October 10, 2013 · Blogs

Data protection series – issue sheets

On 21 October the European Parliament Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) will vote a hugely important dossier: The General Data Protection Regulation. This very long legislative document is intended to ensure that our rights to privacy and data protection can be effectively asserted in our everyday lives. One of the main […]

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September 24, 2014 · Blogs

Panoptykon called on MEPs to stop mass surveillance

On 11 September 2014 digital right activists and advocates around the world commemorated the anniversary of 9/11 terrorist attacks on the WTC as the Freedom not Fear Day. It reminded decision makers and society as a whole that “absolute security” is a fallacy that can never be achieved, even in return for giving up all […]

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October 8, 2014 · Blogs

Summary of the Commissioners-designate hearings

Between 29 September and 7 October the hearings of the Commissioners-designate in the European Parliament took place. This is a brief summary of the six hearings when the Commissioners-designate were answering to the MEPs’ questions regarding digital rights, privacy issues and trade agreements. Guenther Oettinger (Germany) is the nominee for the Digital Economy and Society […]

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September 21, 2015 · Blogs

European Commission & Data Retention – a faulty basis for decision-making*?

Due to the sensitive nature of this summary, we shared it with the European Commission to allow for any corrections or clarifications that were deemed necessary before publication. The draft was updated on the basis of the feedback that was received, but not all suggestions from the Commission services were accepted by us. As a […]

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January 26, 2016 · Blogs

ENDitorial: Progress for encryption & rule of law

In times of crisis, it appears that critical, evidence-based policymaking goes out the window in favour of direct emotional reassurance. This became apparent after the 9/11, Madrid and Charlie Hebdo attacks, and once again after the Paris attacks of November 2015. Regrettably, it is as if political judgement is impaired after such events, with proposals […]

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February 4, 2016 · Blogs

EDRi co-hosts the Privacy Camp, 26 January 2016

In the run up to CPDP conference in Brussels, civil society groups met at the fifth annual Privacy Camp to exchange views and develop new strategies. This year’s conference took place under the title “The Multiple Ways of (De/Self)-Regulation: What is at stake for Human Rights?” and included various panels and speakers from around the […]

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April 20, 2016 · Blogs

Countering terrorism, a.k.a. the biggest human rights threat of 2016

United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on counter-terrorism and Human rights, Ben Emmerson said “the central challenge for human rights in 2016 [is] ensuring governments continue to support a human rights agenda” while seeking to end terrorism. The European Union is also faced with this challenge. In the EU, there is currently a proposal for a […]

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May 18, 2016 · Blogs

Danish ticketing system a threat to privacy

Like many countries, Denmark is replacing paper tickets for public transportation with electronic tickets. The Danish system, called Rejsekort (“travel card”), is a contactless chip card similar to the Oyster card in the United Kingdom and the OV-chipkaart in the Netherlands. At the start of the journey, the passenger holds the card in front of […]

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June 15, 2016 · Blogs

Mobilisation for digital rights

This article is also available in Dutch: https://www.bof.nl/2016/07/11/mobilisatie-voor-digitale-rechten/ In a digital society, digital rights are simply our rights. They are our right to express ourselves freely, our right to a private life, our right to our possessions. But what if digital society fails to realise that our traditional rights and freedoms cannot always be defended by […]

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August 24, 2016 · Blogs

New documents reveal Europol’s plans to increase surveillance

The Europol work programme until the end of the year 2016 reveals that the agency’s goals are to gradually expand its surveillance capacities, to facilitate cross-border access to data, and increase the use of biometrics. In August 2016, the German news site Netzpolitik.org leaked a document (pdf) which provides a neat overview of Europol’s planned […]

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September 7, 2016 · Blogs

What digital rights are at imminent risk? All of them.

Our civil rights in the digital environment are based on our rights to protect our personal security and data, our right to communicate freely, and our right for any restrictions to be necessary, predictable and proportionate. Every one of these rights is now under imminent threat.

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April 5, 2017 · Blogs

Denmark: Weakening the oversight of intelligence services

A draft law to amend the data protection provisions of the law on the oversight of the Danish Security and Intelligence Service (PET) was submitted for public consultation in September 2016. In their consultation responses, several NGOs including EDRi member IT-Pol Denmark, as well as the Danish Intelligence Oversight Board (TET) criticised the proposal. The […]

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