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A beginner’s guide to EU rules on scanning private communications: Part 1
In July 2021, the European Parliament and EU Council agreed temporary rules to allow webmail and messenger services to scan everyone’s private online communications. In 2022, the European Commission will propose a long-term version of these rules. In the first installment of this EDRi blog series on online ‘CSAM’ detection, we explore the history of the file, and why it is relevant for everyone’s digital rights.
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Digital Services Act: EU Parliament’s key committee rejects a filternet but concerns remain
The European Union's Digital Services Act (DSA) is a big deal. It's the most significant reform of Europe’s internet platform legislation in twenty years and the EU Commission has proposed multiple new rules to address the challenges brought by the increased use of services online. EU members of Parliament (MEPs) showed that they listened to civil society voices: Even though the key committee on internal market affairs (IMCO) did not follow the footsteps of the ambitious DSA reports from last year, MEPs took a stance for the protection of fundamental rights.
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Council and Parliament find provisional agreement on the Data Governance Act
On 30 November, the European Parliament and Council provisionally agreed on the final version of the Data Governance Act (DGA). The text, which will still require final approval by both institutions, is the first legislative element of the European data strategy to emerge in its final form. While the final text is yet to be published, here is an overview of the main elements of the Act.
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Italy introduces a moratorium on video surveillance systems that use facial recognition
On 1 December 2021, the Italian Parliament introduced a moratorium on video surveillance systems that use facial recognition technologies. This law introduces, for the first time in an EU Member State, a temporary ban for private entities to use these systems in public places or places accessible to the public. This moratorium is an important achievement: it recognises the dangers posed by technologies such as facial recognition to people's rights and freedoms. The moratorium will be in force until 31 December 2023 at the latest, unless a new law is introduced on the subject of biometric surveillance before that date.
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EDRi-gram, 1 December 2021
In this edition, we tell you how you can take your power back from Big Tech companies and help us create a democratic, fair and open internet for a just society. We are also calling on the EU to put our fundamental rights first in the Artificial Intelligence Act (AIA).
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Transposition of the Copyright Directive in Spain
The transposition of the Copyright Directive in Spain has been done with no Parliament debate. While the political parties could ask for it, they will likely not do so for fear of conflicting with certain famous artists from the copyright lobby, who are lobbying for an extreme position on copyrights.
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What you need to know about the Facebook Papers
Facebook is now undergoing what may be the tech giant’s biggest crisis in its 17-year history. In October, The Washington Post reported that a second Facebook whistleblower came forward to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, alleging that the company prioritises growth over combating hate speech, disinformation, and other threats to the public. The whistleblower’s testimony follows that of former Facebook employee Frances Haugen, whose legal counsel released what’s known as the Facebook Papers — a 10,000-page collection of internal reports, memos, and chat logs leaked to more than a dozen major news outlets.
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Noyb files another complaint against Amazon Europe – black box algorithm discriminates customers
The e-commerce giant offers customers the possibility to pay for products later via "Monthly Invoicing". A customer was automatically rejected from using this payment method without Amazon giving any reasons why. When Amazon’s customer service could not provide any further information, the customer submitted an access request under Article 15 GDPR in order to find out why he was rejected – but the company still refused to provide any information.
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EDRi-gram, 17 November 2021
Check out our joint call to the Portuguese government to oppose a proposed law that tries to sneak in biometric mass surveillance. In this edition, we also explain how Facebook's latest announcement about deleting their facial recognition database demonstrates that voluntary self-regulation from tech giants is superficial and cannot replace actual legislation against these practices. And discuss the shortcomings of Facebook whistleblower's testimony.
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Why chat control is so dangerous
Fighting the dissemination of child sexual abuse material, the EU Commission is considering dangerous measures: the automated search of content on mobile phones and computers. See answers to the key questions regarding „chat control“ in Netzpolitik's overview.
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Do no harm? How the case of Afghanistan sheds light on the dark practice of biometric intervention
In August 2021, as US military forces exited Afghanistan, the Taliban seized facial recognition systems, highlighting just how a failure to protect people’s privacy can tangibly threaten their physical safety and human rights. Far from being good tools which fell into the wrong hands, the very existence of these systems is part of broader structures of data extraction and exploitation spanning continents and centuries, with a history wrapped up in imperialism, colonialism and control.
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Big-tech lobby sets the rules about big-tech in Europe
The dominance of Google and Facebook is disastrous for the public debate online. We've been saying this for a long time. But this dominance can also be felt in the regulation of the same platforms. Huge amounts of money are spent by big tech to influence European laws and regulations.
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