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Consumer and digital groups in Europe and the U.S. call for a full ban on surveillance-based advertising
On 1 June, the Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD), that EDRi is part of, published a policy resolution on banning surveillance-based advertising. The invasive practices of collecting, sharing, and processing of individual data to deliver personalized advertising, has become the primary business model in the online advertising space. Surveillance advertising is promoted by the world’s largest technology companies, like Meta (Facebook) or Alphabet (Google), and is a key driver behind the spread of misinformation, undermining democratic discourse, economic and political equity, marketplace competition, privacy, public health, and basic consumer protections.
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EU negotiators approve good DSA, but more work is needed to build a better internet
Friday night’s political agreement on the Digital Services Act (DSA) is a good first step towards protecting people’s rights on the internet and to some extent limiting the immense power that Big Tech companies have over people and democracies.
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Platform Regulation: Key takeways from Haugen’s hearing
On 8 November 2021, Frances Haugen, the Facebook whistleblower, participated in a hearing of the European Parliament’s Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee (IMCO). While her testimony brought extremely important insights into Facebook’s opaque operations, it also showed that Haugen’s thinking of what the digital world in Europe should look like is influenced by her expertise in data science rather than public policy, as well as by her professional experience working with Silicon Valley’s centralised mega-platforms.
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DSA Proposal: Recommendations for the EU Parliament and Council
The Digital Services Act (DSA) is a mixed bag with some promising proposals, shares EDRi's member Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). In their "Recommendations for the EU Parliament and Council", they take a closer look at the substance of the DSA proposal and propose concrete suggestions for improvements.
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Four measures to limit the dominance of platforms like YouTube and Facebook
For our public debate, we are far too dependent on the whims of dominant companies such as Google and Facebook. The time is nigh for politicians to step in, and here are four measures they should take.
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How Austria wants to implement upload filters and ancillary copyright
EDRi's member epicenter.works sheds light on the Austrian implementation of the controversial Copyright Directive passed in the EU Parliament in 2019. As positive as some draft provisions regarding upload filters are, the Austrian implementation of ancillary copyright is poor.
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Open letter demands interoperability of the big online platforms
On 21 May 2019, EDRi observer La Quadrature du Net, along with 70 other organisations, including some EDRi members, sent a letter asking the French government and members of the Parliament to force web giants (Facebook, Youtube, Twitter…) to be interoperable with other online services. The purpose is to allow users of these platforms to […]
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Facebook and Google asked to appoint representatives in Serbia
Three months before the new Serbian Law on Personal Data Protection becomes applicable, EDRi member SHARE Foundation asked 20 data companies from around the world – including Google and Facebook – to appoint representatives in Serbia as required by the new law. This is crucial for providing Serbian citizens and competent authorities with a contact […]
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SIN v Facebook: Tech giant sued over censorship in landmark case
On 7 May 2019, Civil Society Drug Policy Initiative (SIN), a Polish non-profit organisation promoting evidence-based drug policy, filed a lawsuit with the support of the Polish EDRi member Panoptykon Foundation, against Facebook in a strategic litigation case aimed at fighting private censorship on the internet.
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Parliamentarians encourage online platforms to censor legal content
On 18 May 2017, the European Parliament Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) and the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) adopted a report on the Online Platforms and the Digital Single Market.
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What to do with the online platforms – the academics point of view
The rise of “platform economy” with rapid growth of online intermediary platforms, such as Airbnb, Uber, Amazon Marketplace, and also dating, gaming and other services is bringing new challenges not only for existing business models, but also for European legislation. In a meeting of Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) Committee Working Group on the […]
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Digital Single Market: The EU Parliament responds to the Commission
On 19 January 2016, the European Parliament voted to adopt its report “Towards a Digital Single Market Act”. This Resolution is a non-legislative statement, prepared by the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) and the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO), in response to the European Commission’s Digital Single Market (DSM) strategy presented on […]
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