Category: Freedom, democracy and transparency
Survey: Chilling effect of indiscriminate data retention causes wide-spread harms
In the run-up to tomorrow’s ruling by the French Constitutional Court on communications data retention, a new opinion poll confirms that data retention causes massive social problems because it discourages confidential …
Majority of EU states want EU-wide blanket communications data retention
While the new German government has come out against indiscriminate data retention, the majority of EU governments have other goals. A diplomatic report to the German Foreign …
Digital cash: EU Parliament attacks anonymous payments in cryptocurrencies
A draft EU Parliament report published today would ban anonymous payments and donations in cryptocurrencies.[1] The €1000 limit for anonymous transactions proposed by the EU Commission would …
Shutting down Facebook and Instagram in Europe? MEP Patrick Breyer fears the EU Commission could buckle
The US tech company Meta has threatened to take its digital services Facebook and Instagram offline in the EU if the EU does not allow the company to transfer personal user …
Biometric mass surveillance: New study warns of Chinese surveillance methods in Europe
Today, the Greens/European Free Alliance Group in the European Parliament presented a new study on the impact of mass biometric surveillance, such as facial recognition software, on human rights in …
Declarations: The Human Rights Podcast. Episode 2: Fortress Europe | Declarations Podcast [external]
In this week’s episode, host Maryam Tanwir and panellist Yasmin Homer discuss the role of technology in the securitization of European borders with MEP Patrick Breyer and researcher Ainhoa Ruiz. It …
Agreement reached on new Europol mandate: Illegal activities must not be legalised!
After several trilogues, negotiations on the revision of Europol’s mandate were concluded yesterday and more powers for the EU police agency were agreed to. Despite serious concerns …
Migration control: EU agency spends € 1.5 billion on virtual borders | digit.site36.net [external]
Between 2014 and 2020 alone, Frontex and eu-LISA agencies spent a total of €1.9 billion on contracts for border surveillance and control systems. This figure is provided by the British civil …
Pirates nominate whistleblower Julian Assange for the Nobel Peace Prize
The Pirates in the European Parliament have submitted the nomination of Julian Assange for the Nobel Peace Prize to the Norwegian Nobel Committee. For the Pirates, the case of Assange, who …
