Biometrics
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Ban biometric mass surveillance!
44 civil society organisations call for a ban on biometric mass surveillance in EDRi's new paper, "Ban Biometric Mass Surveillance: A set of fundamental rights demands for the European Commission and EU Member States"
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Why COVID-19 is a Crisis for Digital Rights
The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered an equally urgent digital rights crisis. New measures being hurried in to curb the spread of the virus, from “biosurveillance” and online tracking to censorship, are potentially as world-changing as the disease itself.
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Facial Recognition & Biometric Mass Surveillance: Document Pool
Despite evidence that public facial recognition and other forms of biometric mass surveillance infringe on a wide range EU fundamental rights, European authorities and companies are deploying these systems at a rapid rate. This has happened without proper consideration for how such practices invade people's privacy on an enormous scale; amplify existing inequalities; and undermine democracy, freedom and justice.
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Dangerous by design: A cautionary tale about facial recognition
In this fifth and final installment of EDRi's facial recognition and fundamental rights series, we consider an experience of harm caused by fundamentally violatory biometric surveillance technology.
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Stalked by your digital doppelganger?
In this fourth installment of EDRi’s facial recognition and fundamental rights series, we explore what could happen if facial recognition collides with data-hungry business models and 24/7 surveillance.
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Your face rings a bell: Three common uses of facial recognition
Not all applications of facial recognition are created equal. In this third installment, we sift through the hype to analyse three increasingly common uses of facial recognition: tagging pictures on Facebook, automated border control gates, and police surveillance.
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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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New EU proposals foresee mandatory biometrics in national ID cards
The European Commission has proposed a host of new measures aimed at “denying terrorists the means to act” which include the mandatory inclusion of two biometrics – fingerprints and a facial image – in all ID cards and residence documents for European Union citizens and their family members issued by Member States.
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UN Security Council mandates worldwide air traveller profiling
In the name of “preventing, detecting and investigating terrorist offenses and related travel”, all United Nations (UN) Member States should develop systems for processing and analysing Passenger Name Record (PNR), Advance Passenger Information (API) and “fingerprints, photographs, facial recognition, and other relevant identifying biometric data”, according to a UN Security Council resolution (no. 2396) on […]
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ECJ decided Microsoft must pay a 860 million Euro fine
This article is also available in: Deutsch: [EuGH verurteilt Microsoft zu 860 Millionen Euro Strafe | https://www.unwatched.org/EDRigram_10.13_EuGH_verurteilt_Microsoft_zu_860_Millionen_Euro_Strafe?pk_campaign=edri&pk_kwd=20120704] The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has rejected Microsoft’s appeal against the European Commission’s decision of 2008 to fine the company for not having shared interoperability information to its competitors, in a long case first brought by the […]
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Slovakia: Mandatory e-forms work only on software from one vendor
This article is also available in: Deutsch: [Slowakei: Verpflichtende Web-Lösung funktioniert nur mit Software eines einzigen Herstellers | https://www.unwatched.org/EDRigram_10.9_Slowakei_Verpflichtende_Web-Loesung_funktioniert_nur_mit_Software_eines_einzigen_Herstellers?pk_campaign=edri&pk_kwd=20120509] In Slovakia, a law introduced to reduce red tape has led to injustice. The state has mandated electronic means as the only way of fulfilling certain statutory obligations. However the dedicated web solution excludes some citizens […]
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EU standards reform: Carte blanche stifles open formats
This article is also available in: Deutsch: [Reform europäischer Normen: Blankovollmacht bremst offene Formate aus | https://www.unwatched.org/EDRigram_10.4_Reform_europaeischer_Normen_Blankovollmacht_bremst_offene_Formate_aus?pk_campaign=edri&pk_kwd=20120229] The European standardisation system is being revamped. In the European Parliament, the Consumer Committee (IMCO) under its rapporteur Lara Comi (EPP, Italy) is deliberating a proposal from the European Commission. Parliament members face tricky regulatory decisions on the […]
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