Serbia withdraws a proposed Biometric Surveillance Bill following national and international pressure
On 23 September, the Serbian Minister of Interior Aleksandar Vulin announced that the Draft Law on Internal Affairs, which contained provisions for legalising a massive biometric video surveillance system, was pulled from the further procedure. This turn of events presents a key victory in SHARE Foundation’s two and a half year-long battle against smart cameras in Belgrade, which were installed by the Ministry of Interior and supplied by Chinese tech giant Huawei.
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Serbia withdraws a proposed Biometric Surveillance Bill following national and international pressure
On 23 September, the Serbian Minister of Interior Aleksandar Vulin announced that the Draft Law on Internal Affairs, which contained provisions for legalising a massive biometric video surveillance system, was pulled from the further procedure. This turn of events presents a key victory in SHARE Foundation’s two and a half year-long battle against smart cameras in Belgrade, which were installed by the Ministry of Interior and supplied by Chinese tech giant Huawei.
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Why you shouldn’t buy Facebook Ray-Ban smart glasses
Imagine that you are strolling along a tranquil beach in your swimsuit. Suddenly, a stranger walking toward you takes out their phone and starts recording you. You might work up the courage to ask how they dared to invade your privacy, and demand they delete the footage.
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The terrifying expansion of Sweden’s state surveillance
For the last couple of years the Swedish parliament has been expanding the surveillance capabilities of law enforcement. After the European Court of Justice struck down Sweden's data retention law, the national parliament passed a replacement that did nothing to address any of the issues criticized in the first law. If telecom providers were to challenge it, which no one has shown any willingness to do, it would most likely be struck down again.
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EDRi and 41 human rights organisations call on the European Parliament to reject amendments to AI and criminal law report
EDRi and 41 human rights organisations* call on the members of the European Parliament to vote against the new amendments, which enable discriminatory predictive policing and biometric mass surveillance.
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Total surveillance law proposed in Serbia
The public debate on the Draft Law on Internal Affairs has officially introduced into legal procedure provisions for the use of mass biometric surveillance in public spaces in Serbia, advanced technologies equipped with facial recognition software that enable capturing and processing of large amounts of sensitive personal data in real time. EDRi's member the SHARE Foundation has used the opportunity of the Draft Law public debate to submit its legal comments on the provisions regulating mass biometric surveillance in public spaces, demanding from the authorities to declare a moratorium on the use of such technologies and systems in Serbia without delay.
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Biometric ‘permission to travel’ scheme in Borders Bill will affect tens of millions of people
The attack on the asylum system proposed by the UK government in the Nationality and Borders Bill has provoked outrage. However, the Bill also includes proposals to introduce an electronic 'permission to travel' scheme that would involve gathering biometric and other data from tens of millions of people. The UK Parliament's Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) is conducting legislative scrutiny on the Bill. EDRi's member Statewatch submitted written observations to the inquiry last week.
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Eurodac: Council seeks swift agreement on expanded migrant biometric database
The Slovenian Presidency of the Council is planning to accelerate negotiations on a vast expansion of the Eurodac database, which will hold sensitive data on millions of asylum seekers and migrants in an irregular situation, by 'delinking' the proposed rules from other EU asylum and migration laws under discussion.
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Digital Dignity Document Pool
Digital technologies can have a profound effect on our societies, but sufficient attention is rarely given to how certain applications differentiate between, target and experiment on communities at the margins. This document pool gathers resources for those that are interested in learning about and contesting the harms to dignity and equality that arise from uses of technology and data.
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Intensified surveillance at EU borders: EURODAC reform needs a radical policy shift
In an open letter addressed to the European Parliament Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee, 34 organisations protecting the rights of people on the move, children and digital rights including European Digital Rights (EDRi) urge policymakers to radically change the direction of the EURODAC reform – the European Union (EU) database storing asylum seekers’ and migrants’ personal data - in order to respect fundamental rights and international law.
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UK Investigatory Powers Tribunal finds the regime for bulk communications data to be incompatible with EU law
The UK Investigatory Powers Tribunal issued a declaration in EDRi member Privacy International's challenge to the bulk communications data regime, finding UK legislation to be incompatible with EU law.
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How a rotten Apple (and bad legislation) could spoil our private communications
In August 2021, Apple announced significant changes to their privacy settings for messaging and cloud services, only to “pause” it in early September. Earlier this summer, the European Parliament adopted in a final vote the derogation to the main piece of EU legislation protecting privacy, the ePrivacy Directive, to allow Big Tech to scan your emails, messages, and other online communications.In August 2021, Apple announced significant changes to their privacy settings for messaging and cloud services, only to “pause” it in early September. Earlier this summer, the European Parliament adopted in a final vote the derogation to the main piece of EU legislation protecting privacy, the ePrivacy Directive, to allow Big Tech to scan your emails, messages, and other online communications.
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Move fast and break Big Tech’s power
The surveillance-based business model of the dominant technology companies is based on extracting as much personal information and profiling as possible to target individuals, on- and offline. Over time, Big Tech corporations build a frighteningly detailed picture about billions of individuals—and that knowledge directly translates into (market) power.
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