November 10, 2021 · Blogs | Highlights | Open internet and inclusive technology | Artificial intelligence (AI) | Surveillance and data retention

Artificial intelligence – a tool of austerity

This week Human Rights Watch published a much-needed comment on the EU’s Artificial Intelligence Regulation. As governments increasingly resort to AI systems to administer social security and public services more broadly, there is an ever-greater need to analyse the impact on fundamental rights and the broader public interest.

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March 14, 2007

UK Home Office plans to fingerprint children starting 11

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) “Restricted” documents circulated among officials in the UK Identity and Passport have shown Home Office plans to fingerprint children aged 11 years and over, beginning with 2010, as part of the programme for the introduction of new biometric passports and ID cards. The fingerprints are to be […]

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March 12, 2008

High Level Contact Group talks about EU-US personal data issues

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) According to a document revealed by Statewatch, the EU and US are negotiating the data protection principles for which common language has been developed. The Group has as purpose to draft a proposal that should deal with the personal data protection in any future EU-US agreements that […]

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May 4, 2016 · Blogs | Privacy and data protection | Privacy and confidentiality | Surveillance and data retention

Dutch dragnet surveillance bill leaked

On 29 April, the final text for the Dutch dragnet surveillance bill was leaked. It turns out that Minister of the Dutch Interior Ronald Plasterk is still bent on granting the secret services the power to carry out bulk interception of innocent citizens’ communications.

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December 9, 2020 · Blogs | Highlights | Privacy and data protection | Artificial intelligence (AI) | Biometrics | Privacy and confidentiality | Surveillance and data retention

Reclaiming faces and public spaces!

The Reclaim Your Face movement is growing, and our demands for transparency, limiting the accepted uses and respect for humans are becoming more and more common across Europe. New organisations are joining the coalition each week, and people across Europe continue to sign the petition to add their voices to our demands. Now, thanks to campaigning by Homo Digitalis in Greece and Bits of Freedom in the Netherlands, we’re getting closer to real political and legislative changes that will protect our faces and our public spaces from biometric mass surveillance.

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June 1, 2021 · Blogs | Information democracy | Artificial intelligence (AI) | Biometrics | Surveillance and data retention

From ‘trustworthy AI’ to curtailing harmful uses: EDRi’s impact on the proposed EU AI Act

Civil society has been the underdog in the European Union's (EU) negotiations on the artificial intelligence (AI) regulation. The goal of the regulation has been to create the conditions for AI to be developed and deployed across Europe, so any shift towards prioritising people’s safety, dignity and rights feels like a great achievement. Whilst a lot needs to happen to make this shift a reality in the final text, EDRi takes stock of it’s impact on the proposed Artificial Intelligence Act (AIA). EDRi and partners mobilised beyond organisations traditionally following digital initiatives managing to establish that some uses of AI are simply unacceptable. 

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July 20, 2023 · Blogs | Privacy and data protection | Surveillance and data retention

LIBE Committee’s opinion fails to include a total ban on the use of spyware in the European Media Freedom Act

EU Parliament's LIBE committee voted on its position on the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA) and failed to call for a total ban on the use of spyware against journalists.

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March 12, 2008

French website Note2Be.com closed by court order

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) Following the legal action initiated on 14 February by several individual teachers and SNES-FS union, a French court ordered on 3 March 2008 to Note2be.com to eliminate from their site the names of the teachers graded by students. The site, launched on 30 January 2008, that allowed […]

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September 8, 2021 · Highlights | Open letters | Privacy and data protection | Biometrics | Surveillance and data retention

Intensified surveillance at EU borders: EURODAC reform needs a radical policy shift

In an open letter addressed to the European Parliament Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee, 34 organisations protecting the rights of people on the move, children and digital rights including European Digital Rights (EDRi) urge policymakers to radically change the direction of the EURODAC reform – the European Union (EU) database storing asylum seekers’ and migrants’ personal data - in order to respect fundamental rights and international law. 

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March 7, 2023 · Blogs | Highlights | Press releases | Privacy and data protection | Data protection standards | Surveillance and data retention

Poll: Young people in 13 EU countries refuse surveillance of online communication – Press Release

According to the results of the survey, 80% of young people aged 13 to 17 years old from 13 EU Member States would not feel comfortable being politically active or exploring their sexuality if authorities were able to monitor their digital communication, in order to look for child sexual abuse.

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November 25, 2019 · Blogs | Privacy and data protection | Data protection standards | Surveillance and data retention

New Protocol on cybercrime: cutting red tape ≠ cutting human rights safeguards

From 20 to 22 November 2019, European Digital Rights (EDRi) and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) took part in the Octopus Conference 2019 at the Council of Europe (CoE) to present the comments submitted by EFF, EDRi, IT-Pol Denmark and the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) on draft provisions of the Second Additional Protocol to […]

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August 27, 2008

Successful appeal against backdoor in German anonymiser

Yesterday, an appeal-court in Germany suspended an earlier order to build a backdoor into Germany’s most famous anonymising service. The backdoor was removed immediately. According to the original court-order, the IP-addresses of all visitors to a certain website had to be logged and handed-over to the federal criminal police office. This vital information was not […]

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