(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar)

It seems the demonstrations that took place on 16 October against the EDVIGE decree have found an echo with the French authorities.

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar)

On 11 November 2008, Peter Hustinx, the European Union's Data Protection Supervisor, gave some comments to the report published on 26 June 2008 by EU-US High Level Contact Group (HLCG) on information sharing between US-EU on privacy and personal data protection.

According to Hustinx, a greater sharing of personal data between the European Union and the US should be accompanied by guarantees that the individuals whose data are exchanged may examine the exchange process and correct eventual mistakes. He believes that US and EU should be allowed to share individual personal data in criminal cases, only if people can take the authorities to court when they are wronged.

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar)

The amendments adopted on 24 September 2008 by the European Parliament (EP) on the ePrivacy Directive includ the obligation of information society services providers to notify personal date related security breaches to the national authorities.

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar)

New disclosures from researchers and electronic surveillance experts in an effort to explain the real impacts and implications of the FRA law.

The Swedish Parliament passed controversial legislation last June, the so called FRA law. It seems that the MPs didn't realise what they were voting for when they voted the FRA law. The FRA law is one in a line of laws calling for mass surveillance of ordinary people. It gives the Swedish signal intelligence agency, FRA, (the National Defence Radio Establishment) the right to eavesdrop on all civilian Internet, telephone and fax traffic and keep tabs on the social networks of innocent citizens.

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar)

Microsoft, Yahoo! and Google confirmed on 28 October 2008 having signed up for the Global Network Initiative (GNI), an organisation aimed at preserving free speech on the Internet.

GNI members are bound to challenge governments against requests for disclosure of private data if they consider the requests are in breach of international human rights laws.

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar)

The first Open Space conference of the PrivacyOS project was held in Strasbourg on 13-15 October 2008, in the European Parliament premises. PrivacyOS is a project funded under the European Commission's ICT Policy Support Programme, started on 1 June 2008 for a total duration of 24 months. Seventeen partners have joined forced in this project aiming at bringing together industry, SMEs, Government, Academia and Civil Society to foster development of privacy infrastructures for Europe.

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar)

On 20 October 2008, Hungarian President László Sólyom sent back to the Parliament for reconsideration the adopted law on sharing criminal data that was to be the final agreement between the United States and Hungary on the US visa-waiver program.

Concerned with data protection issues, the President argued that the agreement which authorizes the introduction in a register of all fingerprints including those of the victims of crimes, would give the US too large an access to Hungarian criminal records.

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar)

MEPs will not support the European Commission plans to include body scanning procedures within the airport security systems.

The new system planned by the European Union to be introduced in airports allows security personnel to see an outline of passengers' bodies beneath their clothes, in order to detect concealed objects more easily. The resulted image is similar to that of the naked body.