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Digital Rights Implications of the COVID-19 Crisis

Submitted by Thomas Lohninger on 25 March 2020 - 2:03pm

This is the start of a pandemic. The new challenges facing our society are enormous and we can only overcome them by working together. We all have to stick together and contribute towards shared solutions. At the moment, the most important thing we can do is follow the recommendations of the health authorities and the scientific community, especially when our own behaviour can help relieve the crisis. Nonetheless, we are convinced that we must make a contribution as a digital rights policy organisation.

Austria gets new legislation for Internet filters and they are for consumer protection

Submitted by peter91 on 28 January 2020 - 12:01pm

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Last week, epicenter.works submitted legal analysis on the draft legislation on Consumer Protection Cooperation. This bill introduces a wide range of powers for consumer protection organisations to block websites, seize domains and oblige hosters to delete information that it deems dangerous or illegal under consumer protection law. We see a number of problems with the the idea of internet filters, but the EU obliges Austria to implement these measures.

Tags: 
Net Neutrality

Austrian Government Hacking-Law Is Unconstitutional

Submitted by Anonymous on 17 December 2019 - 10:26am

Karola Riegler

The Austrian constitutional court decided on 11.12.2019 that the surveillance law that permits the use of spying software to read encrypted messages violates the fundamental right to respect for private life (article 8 ECHR), the fundamental right to data protection (§ 1 Austrian data protection law) and the constitutionally granted right that prohibits unreasonable searches (Art 9 Austrian bill of rights – Staatsgrundgesetz).

Tags: 
Privacy and Data Protection
Surveillance Package
Government Spyware
Data Retention

Updating Net Neutrality in the EU: 5G, Zero-Rating, Parental Control, DPI

Submitted by ben on 29 October 2019 - 2:54pm

CC-BY Credo Action

The Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) is currently in the process of overhauling their guidelines on the implementation of the Regulation (EU) 2015/2120, which forms the legal basis of the EU’s net neutrality rules. At its most recent plenary, BEREC produced new draft guidelines and opened a public consultation on this draft.

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Net Neutrality

Our PNR complaint to the Federal Administrative Court

Submitted by iwona on 8 October 2019 - 1:56pm

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A few weeks ago we have filed a complaint with the Austrian data protection authority about the Passenger Name Record. Our aim is to overturn the directive, in other words to virtually abolish it. Four weeks ago the data protection authority has rejected our complaint, which we think is good news, because that is the only way we can go to court. We now had four weeks to draft and file a complaint for the Federal Administrative Court.

Tags: 
PNR

Zero-rating in Portugal: Permissive regulator allows ISP to get away with offering some of the most expensive mobile data in Europe

Submitted by Anonymous on 1 October 2019 - 10:40am

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This is a guest post by Eduardo Santos of the Portuguese digital rights organisation D3 - Defesa dos Direitos Digitais. You can find the Portuguese version of this story on D3's website.

Highlights

  • ISPs ignored the Portuguese telecoms regulator ANACOM's recommendations, refusing, among other things, to increase the volumes of mobile data available to customers.

  • ANACOM does not show the will or courage to address the problem.

  • ISPs are protected from fines by a government that, since 2015, still has not changed the law to introduce them.

  • Little has changed with Portugal's zero-rating offers, which are considered the worst in Europe.

  • Mobile Internet Data in Portugal: We pay some of the highest prices in Europe and our traffic volumes rank among the lowest.

Tags: 
Net Neutrality

platformregulation.eu: An attempt at a fundamental rights based proposal

Submitted by Thomas Lohninger on 26 September 2019 - 12:13pm

Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

To foster the debate about one of the most complicated digital rights issues of our time, epicenter.works releases today its first draft for a proposal on platform regulation. What regulation is needed for the digital world we live in and how can we strengthen the values that we need to safeguard in today's digital information society?

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Platform regulation

Good news: Complaint against Passenger Name Record Collection rejected!

Submitted by iwona on 16 September 2019 - 11:01am

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Three weeks ago we officially lodged a complaint with the Austrian data protection authority against the Passenger Name Record directive - we reported on it earlier this year. After only three weeks, we have now received the response from the data protection authority: The complaint was rejected. That sounds negative at first, but in reality it is good news. Now we can and must file the complaint with the Federal Administrative Court within four weeks. 

Tags: 
PNR

What a computer can actually do…

Submitted by Kaitlin McDermott on 26 August 2019 - 1:21pm

CC-BY-SA 4.0 Mollyrose89 edited

Our future with technology is a polarizing topic. While some urge that advancements pose grave threats to personal privacy and other fundamental rights, others believe whole-heartedly in the promise of new technologies to eradicate long-standing inequalities at a pace that humans have been unable – or unwilling – to go. This second vision, in which computers and algorithms solve social problems and have the power to fix the world, subscribes to a view of technological utopianism — the idea that, through reliance on new technologies, the world will become truly better for everyone.

Tags: 
Privacy and Data Protection