Biometrics
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“Anytime and anywhere”: Vaccination, immunity certificates, and the permanent pandemic
The deployment of vaccines, and in particular any “immunity passport” or certificate linked to the vaccination, must respect human rights. EDRi's member Privacy International (PI) reveals some of the broader human rights, ethical and societal implications of vaccination "passports".
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ECI: putting people’s voices before corporate greed
On 17 February 2021, EDRi with a coalition of 40 human rights and social justice groups launched a unique, officially-recognised EU petition, called a “European Citizens’ Initiative” (ECI). Here, we explain why and how this ECI is a powerful tool for our Reclaim Your Face campaign that aims to ban biometric mass surveillance, as well as for our wider European advocacy against harmful uses of artificial intelligence-based technologies.
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New ECI calls Europeans to stand together for a future free from harmful biometric mass surveillance
The Reclaim Your Face coalition launches a European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) today to ban biometric mass surveillance. The ECI represents the voice of those who oppose a dystopian future and instead want a future in which choices are made by us, not by algorithms. The initiative needs to collect 1 million signatures in at least 7 EU countries during the next year.
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How to Reclaim Your Face From Clearview AI
The Hamburg Data Protection Authority deemed Clearview AI’s biometric photo database illegal in the EU as a result of a complaint Matthias Marx, a member of the Chaos Computer Club (an EDRi member) filed.
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#PrivacyCamp21: Event Summary
The theme of the 9th edition of Privacy Camp was "Digital rights for change: Reclaiming infrastructures, repairing the future" and included thirteen sessions on a variety of topics. The event was attended by 250 people. If you missed the event or want a reminder of what happened in the session, find the session summaries below.
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ReclaimYourFace activates the public and civil society to ban biometric mass surveillance
The EDRi network and partners launched the first phase of the Reclaim Your Face campaign, which focuses on raising awareness and investigating and challenging abusive uses of facial recognition and other biometric tech at a local and national level, in November 2020. The coalition has achieved several wins in the two months since. However much remains to be done in the movement to reclaim our faces and ban biometric mass surveillance in Europe!
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Looking for a New Years’ Resolution? #ReclaimYourFace with our citizens’ initiative!
Since its launch just 2 months ago, the Reclaim Your Face campaign to ban biometric mass surveillance has gone from strength to strength. Already 23 organisations have joined the coalition, and almost 13,000 people have joined the movement – and this is only the beginning.
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Statement: civil society challenges EU plans to expand biometric mass surveillance
On 9 December, the European Commission presented its new Security Union package, composed of the Counter-Terrorism Agenda and a proposal to strengthen the mandate of Europol. Originally intended for next year, the release of the Counter-Terrorism was accelerated due to recent attacks in France and Austria. When it comes to protecting fundamental rights from intrusive biometric surveillance, the proposals fall seriously short.
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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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Looking back at digital rights in the era of a surveillance pandemic
2020 started as a year to build momentum to tackle various digital rights issues, including mass surveillance and freedom of expression online. Needless to say, the global pandemic disrupted not only these efforts but also our health, personal relations, basic survival needs and ways to organise around human rights. After 9 months of living and working in a pandemic, we look back at what we achieved and the ways forward from here.
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Campaign “Reclaim Your Face” calls for a Ban on Biometric Mass Surveillance
Civil society across Europe launches the “Reclaim Your Face” campaign, demanding that local and national authorities listen to their communities about the serious risks of using facial recognition and other biometric technologies in public spaces. The newly formed coalition calls to ban biometric mass surveillance, in reaction to the rapid and secretive roll out of invasive and unlawful technologies by police forces and local authorities in many European countries.
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EDRi-gram, 14 October 2020
The public are being treated as experimental test subjects: across these examples, it is clear that members of the public are being used as subjects in high-stakes experiments which can have real-life impacts on their freedom, access to public services, and sense of security.
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