Privacy
Filter by...
-
Fear and loathing in the UK adequacy decision
The Council of the European Union unanimously approved the United Kingdom (UK) draft adequacy decision. In an ideal world, this would indicate that the UK offers an adequate level of protection for personal data, and would signal their willingness to retain those standards. Unfortunately, reality tells a different story, that should be worrying for human rights advocates on both sides of the channel.
Read more
-
Five reasons to claim victory on the EU Digital COVID Certificate
On 8 June 2021, the European Parliament voted on the interinstitutional compromise text on the regulation(s) on the EU Digital COVID Certificate (EU DCC, also known as the Digital Green Certificate and the European Green Pass). The proposed legislation regulates the “framework for the issuance, verification and acceptance of interoperable certificates on vaccination, testing and recovery” with aim of facilitating free movement during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Read more
-
The #PaperBagSociety challenge
The #PaperBagSociety is a social media challenge part of the #ReclaimYourFace campaign that invites everyone to share online the impact of living life with a paperbag on the head. With it, we aim to raise awareness of how ridiculous is to avoid facial recognition technologies in public spaces and why we need to build an alternative future, free from biometric mass surveillance.
Read more
-
German Big Brother Awards call out top privacy abusers
On Friday, 11 June 2021, the German Big Brother Awards (BBA) gala was held in Bielefeld, Germany. Organised by EDRi member Digitalcourage with jury members and support from several German groups, including other EDRi members, these awards have been held since 2000
Read more
-
Workplace, public space: workers organising in the age of facial recognition
‘Surveillance capitalism’ is increasingly threatening workers’ collective action and the human right to public protest.
Read more
-
Europol inches closer to increasing its powers despite lacking accountability
Europol was caught breaking the law and developing new initiatives without any proper legal basis (e.g. Europol’s innovation lab). Many proposed changes to Europol's mandate show an attempt to legalise the agency’s unlawful activities. In addition, this revision is happening even before the first implementation evaluation of Europol’s Regulation, planned for 2022, has been carried out. Without this evaluation, it is impossible to assess whether the current rules impede the fulfilment of the Agency’s missions and whether its working practices respect fundamental rights.
Read more
-
DSA should promote open and fair digital environment, not undermine the rule of law
The Rapporteur of the European Parliament Committee leading one of the most important legal initiatives to regulate platforms has spoken. The Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) Committee's draft report on the Digital Services Act (DSA) turns online platforms into judge, jury and executioner when it comes to removing online content. This follows the same logic as the Copyright Guidelines that were presented last week. It also gives vast powers to the European Commission and national governments to suppress opposing voices.
Read more
-
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.
Read more
-
3rd Anniversary of the GDPR
Europe can pride itself to have passed the most progressive privacy legislation in the world, but small errors in the law and the lack of enforcement lead to legitimate frustration of users and small business. EDRi's member noyb reflects on the nature and impact of the GDPR.
Read more
-
UK: European Court decision in Big Brother Watch case does not go far enough to protect free expression and privacy
The finding of a violation is testimony to the doggedness of civil society in holding the UK government to account in the wake of the Snowden revelations about mass surveillance programmes. EDRI's member ARTICLE 19 welcomes the decision of the European Court of Human Rights (European Court) in Big Brother and others vs the UK, which ruled that the United Kingdom’s bulk interception of communications violated the right to privacy and failed to protect journalists in breach of the right to freedom of expression.
Read more
-
Human rights groups win European Court of Human Rights claim on UK mass surveillance regime
Eight year legal battle against UK mass surveillance programmes exposed by whistleblower Edward Snowden culminates in victory for privacy. EDRi's member Privacy International worked actively to make this happen.
Read more
-
Washed in blue: living lab Digital Perimeter in Amsterdam
An increasing amount of Dutch government agencies seem to resort to so-called ‘living labs’ and ‘field labs’ in order to test and experiment with technological innovations in a realistic setting. In recent years, these live laboratories have proven to be a useful stepping stone to introduce new technologies into public space. In the last several weeks, EDRi's member Bits of Freedom took a closer look at one of those living labs – the so-called Digital Perimeter surrounding the Johan Cruijff ArenA in Amsterdam – and were not pleased with what they saw.
Read more