Data protection standards

February 12, 2020 · Blogs | Privacy and surveillance | Data protection standards | Surveillance and data retention

Digitalcourage fights back against data retention in Germany

On 10 February 2020, EDRi member Digitalcourage published the German government’s plea in the data retention case at the European Court of Justice (ECJ). Dated 9 September 2019, the document from the government explains the use of retained telecommunications data by secret services, the question whether the 2002 ePrivacy Directive might apply to various forms […]

February 12, 2020 · Blogs | Just and open internet and technologies | Privacy and surveillance | Artificial intelligence (AI) | Biometrics | Data protection standards | Equal access to the internet | Inclusive technologies | Profiling practices | Surveillance and data retention

The human rights impacts of migration control technologies

This is the first blogpost of a series on our new project which brings to the forefront the lived experiences of people on the move as they are impacted by technologies of migration control. The project, led by our Mozilla Fellow Petra Molnar, highlights the need to regulate the opaque technological experimentation documented in and […]

February 12, 2020 · Blogs | Privacy and surveillance | Data protection standards | Transparency

Cloud extraction: A deep dive on secret mass data collection tech

Mobile phones remain the most frequently used and most important digital source for law enforcement investigations. Yet it is not just what is physically stored on the phone that law enforcement are after, but what can be accessed from it, primarily data stored in the “cloud”. This is why law enforcement is turning to “cloud […]

February 12, 2020 · Blogs | Just and open internet and technologies | Privacy and surveillance | Biometrics

Dangerous by design: A cautionary tale about facial recognition

In this fifth and final installment of EDRi's facial recognition and fundamental rights series, we consider an experience of harm caused by fundamentally violatory biometric surveillance technology.

February 3, 2020 · Blogs | Privacy and surveillance | Data protection standards

ECtHR: Obligation on companies to identify all phone users is legal

On 30 January 2020, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) issued its judgment on the Breyer VS Germany case.

January 29, 2020 · Blogs | Privacy and surveillance | Data protection standards

AG’s Opinion: Mass retention of data incompatible with EU law

January 29, 2020 · Blogs | Privacy and surveillance | Data protection standards | Privacy and confidentiality | Profiling practices

CJEU to decide on processing of passenger data under PNR Directive

On 20 January 2020, the District Court of Cologne, Germany, submitted to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) the question whether the European Passenger Name Record (PNR) Directive violates fundamental rights. EDRi member Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte (GFF, Society for Civil Rights) initiated the proceedings against the directive, which allows for authorities to […]

January 29, 2020 · Blogs | Privacy and surveillance | Data protection standards | Surveillance and data retention

Data retention: “National security” is not a blank cheque

On 15 January, Advocate General (AG) Campos Sánchez-Bordona of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) delivered his opinions on four cases regarding data retention regimes in France, Belgium and the UK, in the context of these Members States’ surveillance programmes.

January 15, 2020 · Blogs | Privacy and surveillance | Data protection standards

Serbia: Complaints filed against Facebook and Google

January 15, 2020 · Blogs | Privacy and surveillance | Data protection standards

Serbia: Complaints filed against Facebook and Google

January 15, 2020 · Blogs | Privacy and surveillance | Artificial intelligence (AI) | Biometrics | Data protection standards | Equal access to the internet | Online tracking industry / AdTech | Platform regulation | Profiling practices | Surveillance and data retention | Transparency

Our New Year’s wishes for European Commissioners

EDRi wishes all readers a happy new year 2020! In 2019, we had a number of victories in multiple fields. The European Parliament added necessary safeguards to the proposed Terrorist Content Online (TCO) Regulation to protect fundamental rights against overly broad and disproportionate censorship measures. The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled […]

January 15, 2020 · Blogs | Privacy and surveillance | Data protection standards | Surveillance and data retention

Indiscriminate data retention considered disproportionate, once again

EDRi’s initial reaction on the press release of the AG Opinion on data retention Today’s Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) Advocate General’s Opinions continue the firmly established case-law of the CJEU considering mass collection of individuals communications data incompatible with EU law. The Advocate General reaffirms that blanket retention of telecommunication data […]