June 19, 2013 · Blogs

US agencies have unlimited access to Internet data

According to documents obtained by The Washington Post and the Guardian, NSA and FBI are extracting e-mails, photographs, documents, video and audio chats directly from the central servers of nine leading U.S. Internet companies, within a programme called PRISM which has not been made public until now. As one of the documents mentions, the companies […]

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February 27, 2008

Germany: New basic right to privacy of computer systems

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) The German Constitutional Court published on 27 February 2008 a landmark ruling about the constitutionality of secret online searches of computers by government agencies. The decision constitutes a new “basic right to the confidentiality and integrity of information-technological systems” as derived from the German Constitution. The journalist […]

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June 20, 2012

Google’s Street View privacy breach again in the public eye

Recently, the UK Data Protection Authority – Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has decided to reopen its investigation on Google over the collection of personal information by Google Street View project from May 2010. As a reaction to the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC)’s report issued earlier this year into the Street View data collection, ICO […]

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June 19, 2013 · Blogs

The Spanish Police might use spying Trojans on individuals’ computers

This article is also available in: Deutsch: [Spanien: Staatlicher Trojaner könnte künftig Privat-Computer ausspionieren | https://www.unwatched.org/EDRigram_11.12_Spanien_Staatlicher_Trojaner_koennte_kuenftig_Privat-Computer_ausspionieren?pk_campaign=edri&pk_kwd=20130619] A draft Criminal Procedure Code issued by the Spanish Ministry of Justice, authorises the police to install trojans on computers from surveyed individuals. According to Article 350 of the proposed draft, prosecutors may ask the judge for “the installation […]

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February 27, 2008

EC Draft Recommendation on RFID Privacy and Security published

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) The European Commission published the Draft Recommendation on RFID Privacy and Security on the Your Voice in Europe-Platform for public consultation. After a public consultation on RFID Privacy Issues in 2006, some conferences and workshops and various discussions on the topic within the RFID Expert Group, this […]

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March 1, 2006

Extremely high Romanian wiretapping costs

According to declarations of Romanian public officials, during the last month, the total costs of the specialized police services for legal wiretapping in 2005 was at least 118 million euros, an amount very close to the annual national budget for scientific research. As Catalin Harnagea, former director of a Romanian Secret Service unit, declared the […]

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July 16, 2003

Swiss data protection chief criticizes USA

The head of Switzerland’s data protection commission says the United States’ war on terror is undermining personal privacy. Hanspeter Thür calls for tighter controls on the campaign against terrorism and for more money to safeguard individual rights. According to him, the Bush administration is pursuing a repressive policy with little regard for data protection. The […]

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April 20, 2016 · Blogs

Huge protest against corruption & surveillance in Macedonia

The political crisis in Macedonia deepened on 12 April when the President Gjorgi Ivanov announced that he would issue a blanket pardon to 56 politicians suspected of involvement in serious crimes. Over the last eight days, tens of thousands of citizens took to the streets of the capital city Skopje and about a dozen other […]

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February 27, 2008

French Police extends the Internet blacklist

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) French Internal Affairs Minister, Michèle Alliot-Marie, announced on 14 February 2008 new measures to fight against cybercrime, including extending the websites blacklist and pushing for computer online investigations, without the permission of the country of the hosting company. The Minister visited the Cybercrime Brigade that is located […]

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February 28, 2007

Increased Europol powers need increased data protection policies

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) Peter Hustinx, the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) considers that the changes on the legal basis of Europe’s police (Europol) proposed by the European Parliament meant to increase its powers have to be accompanied by proper data protection rules. The European Parliament has proposed changes that would […]

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March 1, 2006

German anonymiser service – now on pay

AN.ON, the German anonymiser service developed by the university of Dresden and the regional data protection authority of Schleswig Holstein, enabling its users to surf anonymously via a Java-webproxy has no more public funding this year. Although it will be possible for users to surf free via AN.ON, high performance services will be provided against […]

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June 27, 2012 · Blogs

Marielle Gallo MEP condemns the “soft-terrorism” of the anti-ACTA campaign

This interview was translated and republished with the kind permission of PCinpact. We have added our comments on some of the misinformation in Ms Gallo’s statements. See notes 1-6 at the end of the article. Marielle Gallo, who is a member of the Legal Affairs Committee of the European Parliament in Brussels, proposed a draft […]

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