July 17, 2013 · Blogs

The PRISM scandal gets bigger

This article is also available in: Deutsch: [PRISM-Skandal weitet sich immer mehr aus | https://www.unwatched.org/EDRigram_11.14_PRISM-Skandal_weitet_sich_immer_mehr_aus?pk_campaign=edri&pk_kwd=20130717] Privacy campaigners have filed claims against Prism and Tempora, the US and British spy programmes that allow intelligence agencies to gather, store and share data on millions of innocent people. Privacy International has submitted a claim to the Investigatory Powers […]

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April 21, 2021 · Blogs | Highlights | Open letters | Information democracy | Artificial intelligence (AI) | Biometrics | Surveillance and data retention

EU’s AI proposal must go further to prevent surveillance and discrimination

The European Commission has just launched the EU draft regulation on artificial intelligence (AI). AI systems are being increasingly used in all areas of life – to monitor us at protests, to identify us for access to health and public services, to make predictions about our behaviour or how much ‘risk’ we pose. Without clear safeguards, these systems could further the power imbalance between those who develop and use AI and those who are subject to them.

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August 27, 2003

Anonymiser reveals identity Dutch pudding-poisoner

The identity of a Dutch pudding-poisoner was revealed through an anonymiser. The Dutchman tried to blackmail Campina, a large dairy producer, by poisoning a tin of pudding. He made Campina open a bank account, get a ‘world card’ with it and deposit 200.000 Euro. Then they had to send him the details of the magnetic […]

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August 24, 2011

German DPA asks for the removal of Facebook "like" button

This article is also available in: Deutsch: [Deutscher Datenschützer fordert Entfernung des Facebook-“Like”-Buttons | http://www.unwatched.org/EDRigram_9.16_Deutscher_Datenschuetzer_fordert_Entfernung_des_Facebook_Like_Buttons?pk_campaign=edri&pk_kwd=20110901] Thilo Weichert, the German data protection commissioner from the Independent Center for Privacy Protection (ULD) – the Data Protection Authority (DPA) from the state of Schleswig-Holstein, on 19 August 2011 called on website owners in his north German state to […]

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

The slippery slope of COVID health passports

There is increasing talk of measures that allow or restrict passengers at the departure gate based on health data. Can you show proof of vaccination? Then you may pass. Do you have a recent, negative test result? Then you may enter. Are you unable or unwilling to show these? Then you are denied access. There’s an understandable rationale that underpins these scenarios: we want to create a safe environment. Yet it is also cause for great concern.

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July 20, 2023 · Blogs | Privacy and data protection | Data protection standards | Privacy and confidentiality

Voluntary detection measures still on the table for the CSA Regulation

Whilst the draft EU CSA Regulation is intended to replace current voluntary scanning of people's communications with mandatory detection orders, lawmakers in the Council and Parliament are actively considering supplementing this with "voluntary detection orders". However, our analysis finds that voluntary measures would require a legal basis in the CSA Regulation, which would likely fall foul of the Court of Justice. Content warning: contains discussions of child sexual abuse and child sexual abuse material

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December 4, 2019 · Blogs | Open internet and inclusive technology | Privacy and data protection | Artificial intelligence (AI) | Biometrics | Data protection standards | Profiling practices | Surveillance and data retention

Facial recognition and fundamental rights 101

This is the first post in a series about the fundamental rights impacts of facial recognition. Private companies and governments worldwide are already experimenting with facial recognition technology. Individuals, lawmakers, developers - and everyone in between - should be aware of the rise of facial recognition, and the risks it poses to rights to privacy, freedom, democracy and non-discrimination.

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August 27, 2003

Air France spies on staff

According to an article in Transfert.net, Air France has been spying for years on some of its staff with the help of a camera hidden behind a clock. A union-member became suspicious when he took a close look at the thick electrical wires going to a clock in a private relaxation room on Roissy airport. […]

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January 19, 2022 · Blogs | Press mentions | Privacy and data protection | Data protection standards | Privacy and confidentiality | Surveillance and data retention

Online surveillance thrives when fear takes over

European law-enforcement agencies have been pushing to end encryption and survey everyone’s online communications.

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September 27, 2023 · Blogs | Privacy and data protection | Biometrics | Data protection standards | Surveillance and data retention

Czech police use facial recognition system, IuRe finds out details

EDRi member Iuridicum Remedium have details on the Czech police’s illegal use of a facial recognition system. The country’s data protection authorities were not consulted in advance on the system, which is being used for biometric identification

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May 19, 2021 · Blogs | Campaigns | Information democracy | Artificial intelligence (AI) | Biometrics | Surveillance and data retention

Can a COVID-19 face mask protect you from facial recognition technology too?

Mass facial recognition risks our collective futures and shapes us into fear-driven societies of suspicion. This got folks at EDRi and Privacy International brainstorming. Could the masks that we now wear to protect each other from Coronavirus also protect our anonymity, preventing the latest mass facial recognition systems from identifying us?

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March 28, 2007

New draft of the Framework Decision on data protection

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) The Commission received these days also a totally new draft of the Framework Decision on data protection in police and judicial cooperation. The proposal was sent by Germany as the EU Council President and reffers to data protection in the security sector. The draft, made public by […]

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