EDRI - EU directive on privacy and electronic communications

Press release: EDRi and FREE urge European Parliament to bring an end to lawless surveillance

joe — Wed, 04 Sep 2013 09:49:44 +0000

Civil society groups European Digital Rights (EDRi) and the Fundamental Rights European Experts Group (FREE) have demanded an end to lawless spying on individuals around the globe. At a meeting with the Chair of the European Parliament's Civil Liberties Committee today, the two groups handed over a document (pdf) containing detailed analysis of the current European and US legal frameworks. The document will be submitted to all relevant policy-making and governmental bodies.

In light of recent revelations, which have profoundly undermined trust in online communications tools, there is an urgent need for transparency, predictability and proportionality.

EU privacy watchdog still displeased with online behavioural advertising

bogdan — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 18:26:43 +0000

This article is also available in:
Deutsch: Verhaltensorientierte Online-Werbung: EU-Datenschützer weiterhin unzu...

In a letter sent to IAB Europe and European Advertising Standards Alliance (EASA), Article 29 Working Party (WP) made some observations regarding the self-regulatory framework for online behavioural advertising.

The WP considers that the companies having signed the self-regulatory code may still be in breach of the EU laws in the use of cookies to track users' online behaviour for targeted advertising.

The self-regulatory code, established in April 2011 by IAB Europe and EASA, imposes the

EU countries to explain lack of implementation of the Telecoms Package

bogdan — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 15:05:59 +0000

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Deutsch: EU-Staaten müssen sich für bisherige Nicht-Umsetzung der EU-Telekomm...

The European Commission has sent letters of formal notice requesting information from 20 EU countries regarding the reasons why they have not yet fully implemented the EU Telecoms Package.

The EU member states were supposed to produce national legislation that would implement, by 25 May 2011, the EU Telecoms Package, adopted late 2009, but only seven states have fully complied until now.

The Telecoms Package includes amendments to

Phorm case sends the UK to the European Court of Justice

bogdan — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 17:30:32 +0000

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Deutsch: Vereinigtes Königreich kommt wegen Phorm vor den Europäischen Gerich...

The European Commission announced that it has referred the UK to the European Court of Justice for an improper implementation of EU data protection rules, following several complaints in the Phorm case.

The Commission received complaints from the UK citizens about Phorm that worked by checking out the web traffic between an ISP client and the sites it visits.

This form of behavioural advertising by ISPs (targeted advertising based on prior analysis of users' internet traffic) was reported by EDRi-member Open Rights Group and others NGOs to the UK Data Protection Authority - Information Co

Article 29 WP issues opinion on cookies in the new ePrivacy Directive

bogdan — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 14:22:03 +0000

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Deutsch: Artikel 29 Datenschutzgruppe zu Cookies in der neuen ePrivacy-Richtlin...

The Article 29 Data Protection Working Party (WP) representing the European data protection authorities published on 24 June an opinion clarifying the application of the data protection rules in online behavioural advertising, with a focus on the new text of the ePrivacy Directive.

Article 29 Working Party believes that while online behavioural advertising may be beneficial for businesses and users alike, it still raises personal data protection and privacy issues.

Bits of Freedom starts campaign for data breach notification law

bogdan — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 11:16:34 +0000

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Deutsch: Bits of Freedom startet Kampagne für Benachrichtigungspflicht bei Dat...

The Dutch digital rights organisation Bits of Freedom started a campaign for the introduction of a data breach notification law in The Netherlands.

A data breach notification obligation on telecom providers is already to be implemented on the basis of the ePrivacy Directive, but Bits of Freedom insisted that this obligation should be extended also to other corporations and organisations. It drafted an extensive position paper, including a concrete proposal for amending the Dutch Data Protection Act.

EDPS Seminar: Responding to data breaches

bogdan — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 20:45:11 +0000

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Deutsch: Seminar des Europäischen Datenschutzbeauftragten: Reaktion auf Datenv...

On 23 October 2009 the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) and the European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) organised a seminar on security breaches. The three sessions focussed on the prevention, the management and the reporting of data breaches.

Background of this seminar was the upcoming reform of the ePrivacy directive (2002/58), which requires telecommunication providers to inform on security breaches related to personal data.

The European Commission calls for online privacy protection measures

bogdan — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 17:05:58 +0000

This article is also available in:
Deutsch: Die Europäische Kommission fordert online-Schutzmaßnahmen für die P... Macedonian: [Европската комисија апелира за мерки...

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Civil society coalition discuss global privacy standards

bogdan — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 15:24:18 +0000

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Deutsch: Koalition der Zivilgesellschaft diskutiert globale Standards im Datens...

The Public Voice, the largest worldwide civil society coalition where EDRi is a an active member, will discuss "Global Privacy Standards in a Global World" during its conference on 3 November 2009 in Madrid, Spain, to be held in conjunction with the 31st Annual International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners.

Prominent advocates and experts from the academic, consumer, digital rights and labor communities will discuss with public officials and the business sector how to raise privacy awareness in the global community and how to promote civil society participation in decision

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Article 29 Working Party on online social networking

bogdan — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:59:33 +0000

This article is also available in:
Deutsch: Der Arbeitskreis Artikel 29 äußert sich zu Social Networking

Article 29 Working Party issued on 22 June 2009 an opinion on how European privacy laws affect social networking sites such as Facebook or Myspace.

The opinion states the social networking sites should be responsible for the compliance to European privacy laws and, on the other hand, that users of such sites should upload pictures or information about other individuals only with the consent of the respective individuals.

Presently, social networking users share pictures and tag friends' images without requiring a prior consent and generally, communicate publicly, placing their own and others' private informati

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