council of the european union
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European Ombudsman shares EDRi’s concerns on Council transparency
On 13 February 2018, the European Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly published a Recommendation regarding the transparency of the legislative work of the Council of the European Union. Her strategic inquiry, which involved the examination of the Council’s work around the legislative course of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), among other files, showed that the Council’s […]
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EU Parliament criticises incompetent Commission work on child abuse
The European Commission proposed its badly drafted “Directive on combating sexual abuse, sexual exploitation of children and child pornography” in 2010. In 2011, it was finally adopted by the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament.
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Estonia loves digital – why is it supporting the #censorshipmachine?
Estonia is globally known as a powerhouse of the digital world. It eagerly moves everything into the digital realm and prides itself on being at the forefront of technology. As it now holds the Presidency of the Council of the EU, it is in charge of negotiations on the new Copyright Directive proposal. Knowing how […]
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Leaked document: EU Presidency calls for massive internet filtering
A Council of the European Union document leaked by Statewatch on 30 August reveals that during the summer months, that Estonia (current EU Presidency) has been pushing the other Member States to strengthen indiscriminate internet surveillance, and to follow in the footsteps of China regarding online censorship. Standing firmly behind its belief that filtering the […]
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Six states raise concerns about legality of Copyright Directive
According to a new leak, a number of EU Member States share our serious concerns about the proposal for mass surveillance and censorship of uploads to the internet in Europe, included in the European Commission’s proposal for a new copyright Directive. Those Member States seem unwilling to build a censorship machine forcing EU countries to […]
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Joint Referral Platform: no proof of diligent approach to terrorism
On 28 April 2016, EDRi asked the Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs of the European Commission (DG Home) to release more information about a new initiative announced in April 2016, the Joint Referral Platform. What we knew already (or thought we knew) The existence of the Joint Referral Platform was disclosed on 20 April […]
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EU Council proposals on open internet – Episode 2, the clown wars
After one year of negotiations, a second element of the telecoms regulation was also agreed by the EU Council: arbitrary, ad hoc law enforcement by internet companies. The Council has decided that this is something that internet companies may do, may not do and may do (Council text, pdf). When the European Commission proposed its […]
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EU Council proposals on protecting the open internet – Episode 1, the phantom neutrality
After the European Parliament voted to protect net neutrality in April of last year, the EU Council of Ministers has just adopted its text on net neutrality (pdf)*. It claims to aim to defend the open internet, but would, in fact, permit every imaginable breach of net neutrality. The misleading nature of the adopted text […]
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Leaked documents: European data protection reform is badly broken
Brussels, Belgium. New leaked documents show that European countries, pushed by Germany, are systematically working to destroy the fabric of European privacy legislation. Under the current proposals, far from being provided with security fit for the digital age, Europe’s citizens right to data protection would be devoid of meaning. The Regulation is becoming an empty […]
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Googling your brain: latest “data protection” proposals from Council
When the European Commission proposed its Data Protection Directive in 1995, it made the decision not to give the EU Member States the option to opt out of its profiling (“automated decision-making”) provisions. Even in the days before “big data” and rampant mass surveillance, the dangers of using personal data to make decisions based on […]
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Two steps forward and two steps back on net neutrality
The last few weeks have generated a lot of noise but little progress on net neutrality. A few weeks ago, the European Parliament had a strong position on the subject, having adopted its first reading of the Telecoms Single Market Regulation in April, while the Council, despite the best efforts of the Italian presidency-in-office had […]
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Italian presidency abandons its net neutrality draft
The Italian Presidency of the European Council has decisively distanced itself from the leaked proposals on net neutrality. In a post on its website, it explained that previously proposed texts (including the leaks) were “significantly different” from the position of individual Member States, “including Italy” and that it proposed them “to act as a neutral […]
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