Netherlands
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The Dutch continue to fight new mass surveillance law
On 4 November 2017, 20 000 households in the Netherlands received a letter from the Interior Security Service, Rijksveiligheidsdienst. The letter asked people to make an appointment to have a relay installed in their home. The letter stated that this installation was necessary because of the new Intelligence and Security Services Act, which gives the […]
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High time: Policy makers increasingly embrace encryption
Encryption is of critical importance to our democracy and rule of law. Nevertheless, politicians frequently advocate for weakening this technology. Slowly but surely, however, policy makers seem to start embracing it.
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Netherlands: Sharing of travel data violated students’ privacy
It was all over the news on 22 August 2017: Translink, the company responsible for the Dutch public transport card “OV-chipkaart” had been passing student travel data to the Education Executive Agency responsible for student finance in the Netherlands (DUO). DUO uses this data to figure out whether students who claim to live on their […]
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ENDitorial: Draconian anti-terrorism measures instil terror
We are becoming more and more scared. Images of terror attacks influence our daily decisions. A friend of mine gets nervous when he has to travel past an airport by train, and another friend surprised me by telling me that this year he stayed home during gay pride. Several people have told me of times […]
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Dutch Senate votes in favour of dragnet surveillance powers
On 11 July 2017, the Dutch Senate passed the bill for the new Intelligence and Security Services Act. With the Senate vote, a years-long political battle has come to an end: the secret services have been given dragnet surveillance powers.
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Dutch ban on zero-rating struck down – major blow to net neutrality
20 April 2017 was a bad day for net neutrality in the Netherlands, and possibly also in the rest of Europe. The court of Rotterdam struck down the general ban on price discrimination, including zero-rating, as enacted in the Dutch Telecommunications Act. The court held that the categorical ban on price discrimination is “evidently” in […]
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The hacking law with its own backdoor
In the past few years, Dutch EDRi member Bits of Freedom has put a lot of effort into trying to stop the Dutch hacking proposal. The proposal would grant Dutch law enforcement agencies the authority to remotely access electronic devices. In December 2016, the law was passed in Dutch Parliament. Sadly, without the improvements that […]
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Dutch BBA 2016: Facial recognition, medical data and safe messaging
An anonymous country singer, the watchdog-walking service and the I-have-nothing-to-hide musical. These were just a few elements thrown in by theatre producers and performers Oscar Kocken and Daan Windhorst. Just add a crash course “Lying with charts”, a few tasteful awards, and you have an awards ceremony – simultaneously funny and serious – about privacy. […]
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The lobby-tomy 9: Lessons of the lobby
The new European privacy law was a feast for lobbyists, but how did the Dutch government deal with all that information? And is lobbying bad? The new European data protection regulation is the most lobbied piece of legislation ever because the subject is very important and touches upon almost every aspect of our daily lives. […]
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The lobby-tomy 8: “Anti-fraud” – another magic word
Prevention of fraud is a compelling argument for less privacy protection. Insurance companies, banks, and lenders often use it to get access to data.
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Dutch parliament votes against internet filter
On 5 July 2016, the Dutch parliament voted against the introduction of an internet filter. Such a filter would be ineffective and would undermine trust in digital infrastructure. The internet filter was proposed as part of new legislation to regulate online gambling in the Netherlands. Currently, online gambling is prohibited. Of course, this doesn’t deter […]
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Advocate General: E-lending must be included to the lending rights
In 2015, the Dutch Association of Public Libraries (VOB) started a legal procedure against Stichting Leenrecht, the organisation distributing the remuneration to authors that libraries pay for lending books in the Netherlands. The purpose of the case was to clarify if the European Union’s Rental and Lending Rights Directive covers the lending of electronic books. […]
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