July 29, 2009

EU wants to share more bank details with the US authorities

This article is also available in: Deutsch: [EU will noch mehr Bankdaten an die US-Behörden weitergeben | http://www.unwatched.org/node/1480] The dispute between EU and the US on access to the bank transfer details has come again to the public attention after the Belgium company SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) that intermediates the international banking […]

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July 29, 2009

EDPS: New privacy issues in relation to intelligent transport systems

This article is also available in: Deutsch: [EDPS: neue Datenschutzthemen im Zusammenhang mit intelligenten Transportsystemen | http://www.unwatched.org/node/1484] Peter Hustinx, the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), issued on 22 July his opinion on the European Commission’s proposed plan, adopted in December 2008, to accelerate and coordinate the deployment of intelligent transport systems (ITS) in road transportation […]

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February 25, 2015 · Blogs

Did GCHQ spy on you? Find out now!

Since its launch on 16 February 2015, over 25 000 people have joined an international campaign to try to learn whether Britain’s intelligence agency, GCHQ, illegally spied on them. This opportunity is possible thanks to court victory in the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT), a secret court set up to hear complaints against the British Security […]

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March 8, 2023 · Blogs | Information democracy | Open internet and inclusive technology | Privacy and data protection

#PrivacyCamp23: Event summary

In January 2023, EDRi gathered policymakers, activists, human rights defenders, climate and social justice advocates and academics in Brussels to discuss the criticality of our digital worlds. We welcomed 200+ participants in person and enjoyed an online audience of 600+ people engaging with the event livestream videos. If you missed the event or want a reminder of what happened in a session, find the session summaries and video recordings below.

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June 4, 2003

Irish DPA threatens government with court case

According to an article in the Irish Times of 26 May, the Irish Data Protection Commissioner Mr Joe Meade has twice threatened to begin High Court proceedings against the Government for using an “invalid” Ministerial Direction to unconstitutionally store citizens’ phone, fax and mobile call data for 3 years. As reported in EDRI-gram nr. 3, […]

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April 6, 2016 · Blogs

CJEU hearing on the EU Canada PNR agreement: Still shady

The European Court of Justice (CJEU) had a hearing on 5 April to decide about the referral made on 25 November by the European Parliament on the EU-Canada agreement on Passenger Name Records (PNR). Passenger Name Records (PNR) include information provided by passengers and collected by air carriers for commercial purposes, such as, but not […]

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October 6, 2021 · Blogs | Privacy and data protection | Data protection standards | Surveillance and data retention

The terrifying expansion of Sweden’s state surveillance

For the last couple of years the Swedish parliament has been expanding the surveillance capabilities of law enforcement. After the European Court of Justice struck down Sweden's data retention law, the national parliament passed a replacement that did nothing to address any of the issues criticized in the first law. If telecom providers were to challenge it, which no one has shown any willingness to do, it would most likely be struck down again.

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May 24, 2006

German Constitutional Court has outlawed preventive data screening

On 22 May the German Constitutional Court has declared illegal under the German Constitution the practice of screening data across several private and public databases in order to find potential terrorists (“sleepers”). Several federal states will now have to change their police laws. The decision does not make data screening (“Rasterfahndung”, literally: “grid investigation”, usual […]

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October 23, 2012

UN Agencies: A growing threat for the Internet?

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), led by Russian diplomat, Yury Fedotov, has just released a report (pdf) arguing for more surveillance and retention of data on all communications, even in the total absence of suspicion. Coincidentally, the Coordinator of the elegantly named 1267 Committee that was in charge of the report […]

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February 11, 2004

EU Commission heads for global travel surveillance system

The UK civil liberties group Privacy International, in co-operation with European Digital Rights, the Foundation for Information Policy Research and Statewatch, has published an analysis of the EU-US negotiations on the transfer on passenger information (PNR). The report titled ‘Transferring Privacy’ describes how the European Commission leaves European privacy rights at the mercy of the […]

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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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January 28, 2009

Data protection in Italy: Loudly more of the same

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) I am sorry to say that I am skeptical about “days” dedicated to this or that cause or problem. They are often ignored, sometimes briefly celebrated, rarely leave any relevant trace over time. There are so many that we shall soon have one a week – and […]

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