Transparency
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Key modifications in the Whistleblowers Directive proposal
The fact that the European Commission has drafted a proposal for a Directive for the protection of whistleblowers is welcome news. It is the result of the prolonged efforts of many activist organisations and several EU policy-makers, particularly in the European Parliament.
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EU Member States fight to retain data retention in place despite CJEU rulings
EU Member States are still working to adopt their position on the ePrivacy Regulation proposed by the European Commission in January 2017. A number of draft compromise texts have been published by the Council Presidency before discussions in the Working Party on Telecommunications and Information Society (WP TELE).
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European Ombudsman shares EDRi’s concerns on Council transparency
On 13 February 2018, the European Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly published a Recommendation regarding the transparency of the legislative work of the Council of the European Union. Her strategic inquiry, which involved the examination of the Council’s work around the legislative course of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), among other files, showed that the Council’s […]
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Smashing the law without breaking it: A Commission guide
How to create a general monitoring obligation without creating a general monitoring obligation? That is the question that the Commission has been trying to answer with the Article 13 of its “Proposal for a Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market”. It aims at solving the issue of a so-called “value gap”, that is […]
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You can’t uphold the law by breaking the law
The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) invited EDRi member Bits of Freedom to speak at their annual New Year’s Seminar. Hans De Zwart, Director of Bits of Freedom, talked about how the rule of law can only be defended by the European Union taking an exemplary role including by strictly adhering to […]
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EU Parliament criticises incompetent Commission work on child abuse
The European Commission proposed its badly drafted “Directive on combating sexual abuse, sexual exploitation of children and child pornography” in 2010. In 2011, it was finally adopted by the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament.
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The European Parliament calls for protection of whistleblowers
On 24 October, the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling on the European Commission to propose legislation protecting whistleblowers in the European Union (EU). The institution made a clear statement recognising the essential role that whistleblowers play in our society, as well as the need to protect them. Whistleblowers fight for transparency, democracy and the […]
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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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ENDitorial: Tinder and me: My life, my business
Tinder is one of the many online dating companies of the Match Group. Launched in 2012, Tinder started being profitable as of 2015, greatly thanks to people’s personal data. On 3 March 2017, journalist Judith Duportail asked Tinder to send her all her personal data they had collected, including her “desirability score”, which is composed […]
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Did the EU Commission hide a study that did not suit their agenda?
In 2013, the European Commission announced a launch of a study on copyright – and never published its results. Julia Reda, a Member of the European Parliament (MEP), tabled a freedom of information request on this issue and was eventually granted access to the study.
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Human Rights Court sets limits on right to monitor employees
On 5 September 2017, the Grand Chamber of the European Court for Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled on the Bărbulescu v. Romania case. It found that there was a breach of the right to family life and correspondence (Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights), as claimed by Mr Bărbulescu. Mr Bărbulescu was fired […]
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EU Trade Secrets Directive: A sad day for the freedom of expression
On 14 April, the European Parliament adopted the deeply flawed EU Trade Secrets Directive. This is a sad state of affairs, that does not reflect well on the quality of the EU legislature, both on process and on substance. On process, it started with Commission-sponsored research that was deeply flawed and misleading. At no point […]
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