About: surveillance
EU to restrict sale of cyber-surveillance goods to repressive regimes
Negotiators from the European Council and the Parliament have signed off on new export rules that restrict the sale of cyber-surveillance goods to worldwide regimes engaging in the repression of human rights. However, the text of the regulation on so-called...
EU states ponder means to access encrypted data
EU member states want more competences to be able to look into messages with end-to-end encryption, according to the draft Council decisions which has been made available to EURACTIV Germany.
EXCLUSIVE: Parliament documents reveal new biometric attendance system
The European Parliament is to test a biometric attendance register for MEPs taking part in meetings at its Brussels premises, internal documents seen by EURACTIV reveal learned. The move has provoked worry among privacy-conscious members of Parliament, who oppose the move to capture MEP fingerprint data.
Mass surveillance permitted only for national security concerns, EU court says
EU countries are permitted to carry out the indiscriminate transmission and retention of communications data only when there is a 'serious threat to national security', the bloc's highest court ruled on Tuesday (6 October).
EU nears conclusion on cyber surveillance export controls
EU negotiators are closing in a deal on new rules that would end the sale of cyber-surveillance technologies to autocratic regimes worldwide.
Council of Europe calls for greater oversight on intelligence community’s surveillance powers
The Council of Europe insists that there is an urgent need to provide "effective oversight" on the surveillance activities of international intelligence agencies and the threats to privacy that emerge as a result
Commission will ‘not exclude’ potential ban on facial recognition technology
The European Commission has not ruled out a future ban on the use of facial recognition technology in Europe, as the EU executive mulls the findings of a recent public consultation on Artificial Intelligence.
Schrems charts US surveillance pushback after ECJ ruling
Silicon Valley should seek to further distance itself from a culture of surveillance established by US law, Austrian privacy activist Max Schrems has said ahead of a key ruling on global data flows later this week.
Commission urged not to backtrack on EU spyware rules
The European Commission has been urged not to soften its stance on EU rules that would outlaw the export of cyber surveillance tools to despotic regimes worldwide, amid ongoing negotiations between the European Council and the Parliament on the new measures.
Privacy activists on COVID-19 surveillance: Either ineffective or questionable
In Germany and Austria, there are concrete ideas to monitor their citizens using Big Data, but to be truly effective, the methods would have to be deeply invasive. EURACTIV Germany reports.
Germany’s plans for automatic facial recognition meet fierce criticism
Germany's Interior Minister Horst Seehofer plans to use automatic facial recognition at 134 railway stations and 14 airports, according to a news report published on 3 January. Although official confirmation of the plan is still missing, an alliance between civil society and politicians has called for the banning of this surveillance technology. EURACTIV Germany reports.
NATO upgrades its ageing ‘eyes in the sky’
Boeing, the world's largest aerospace company, signed a $1 billion contract to modernise NATO’s fleet of AWACS surveillance aircraft on Wednesday (27 November), striking a more optimistic note at a time of widening cracks in the transatlantic defence alliance.
EXCLUSIVE: Germany blocking EU plans to stop spyware trade with dictators
EU proposals to establish export restrictions on spyware are being held back by Germany, which has adopted an ambiguous stance on the plans, EURACTIV has learnt.
UK guilty of human rights abuse, ECHR finds in groundbreaking surveillance case
GCHQ, the British government's intelligence and security organisation, has breached human rights in its mass surveillance programme, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) said in a landmark ruling on Thursday (13 September).
Nine countries unite against EU export controls on surveillance software
EXCLUSIVE / An EU proposal to impose export controls on technology products that can be used as spyware is at risk of being delayed as a group of nine countries have pushed back against the overhaul.
Eleven member states back EU controls on selling spyware
EXCLUSIVE / Eleven EU countries have signalled their support for draft rules that would place export restrictions on companies selling surveillance technologies, a leaked working paper shows.
Jourova: ‘Never say never’ to EU hate speech law
Tech giants should share the technology they develop to detect hate speech with smaller companies, EU Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova said in an interview.
MEPs approve export controls tailored to stop government surveillance
MEPs approved stricter rules on Wednesday (17 January) to control how European companies export technologies including software that could be used for surveillance, and any products that may violate human rights.
MEPs want human rights safeguard on tech exports
MEPs steering a controversial export control bill through the European Parliament have agreed to apply stricter human rights safeguards for technologies that can be used for online surveillance.
Hungary rights chief denounces ‘data grab’ bill
Hungary's data protection watchdog on Monday (7 August) lashed out at government plans to centralise personal data and ease rules on allowing official access, calling them a major threat to citizens' rights.
A free and independent press is a necessity, not a luxury
In these uncertain times, World Press Freedom Day is a chance for the EU to guarantee publishers and journalists the freedom they need to carry out their jobs, writes Christian Van Thillo.
Snowden lawyers explore EU asylum options
Edward Snowden has asylum in Russia until 2020 but his lawyers have said it's time EU countries “pay back” for exposing the extent of American snooping by giving him legal protection.
EU watchdogs ask Yahoo and WhatsApp to explain privacy breaches
The group of powerful data protection watchdogs from EU countries have reprimanded Yahoo and WhatsApp over concerns the companies are violating Europeans' privacy rights.