Responding to the consultation call, the ProtectNotSurveil coalition highlights how reckless the expansion of Frontex’s surveillance capacities would be and how the Commission’s foreseen plans go in the opposite direction of what migrants and affected communities are calling for.

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