cross-border access to data
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High-Level Group “Going Dark” outcome: A mission failure
On 13 June, the Justice and Home Affairs Council, composed of EU Member States’ ministers of the Interior, will discuss the recommendations of the High-Level Group (HLG) on Access to Data for Effective Law Enforcement (“Going Dark”). This blogpost provides a short analysis of the HLG’s recommendations and a summary of its procedural flaws.
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Automated data exchange in Prüm II: The EU’s securitisation mindset keeps encroaching on our fundamental rights
The agreement on automated data exchange for police cooperation, known as ‘Prüm II aligns with a broader EU trend of laws prioritising national security over human rights. The final text of this regulation has insufficient fundamental rights safeguards and could even encourage more member states to adopt facial recognition technology. The EU Parliament must reject the current Prüm II Regulation in the upcoming plenary vote.
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e-Evidence compromise blows a hole in fundamental rights safeguards
In December 2022, the Council and the European Parliament agreed on a final compromise text on the so-called ‘e-Evidence’ proposals. With major concessions given to the Member States’ position, the results of these trilogues negotiations are of bad omen for people’s rights and freedoms.
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New Cybercrime Protocol will undermine our privacy to compensate for the rising powers of law enforcement authorities
This new international agreement raises serious concerns as its shortcomings promise to undermine the safeguards to our fundamental rights, including our privacy and procedural rights.
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E-evidence regulation: Why it matters for medical confidentiality?
Access to health data by foreign authorities in the context of a criminal investigation – be it intentional or not – needs to be carefully regulated as it also impacts doctors’ legal and ethical duties.
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Press release: European Commission jumps the gun with proposal to add facial recognition to EU-wide police database
The European Commission has put forward a proposal to ‘streamline’ the automated sharing of facial recognition images and other sensitive data by police across the EU. What will be discarded in order to ‘streamline’ the process? Vital safeguards which are designed to protect all of us from state over-reach and authoritarian mass surveillance practices.
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EU ropes in intelligence agencies for enhanced border checks targeting Afghan nationals
Intensified border security checks targeting Afghan nationals have been agreed by the Council of the EU, with the procedures requiring the extraction of mobile phone data and significant coordination with national intelligence agencies – despite the EU having no competences in the realm of “national security”.
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Human Rights Groups Submit Complaint to European Ombudsman Calling for Investigation into EU Surveillance Aid
Privacy International (PI), together with 5 other human rights groups, has submitted a complaint to the European Ombudsman calling for an investigation into EU surveillance aid to non-EU countries.
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Fear and loathing in the UK adequacy decision
The Council of the European Union unanimously approved the United Kingdom (UK) draft adequacy decision. In an ideal world, this would indicate that the UK offers an adequate level of protection for personal data, and would signal their willingness to retain those standards. Unfortunately, reality tells a different story, that should be worrying for human rights advocates on both sides of the channel.
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“E-evidence” negotiations: a call to protect media freedoms and democratic rights from abusive cross-border orders
Together with a coalition of 25 organisations and companies, European Digital Rights (EDRi) urges the European Parliament and the Council to uphold a high level of procedural safeguards in their negotiations on the so-called “e-evidence Regulation”.
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Technology, migration, and illness in the times of COVID-19
In our ongoing work on technology and migration, we examine the impacts of the current COVID-19 pandemic on the rights of people on the move and the increasingly worrying use of surveillance technology and AI at the border and beyond.
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Accountable Migration Tech: Transparency, governance and oversight
Migration continues to dominate headlines around the world. For example, given the currently deteriorating situation at the border between Greece and Turkey, with reports of increasingly repressive measures to turn people away, new technologies already play a part in border surveillance and decision-making at the border.
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