EU privacy regulators and Parliament demand AI and biometrics red lines
In their Joint Opinion on the AI Act, the EDPS and EDPB “call for [a] ban on [the] use of AI for automated recognition of human features in publicly accessible spaces, and some other uses of AI that can lead to unfair discrimination”. Taking the strongest stance yet, the Joint Opinion explains that “intrusive forms of AI – especially those who may affect human dignity – are to be seen as prohibited” on fundamental rights grounds.
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EU privacy regulators and Parliament demand AI and biometrics red lines
In their Joint Opinion on the AI Act, the EDPS and EDPB “call for [a] ban on [the] use of AI for automated recognition of human features in publicly accessible spaces, and some other uses of AI that can lead to unfair discrimination”. Taking the strongest stance yet, the Joint Opinion explains that “intrusive forms of AI – especially those who may affect human dignity – are to be seen as prohibited” on fundamental rights grounds.
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It’s official. Your private communications can (and will) be spied on
On 6 July, 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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Biometric mass surveillance flourishes in Germany and the Netherlands
In a new research report, EDRi reveals the shocking extent of biometric mass surveillance practices in Germany, the Netherlands and Poland which are taking over our public spaces like train stations, streets, and shops. The EU and its Member States must act now to set clear legal limits to these practices which create a state of permanent monitoring, profiling and tracking of people.
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Booklet: Depths of biometric mass surveillance in Germany, the Netherlands and Poland
In a new research report, EDRi reveals the shocking extent of unlawful biometric mass surveillance practices in Germany, the Netherlands and Poland which are taking over our public spaces like train stations, streets, and shops. The EU and its Member States must act now to set clear legal limits to these practices which create a state of permanent monitoring, profiling and tracking of people.
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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.
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How Europol’s reform enables ‘NSA-style’ surveillance operations
“More than 100 million”. That’s the number of encrypted messages that French and Dutch law enforcement announced they had collected after infiltrating Encrochat in 2020, a company selling encrypted communication services and devices, writes EDRi's Chloé Berthélémy.
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Booklet: How online ads discriminate
The risks and harms that are associated with hyper-targeted online ads have been widely documented. Yet, the same amount of attention has not been shown to the many ways in which harms and risks of online advertising are unequally distributed, and how targeted online advertising can have discriminatory effects. This is the focus of EDRi’s newly launched report.
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IuRe teams up with journalist to sue the Czech state for mobile phone data collection
The Czech state has been collecting data on the mobile communications of all its citizens. While the content of the communication remains unknown, other types of data are stored for six months through telecommunication operators. The stored data includes information on phone traffic and the locations of the internet connection. However, according to EDRi's member Iuridicum Remedium (IuRe), such large-scale data collection conflicts with European legislation. Therefore, together with investigative journalist Jan Cibulka, it has decided to sue the Czech state and demand an apology for illegal data collection.
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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.
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Panoptykon ends campaign against uncontrolled surveillance reaching 3M people
1 out of 5 Poles are aware of the constantly growing powers of the Polish secret service. And this lack of knowledge from the public leaves the door open for further expansion of the powers of secret service authorities.
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EDRi joins 178 organisations in global call to ban biometric surveillance
From protesters taking to the streets in Slovenia, to the subways of São Paulo; from so-called “smart cities” in India, to children entering French high schools; from EU border control experiments, to the racialised over-policing of people of colour in the US. In each of these examples, people around the world are increasingly and pervasively being subjected to toxic biometric surveillance. This is why EDRi has joined the global Ban Biometric Surveillance coalition, to build on our work in Europe as part of the powerful Reclaim Your Face campaign.
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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.
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