EDRi-gram
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AI Regulation: The EU should not give in to the surveillance industry
Although it claims to protect our liberties, the recent European Commission’s legislative proposal on artificial intelligence (AI) promotes the accelerated development of all aspects of AI, in particular for security purposes.
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European Parliament’s plans of a Digital Services Act threaten internet freedoms
The EU's Digital Services Act is a chance to preserve what works and to fix what is broken. EFF and other civil society groups have advocated for new rules that protect fundamental rights online, while formulating a bold vision to address today's most pressing challenges. However, while the initial proposal by the EU Commission got several things right, the EU Parliament is toying with the idea of introducing a new filternet, made in Europe. Some politicians believe that any active platform should potentially be held liable for the communications of its users and they trust that algorithmic filters can do the trick to swiftly remove illegal content
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New Belgian data retention law: a European blueprint?
On 21 April 2021, the Belgian Constitutional Court canceled the country’s data retention law, which has allowed every Belgian’s telecom, location and internet metadata to be retained for 12 months, for its potential use in criminal investigations. The Belgian Constitutional Court followed the Court of Justice of the European Union’s (CJEU) judgment released a few months earlier, which declared that practice of general and indiscriminate retention of personal data illegal (for the third time).
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Big brother at the Prague airport. The state refuses to explain how the biometric camera system works
When Václav Mach, collaborator of the Czech digital-legal organization, an EDRi member, Iuridicum Remedium (IuRe) and law student at the University of Olomouc, asked the state for more detailed information on the use of smart biometric cameras at Prague's Václav Havel Airport, he obtained just general phrases. "They kept secret what they could. Their non-transparency doesn’t add to their credibility,“ he says in an interview with HlídacíPes.org. The article below is a summary of the more extensive interview, translated from Czech into English by EDRi member IuRe.
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EDRi-gram, 3 November 2021
In this edition of the EDRi-gram, we share EDRi's guide to help Members of the European Parliament make strong human rights choices regarding the Digital Services Act amendments prior to the IMCO vote. We also share the unfortunate news of how Europol's unfettered and problematic data-driven model of policing has been given the green light, which will lead to serious risks of discrimination based on race, socio-economic status or class, and nationality.
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EDRi-gram, 20 October 2021
In this edition of the EDRi-gram, we share the launch of a collection of four scenarios that describe situations involving cross-border access to personal data and explains the necessary safeguards needed in the e-Evidence Proposal to mitigate these fundamental rights harms. We also demonstrate how software embedded in people’s devices can monitor our movements and surveil us, how a ban on surveillance advertising can fix Facebook and a lot more. Also now's your chance to submit your session proposal for the 10th annual Privacy Camp event, happening on January 25, 2022!
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EDRi-gram, 6 October 2021
We celebrate a historic milestone for our human rights as the European Parliament heard what EDRi has been long advocating for and took a bold stand against unacceptably risky uses of AI like biometric mass surveillance and predictive policing. We also cheer for civil society's success in Serbia as community and international pressure forced the government to withdraw its law, threatening to subject people to oppressive and privacy intrusive biometric surveillance.
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EDRi-gram, 22 September 2021
In this EDRi-gram, we challenge the technical ‘debiasing’ as the main solution to AI-driven structural inequality and call on policymakers to tackle the root causes of the power imbalances caused by the pervasive use of AI systems. We also look at how Big Tech platforms are harming users and join forces with EDRi's member Panoptykon Foundation, along with 49 civil rights organisations, to urge the EU to empower users and ensure effective oversight of algorithms in their amendments to the Digital Services Act.
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EDRi-gram, 8 September 2021
In the first post-summer edition of the EDRi-gram, we are excited to announce EDRi's new staff members who have recently become part of the team. Join us in welcoming Fenya Fischler, who will be our Membership and Community Officer & Belén Luna, our new Campaigns Officer! We are also celebrating a big milestone in our signature collection to ban biometric mass surveillance as 60 000 people have signed the #ReclaimYourFace petition (hurray)
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Telecom reform in Austria: consumers must benefit from Router Freedom
Austria is reforming its telecommunications law to incorporate the new European directives on electronic communications. The Austrian government has now an unique opportunity to leverage router freedom at the legislative level to protect consumers and the market. EDRi's member epicenter.works sheds some light on the reform.
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Transparency for institutions, privacy for the people
Much has been said about abuses of personal data by platforms like Facebook and other private companies. However, there is little observation of non-compliance by public administrations or institutions such as the policies undermining the privacy of the public and the small (or large) daily abuses people are subject to.
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European Court on Human Rights Bought Spy Agencies’ Spin on Mass Surveillance
For good or ill, and I believe for ill more than for good, with the present judgment the Strasbourg Court has just opened the gates for an electronic “Big Brother” in Europe. EDRi's member Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) discusses the recent European Court on Human Rights' decision that the British and Swedish surveillance regimes violate privacy.
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