Posts and policy
Digital Services Act no game-changer: Industry and government interests prevailed
Today, one day ahead of the final approval, the European Parliament debated the EU Digital Services Act (DSA) establishing new rules for online platforms. Patrick Breyer MEP, who participated in the …
Three years into the digital fight for freedom in Brussels – Pirates matter!
Three years ago, I entered the European Parliament thanks to 240,000 votes for the German Pirate Party and no blocking threshold (which the German Federal Constitutional Court had declared unconstitutional). Three …
Leak on chat control: EU Commission anticipates millions of false positives
German news website netzpolitik.org leaked a record of internal discussions regarding the EU‘s proposed online child abuse law (dubbed “chat control”) which is …
Digital cash: EU to end anonymous payments in cryptocurrencies
Yesterday, the European Parliament and the Council made a deal on the rules for crypto assets. Anonymous payments will effectively be prohibited, interfering with the fundamental characteristics of decentralised finance. …
Internal LIBE meeting with US Homeland Security: Plans for biometric databases put EU citizens’ data at risk
Yesterday, members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) had an informal meeting with representatives of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. During the meeting, …
Court ruling on passenger data: protection against general suspicion and false accusation
Today, the Court of Justice of the European Union, in its fundamental PNR judgment in the case “Ligue des droits humains v Conseil des ministres (Case C-817/19)” …
EU „chat control“ proposal: Germany takes the lead in defending confidentiality of communications
In a leaked response to the EU Commission dated 10 June, the German government insists that proposed EU „chat control“ legislation to automatically search all private chats, …
Digital Service Act shows EU‘s unwillingness to take digital age into its own hands
After today’s approval by the EU Council, the European Parliament’s Internal Market Committee is expected to give its final nod to the EU’s Digital Services Act tomorrow. …
Stop #DataRetention: Experts find systematic disregard of Court decisions
In a panel discussion now available online (quotes [1] and links to specific statements [2] below), six digital rights experts analyse current developments on the issue of mass data …