Privacy and confidentiality
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Is anti-plagiarism software legal under EU Copyright legislation?
Are anti-plagiarism technologies compatible with copyright law? Surprisingly, this might not be the case. Anti-plagiarism technology involves machine comparison of works such as diploma theses with pre-existing publications. This activity constitutes a use that is covered by copyright. Since no explicit limitation or exception of authors’ and publishers’ exclusive rights authorises providers and users of […]
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EU Member States plan to ignore EU Court data retention rulings
Documents made publicly available through EDRi member Statewatch reveal that EU Member States are exploring all possible options to keep, and in fact expand, their current data retention regimes. The general plan is based on a new concept of ”restricted data retention”, which is really blanket data retention with a new name, along with amendments […]
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Estonian eID article – additional information
Our article on the problems with the Estonian eID card attracted some criticism and non-specific allegations of inaccuracies. We recognise the sensitivities of the Estonian authorities on this issue, but stand behind the article. For the sake of completeness and to allow our analysis to be verified, here is the timescale that we describe in […]
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The Civil Liberties Committee rejects #censorshipmachine
On 20 November 2017, the European Parliament (EP) Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) voted against the mandatory implementation of “censorship machines” (aka upload filters) in its Opinion on the Copyright Directive proposal. After a long process and diligent hard work led by Polish Members of the European Parliment (MEP) Michal Boni […]
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Estonian eID cryptography mess – 750000 cards compromised
In 2017, a flaw causing vulnerabilities in millions of encryption keys, including national Estonian electronic ID (eID) cards, was discovered. A month and a half after the discovery, the Estonian Police publicly announced the vulnerability, but stated that the eID cards “are completely secure”.
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Portugal bans use of DRM that limits access to public domain works
With the tendency of becoming too accustomed to bad news on copyright, it is refreshing to hear that Portugal has recently passed a law that helps to strike a fairer balance between users and copyright holders on digital rights management (DRM). The law does not abolish legal protection for DRM altogether – unfortunately, that would […]
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Surveillance laws fall far short of fundamental rights standards
On 23 October, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) published the second volume of its study on surveillance and its impact on fundamental rights. This study comes following the request of the European Parliament (EP) for information on the consequences of surveillance for fundamental rights. The Agency notes that “the mere existence of […]
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See which MEPs voted in favour of e-Privacy – and which ones against it
On 19 October, the European Parliament Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) voted on the proposed e-Privacy Regulation. With 31 votes the Committee voted in favour of measures defending privacy, security and competition for phone and internet services. The 31 MEPs in favour of the e-Privacy Regulation belong to the Alliance of […]
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Euro-parliamentarians say a clear “no” to the anti-privacy lobby
On 19 October, the European Parliament Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) voted on the proposed e-Privacy Regulation. The Committee voted in favour of measures defending privacy, security and competition for phone and internet services. Despite a huge lobbying effort to water down the proposal, the Committee voted for clear, privacy-friendly rules. […]
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Extending the use of eID to online platforms – risks to privacy?
On 10 October 2017, the European Commission published the “draft principles and guidance on eID interoperability for online platforms” on the electronic Identification And Trust Services (eIDAS) observatory. Building on the eIDAS Regulation, the Commission would like to extend the scope of use for the eIDs to online platforms, in addition to public services. This […]
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EU’s plans on encryption: What is needed?
On 18 October 2017, the European Commission is expected to publish a Communication on counter-terrorism, which will include some lines on encryption. What is encryption? Why is it important? When we send an encrypted message (or store an encrypted document), no one else but the intended recipient can read it using a unique key. So […]
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Europe’s governments win the Big Brother Awards 2017 for opening the pandora’s box of surveillance
On Friday 13 October, the annual Belgian Big Brother Awards – a negative prize for the worst privacy abuser of the year – took place in Brussels. The jury awarded the European trend of state hacking, European Digital Right’s (EDRi) nomination, the title of the ultimate privacy villain. The public voted Automatic number-plate recognition (ANPR) […]
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