surveillance
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Austria creates new agency with unprecedented surveillance powers
In the midst of the biggest surveillance scandal of mankind and after years of criticism about rogue secret agencies spying on politicians and the government bodies supposed to control them, Austria is planning to establish a new secret agency. Austria’s draft state security law, “Staatsschutzgesetz”, grants new, far reaching surveillance powers while reducing oversight and […]
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Netzpolitik.org case: Prosecutor dismissed, inquiry dropped
As reported previously in EDRi-gram at the end of July 2015, two reporters of a German digital rights blog Netzpolitik.org, Markus Beckedahl and André Meister, were under investigation for treason after the publication of leaked documents revealing plans to expand German internet surveillance. On 10 August, German federal prosecutors announced that the much disputed investigation will […]
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Launch of the EU Internet Forum – behind closed doors and without civil society
The European Commission has confirmed to EDRi that it is preparing to partner with US online companies in order to plan the arbitrary monitoring and censorship of European citizens and, contrary to previous assurances, will exclude civil society from these discussions. More disturbingly, this is happening at the same time as the US is preparing […]
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Leaked documents: German news site Netzpolitik.org investigated for treason
If it were up to the Federal Attorney General and the President of the German Domestic Security Agency, two reporters of Netzpolitik.org, a German digital rights blog, would soon be in prison for at least two years. Yesterday, the news blog was officially informed about investigations against the editors Markus Beckedahl and Andre Meister. The […]
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French Constitutional Council approves sweeping surveillance powers
On 23 July, the French Constitutional Council approved sweeping surveillance powers for intelligence agencies. In its decision, the Council declared almost all provisions constitutional, in contradiction to vehement opposition from civil rights groups, human rights experts, academia and the online business sector. The “Loi Renseignement” (also dubbed the “French Patriot Act”) was passed by the […]
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Dutch Minister reveals plans for dragnet surveillance
Ronald Plasterk, the Dutch Minister of the Interior, wants to make sure that the Dutch secret services have the powers to spy on the behaviour of all citizens and gain insight in all of their communications: phone calls, emails, chat messages and website visits. This much is clear after he published an update of the […]
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Surveillance technology company Hacking Team hacked
On 5 July, Italian surveillance technology company Hacking Team was hacked. 400GB of data from its servers was shared on BitTorrent, and Hacking Team employees’ emails, invoices and other documents posted publicly via the company’s own Twitter feed (that was renamed “Hacked Team” for the occasion). The authenticity of the documents has not been independently […]
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EU PNR: Unproven, ineffective strategies are not security
“When people are scared, they need something done that will make them feel safe, even if it doesn’t truly make them safer. Politicians naturally want to do something in response to crisis, even if that something doesn’t make any sense.” Bruce Schneier, Security expert The proposal for a EU PNR Directive (Fight against terrorism and […]
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TTIP Resolution: what did the Parliament say about Digital Rights?
On 8 July, 2015, the European Parliament finally adopted a resolution on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The TTIP resolution contains non-binding recommendations to the Commission regarding digital rights, among other topics. At the beginning of 2015, EDRi published its red lines, which was later developed into a booklet “TTIP and Digital Rights”. […]
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UK: Report of the investigatory powers review
A key report reviewing the UK’s legal framework governing surveillance commissioned by the Government and written by David Anderson QC, was released on 11 June 2015. The thrust of the report is a resounding call for wholesale reform of Britain’s surveillance legislation with it concluding that “This state of affairs is undemocratic, unnecessary and – […]
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EU continues push for travel surveillance by the back door
The European Commission has released its plans for providing financial support to national security measures. These plans, despite the absence of a legal basis, privacy concerns and a pending EU Court of Justice (CJEU) decision, include the financing of a European mass surveillance measure: namely the long-term storage and exchange of citizens’ air travel data, […]
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Booklet: TTIP and Digital Rights
Today, European Digital Rights (EDRi) is publishing its latest booklet, “TTIP and digital rights”: The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is a trade agreement that is currently being negotiated between the United States and the European Union. TTIP has already raised many concerns among civil society, trade unions, consumer groups, some businesses, and European […]
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