February 10, 2021 · Blogs | Campaigns | EDRi-gram | Privacy and data protection | Artificial intelligence (AI) | Biometrics | Data protection standards | Profiling practices | Surveillance and data retention

Chilling use of face recognition at Italian borders shows why we must ban biometric mass surveillance

As part of Reclaim Your Face's investigation in rights-violating deployments of biometric mass surveillance, EDRi member Hermes Center explains how the Italian Police are deploying dehumanising biometric systems against people at Italy’s border.

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July 7, 2021 · Blogs | Highlights | On the ground | Publications | Open internet and inclusive technology | Artificial intelligence (AI) | Biometrics | Surveillance and data retention

Booklet: Depths of biometric mass surveillance in Germany, the Netherlands and Poland

In a new research report, EDRi reveals the shocking extent of unlawful biometric mass surveillance practices in Germany, the Netherlands and Poland which are taking over our public spaces like train stations, streets, and shops. The EU and its Member States must act now to set clear legal limits to these practices which create a state of permanent monitoring, profiling and tracking of people.

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December 8, 2021 · Blogs | Highlights | Press releases | Privacy and data protection | Biometrics | Cross border access to data | Surveillance and data retention

Press release: European Commission jumps the gun with proposal to add facial recognition to EU-wide police database

The European Commission has put forward a proposal to ‘streamline’ the automated sharing of facial recognition images and other sensitive data by police across the EU. What will be discarded in order to ‘streamline’ the process? Vital safeguards which are designed to protect all of us from state over-reach and authoritarian mass surveillance practices.

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February 16, 2022 · Blogs | On the ground | Privacy and data protection | Biometrics | Profiling practices | Surveillance and data retention

Technologies for border surveillance and control in Italy

This research points out that identification and categorisation systems for migrants, refugees, and asylum-seekers, rely on vast quantities of biometric data including fingerprints and facial images. It is, however, often difficult to assess how these procedures are managed. Upon identification, the aforementioned groups have limited knowledge and awareness about where and how their personal and biometric data are going to be stored and used, hindering them from countering the pressure that this flow of information puts on their subsequent living conditions in Italy and in the European Union.

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October 20, 2021 · Blogs | Privacy and data protection | Artificial intelligence (AI) | Surveillance and data retention

The EU Parliament Took a Stance Against AI Mass Surveillance: What are the Global Implications?

The European Parliament's resolution on artificial intelligence in criminal law and its use by the police presents an opportunity for the EU to reconsider its role in the development of such tools, their sale, or use as part of its counter-terrorism and anti-immigration policies abroad.

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October 24, 2024 · Blogs | Privacy and data protection | Data protection standards | Online tracking industry / AdTech | Privacy and confidentiality

Unpacking digital fairness: What Europe must do now to end the tech industry’s most nefarious tactics

The EU plans to propose a Digital Fairness Act to better protect consumers from deceptive design practices, social media addiction, and pervasive online tracking. We unpack what this means and what the European Commission should do to end Big Tech’s most nefarious tactics.

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February 7, 2018 · Blogs | Information democracy | Privacy and data protection | Freedom of expression online | Surveillance and data retention | Transparency

Smashing the law without breaking it: A Commission guide

How to create a general monitoring obligation without creating a general monitoring obligation? That is the question that the Commission has been trying to answer with the Article 13 of its “Proposal for a Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market”. It aims at solving the issue of a so-called “value gap”, that is […]

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April 29, 2020 · Blogs | Privacy and data protection | Biometrics | Disinformation and electoral interference | Freedom of expression online | Surveillance and data retention

Why COVID-19 is a Crisis for Digital Rights

The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered an equally urgent digital rights crisis. New measures being hurried in to curb the spread of the virus, from “biosurveillance” and online tracking to censorship, are potentially as world-changing as the disease itself.

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January 13, 2021 · Blogs | EDRi-gram | On the ground | Privacy and data protection | Data protection standards | Privacy and confidentiality | Profiling practices | Surveillance and data retention

Q&A: PI case – UK High Court judgment on general warrants and government hacking explained

EDRi member Privacy International (PI) explain in some detail what their case involving UK intelligence services using general warrants is about.

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April 22, 2021 · Blogs | Highlights | Press mentions | Privacy and data protection | Artificial intelligence (AI) | Data protection standards | Surveillance and data retention

Why EU needs to be wary that AI will increase racial profiling

Central to predictive policing systems is the notion that risk and crime can be objectively and accurately forecasted. Not only is this presumption flawed, it demonstrates a growing commitment to the idea that data can and should be used to quantify, track and predict human behaviour. The increased use of such systems is part of a growing ideology that social issues can be solved by allocating more power, resources - and now technologies - to police.

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October 28, 2020 · Blogs | Privacy and data protection | Data protection standards | Privacy and confidentiality | Surveillance and data retention

D3 opposes Portuguese efforts to make COVID app mandatory

In this post, EDRi's member Defesa dos Direitos Digitais (D3) discusses the proposed law on making the tracing app “Stayaway Covid” obligatory in Portugal and analyses the consequences of such legislation.

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April 6, 2022 · Blogs | Privacy and data protection | Artificial intelligence (AI) | Data protection standards | Surveillance and data retention

The Clearview/Ukraine partnership – How surveillance companies exploit war

Clearview announced it will offer its surveillance tech to Ukraine. It seems no human tragedy is off-limits to surveillance companies looking to sanitise their image.

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