ePrivacy Directive
Filter by...
-
Chat control: 10 principles to defend children in the digital age
The automated scanning of everyone’s private communications, all of the time, constitutes a disproportionate interference with the very essence of the fundamental right to privacy. It can constitute a form of undemocratic mass surveillance, and can have severe and unjustified repercussions on many other fundamental rights and freedoms, too.
Read more
-
A beginner’s guide to EU rules on scanning private communications: Part 2
Vital EU rules on human rights and on due process protect all of us from unfair, arbitrary or discriminatory interference with our privacy by states and companies. As we await the European Commission’s proposal for a law which we fear may make it mandatory for online chat and email services to scan every person’s private messages all the time, which may constitute mass surveillance, this blog explores what rights-respecting investigations into child sexual abuse material (CSAM) should look like instead.
Read more
-
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.
Read more
-
Final push needed for a strong ePrivacy Regulation
Today EDRi and 17 civil rights organisations reiterate our support for the much-needed efforts to upgrade Europe’s ePrivacy legislation.
Read more
-
ePrivacy strikes back
“And when we woke up, the ePrivacy Regulation was still there”, could be the EU bubble version of the famous micro-tale. Four years after the main text protecting privacy and confidentiality of people in the EU was proposed, Member States have finally given the green light to finalise the adoption. But, where will this lead us?
Read more
-
ePrivacy: EU Member States push crucial reform on privacy norms close to a dead end
Today, on 22 November 2019, the Permanent Representatives Committee of the Council of the European Union (COREPER) has rejected the Council’s position on a draft ePrivacy Regulation. “In this era of disinformation and privacy scandals, refusing to ensure strong privacy protections in the ePrivacy Regulation is a step backwards for the EU,” said Diego Naranjo, […]
Read more
-
ePrivacy hangs in the balance, but it’s not over yet…
Unless you have been living under a rock (read: outside the “Brussels bubble”) you will likely be aware of the long and winding road on which the proposed ePrivacy Regulation has been for the last three years. This is not unusual for a piece of European Union (EU) legislation – the 2018 General Data Protection […]
Read more
-
Open letter to EU Member States: Deliver ePrivacy now!
On 11 October 2019, EDRi, together with four other civil society organisations, sent an open letter to EU Member States, to urge to conclude the negotiations on the ePrivacy Regulation. The letter highlights the urgent need for a strong ePrivacy Regulation in order to tackle the problems created by the commercial surveillance business models, and […]
Read more
-
Right a wrong: ePrivacy now!
When the European Commission proposed to replace the outdated and improperly enforced 2002 ePrivacy Directive with a new ePrivacy Regulation in January 2017, it marked a cautiously hopeful moment for digital rights advocates across Europe. With the backdrop of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), adopted in May 2018, Europe took a giant leap ahead […]
Read more
-
ePrivacy: Private data retention through the back door
Blanket data retention has been prohibited in several court decisions by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) and the German Federal Constitutional Court (BVerfG). In spite of this, some of the EU Member States want to reintroduce it for the use by law enforcement authorities – through a back door in the ePrivacy Regulation.
Read more
-
ePrivacy: Public benefit or private surveillance?
92 weeks after the proposal was published, the EU is still waiting for an ePrivacy Regulation. The Regulation is supposed to replace the current ePrivacy Directive, aligning it with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Read more
-
Council continues limbo dance with the ePrivacy standards
It's been six-hundred-fifty-two days since the European Commission launched its proposal for an ePrivacy Regulation. The European Parliament took a strong stance towards the proposal when it adopted its position a year ago, but the Council of the European Union is still only taking baby steps towards finding its position.
Read more