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Guide to the Code of Conduct on Hate Speech
On 31 May, the European Commission, together with Facebook, YouTube (Google), Twitter and Microsoft, agreed a “code of conduct” (pdf) on fighting hate speech. We believe that the code of conduct will damage enforcement of laws on hate speech, and undermine citizens’ fundamental rights. In a joint press release, EDRi and Access Now have therefore […]
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The tales of Facebook’s jurisdiction: Nudes, Cookies and Schrems
Which law governs Facebook activities? Can any Facebook user bring a case against the social media platform anywhere in the European Union? These are some of the questions that are starting to be resolved in 2016, 12 years after the launch of Facebook. As everyone probably knows, Facebook legally established its non-US headquarters in Ireland. […]
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Holland and India prohibit zero-rating: the first of many?
The principle of net neutrality requires that internet access providers carry data without discrimination on the basis of origin, destination or type of data. Net neutrality prohibits telecoms operators from blocking or degrading content applications or services. From a telecom operator’s perspective, the goal is to move away from the “any-to-any” principle that is a […]
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Academics under attack in Turkey
1128 academics from Turkish universities signed an open letter urging the government to stop using curfews to facilitate the violence ongoing for weeks in Kurdish towns. The number of local signatories increased to 2212 by 20 January 2016, including 30 Nobel Prize winners. Moreover, the letter heading “We Will Not Be A Party To This […]
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EDRi’s submission to the “Platforms consultation”
EDRi submitted its response to the European Commission consultation on platforms, online intermediaries, data, cloud computing and the collaborative economy on the 24 December 2015. The consultation covered a very broad range of different online services such as AirBnB, eBay, Netflix, Facebook, YouTube and others, which were labeled under the dubious denomination of “platform”. It […]
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Can the US be a “safe harbor” for travel surveillance?
This article is a shortened version of an analysis originally published on http://papersplease.org/wp/2015/10/29/can-the-us-be-a-safe-harbor-for-travel-surveillance At its plenary session on 29 October in Strasbourg, the European Parliament adopted a “Resolution on the electronic mass surveillance of European Union citizens”. As part of the Resolution, the European Parliament, “[c]alls on the EU Member States to drop any criminal […]
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Austrian BBA awarded to the new intelligence services act
On 25 October, Austrian EDRi member q/uintessenz organised the annual Big Brother Awards Gala. It was held in Vienna at the Rabenhof Theatre, with over 300 people attending to “honour” the biggest privacy invaders of this year. Organised annually since 1999, this was the 17th time the Gala was held. It was broadcast via national […]
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Turkey: New attempts to limit online access and freedom of speech
The Turkish government has been heavily critised for implementing censorship on the Internet and other media. Currently, over 100 000 websites are officially blocked in the country. Additionally, popular websites such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube have been frequently blocked with or without a court order. Other than officially blocking websites, Turkish Internet Service Providers […]
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ENDitorial: Racism in Germany – Facebook should do “more”
Xenophobic attacks against refugees in Germany have dramatically increased over the past two years. In the first six months of 2015, German authorities counted 150 attacks on asylum-seeker shelters throughout the country. On 27 August, in an attempt to address the situation, Germany’s minister of justice and consumer protection urged Facebook to take down racist […]
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Facebook patent: Lending based on social connections
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) has granted Facebook a patent which could allow “authenticating an individual for access to information or service based on that individual’s social network.” The main use for this technology is to allegedly prevent members of a network from sending spam to other members with whom they aren’t […]
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A new wave of Internet blocking in Turkey
On 25 July, the Turkish government ordered the blocking of 65 popular dissident and Kurdish websites and temporarily slowed down Twitter and Facebook access. This follows the government’s air attack against the Islamic State (Isis) and Kurdish forces in Syria. A few days earlier, Twitter was blocked entirely for a few hours. On 20 July, […]
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An open letter to Mark Zuckerberg from suspended user Giz
I am confused. When your Chief of Personal Products, Chris Cox was speaking with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence he said that Facebook’s policy never required anyone to use their legal name. He said that Facebook wants users to use our authentic identities, the names our people call us, like Sister Roma and Little Miss […]
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