Blog
19 May 2020 By Yva Alexandrova Meadway
Data, privacy and new tech in the immigration sector
Understanding the needs and capacities to deal with data, privacy and the use of new technologies in the immigration sector
Please take a moment to answer our survey on the immigration sector needs and capacities to deal with privacy, personal data, digital and technological changes: https://www.
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13 May 2020 By Mariano delli Santi
NHSX tracking app Privacy Assessment: Key Concerns
NHSX finally released the Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) for their contact tracing app at the weekend.
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07 May 2020 By Yva Alexandrova Meadway
Hostile environment may stop migrants from using NHSX tracker app
This week the Government confirmed that the NHSX app being developed as a response to the Covid-19 pandemic is using a centralised contact matching system.
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24 Apr 2020 By Jim Killock
Time for a Coronavirus Safeguards Bill
While we pause our weekly online discussions, we’ll keep you informed here on the fast moving debate over digital privacy and Covid-19.
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21 Apr 2020 By Yva Alexandrova Meadway
Contact tracing apps & vulnerable migrants: key concerns
In our recent blog we discussed the emerging privacy issues around contact tracing and ‘immunity passports’, and the announcement from Google and Apple that they are jointly working on a contact tracing app.
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15 Apr 2020 By Jim Killock
Contact tracing and immunity passports must respect privacy
The government’s plans for contact tracing and immunity passports should respect privacy, both at a technical level and backed by legal safeguards.
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07 Apr 2020 By Jim Killock
Contact tracing and immunity passports: questions for the government
We continue to hear bits and pieces about the way that mobile apps may be developed, and about the possibilities that Immunity Passports might come with intrusive database projects.
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Data and Democracy
07 Apr 2020 By Pascal Crowe
Democracy and Covid-19
The Covid 19 epidemic has disrupted our economic and social life unlike anything seen in peacetime.
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03 Apr 2020 By Jim Killock
The government must explain its approach to mobile contact tracing
Mobile data and contact tracing is a hot topic, as the UK and EU develop projects to provide privacy-protecting means of understanding who is at risk of infection.
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Data and Democracy
31 Mar 2020 By Pascal Crowe
Imprints: who’s responsible?
Many proposed electoral reforms are highly contested.
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26 Mar 2020 By Jim Killock
Open tech, privacy and Covid-19
From enabling strategies to curb the virus to empowering individuals to connect and work from home, digital technology is playing a vital role in the COVID-19 epidemic.
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Data and Democracy
24 Mar 2020 By Pascal Crowe
We need political accountability more than ever- and the ICO can lead the way
We are living in an unprecedented historical moment.
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20 Mar 2020 By Jim Killock
In the Coronavirus crisis, privacy will be compromised—but our right to know must not be
At Open Rights Group (ORG), we want the government to succeed in its pursuit of the eradication of Coronvirus COVID-19.
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02 Mar 2020 By Javier Ruiz
UK publishes trade objectives for deal with the US: What you need to know
The UK government has set out its plans and priorities for the negotiations of a free trade agreement with the US.
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19 Feb 2020 By Francis Davey
Data Protection and Brexit
At the moment, the General Data Protection Regulation (or GDPR) is an important piece of legislation protecting personal data, but it is European, not UK law.
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Data and Democracy
31 Jan 2020 By Pascal Crowe
APPG on Electoral Campaigning Transparency adopt ORG reforms
Last summer, Open Rights Group gave oral evidence to the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Electoral Campaigning Transparency.
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29 Jan 2020 By Javier Ruiz
Is ethical Ad-Tech possible?
Last week ORG was in Brussels at the main annual privacy conference in Europe, CPDP, which stands for Computer Privacy and Data Protection.
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11 Dec 2019 By Javier Ruiz
Leaked UK US trade talks risk future flow of data with the EU
We come to the end of the 2019 election campaign, which has seen some huge controversies.
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Data and Democracy
09 Dec 2019 By Amy Shepherd
Profiling, Political opinions, and Data Protection – The Legal Background
We’re campaigning to stop political parties abusing personal data in their rush to try and win elections.
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03 Dec 2019 By Matthew Rice
What we’ve learned from asking political parties: Who do you think we are?
Over 2019, Open Rights Group (ORG) have been exercising our rights under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to find out what UK political parties are up to with our personal data.
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20 Nov 2019 By Amy Shepherd & Mike Morel
The AdTech showdown is coming but will the ICO bite?
The 2018 General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was meant to be a Good Thing – a strong law that would make businesses act responsibly and give ordinary people control over our personal data.
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17 Oct 2019 By Jim Killock
Age Verification is dead – for now
Open Rights Group welcomes this change for two reasons.
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07 Oct 2019 By Amy Shepherd
Be the future – 5 simple ways political parties can protect digital rights
No-one fully knows what a post-Brexit Britain will look like.
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Data and Democracy
02 Sep 2019 By Pascal Crowe
Out for the count : the £9 million white elephant in London’s next election
Electronic counting in London – the subject of criticism from the Electoral Commission and Open Rights Group for many years – is now spiralling in cost.
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08 Jul 2019 By By Daniel Markuson, a digital privacy expert at NordVPN
European Net Neutrality is Under Attack
Network neutrality explained
Net neutrality is the idea that ISPs must ensure an equal internet connection to each and every user.
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29 Jun 2019 By Ed Johnson-Williams and Amy Shepherd
Online Harms: Blocking websites doesn’t work – use a rights-based approach instead
This is the finding from our recent research into website blocking by mobile and broadband Internet providers.
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Data and Democracy
28 Jun 2019 By Pascal Crowe
Hunting for a solution? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it
It seems apt that it was at this week’s ‘digital hustings’ for the Conservative Party leadership that Jeremy Hunt unilaterally came out in favour of online voting.
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11 Jun 2019 By Jim Killock
EFF and Open Rights Group Defend the Right to Publish Open Source Software to the UK Government
https://www.
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09 May 2019 By Pascal Crowe
More than money – How to tame online political ads
Political parties target ads online by using personal data to include or exclude potential voters.
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08 Apr 2019 By Jim Killock and Amy Shepherd
The DCMS Online Harms Strategy must ‘design in’ fundamental rights
Read the White Paper here.
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19 Mar 2019 By Jim Killock
Jeremy Wright needs to act to avert disasters from porn age checks
The government rejected Parliamentary attempts to include privacy powers over age verification tools, so DCMS have limited possibilities right now.
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14 Mar 2019 By Javier Ruiz
US red lines for digital trade with the UK cause alarm
Trade negotiations between the US and the UK have recently received a lot of attention due to the publication of the official negotiating objectives of the US Government, which set out in sometimes candid detail the areas of interest and priorities.
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11 Mar 2019 By Amy Shepherd
Brexit, Data Privacy and the EU Settled Status Scheme
The EU Settled Status Scheme (“the scheme”) provides the administrative route through which all EU nationals must apply to remain in the UK after 30 June 2021, in the event of a deal, or 31 December 2020, in the event of no deal.
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08 Mar 2019 By Jim Killock
Informal Censorship: The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF)
Read the full report here.
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05 Mar 2019 By Jim Killock
Informal Internet Censorship: The Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU)
Read the full report here.
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28 Feb 2019 By Jim Killock
Informal Internet Censorship: Nominet domain suspensions
Read the full report here.
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27 Feb 2019 By Jim Killock
We met to discuss BBFC’s voluntary age verification privacy scheme, but BBFC did not attend
We invited all the AV providers we know about, and most importantly, the BBFC, at the start of February.
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26 Feb 2019 By Matthew Rice
The missing piece from the DCMS report? Themselves
The Disinformation and ‘fake news’ report from the House of Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Committee splashed onto front pages, news feeds and timelines on 18 February.
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19 Feb 2019 By Jim Killock
Formal Internet Censorship: BBFC pornography blocking
Read the full report here.
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15 Feb 2019 By Jim Killock
Formal Internet Censorship: Copyright blocking injunctions
Read the full report here.
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14 Feb 2019 By Amy Shepherd
Patently unfair – Epson takedowns continue
Platform takedown notice procedures are a personal patent guard-dog
As a verified rights-owner (VeRO) on eBay UK and by using Amazon UK’s reporting notice system, Seiko Epson Corporation (“Epson”) has free rein to remove any and all third-party cartridge listings that it wishes.
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11 Feb 2019 By Mike Morel
A new wave of Internet censorship may be on the horizon
2018 was a pivotal year for data protection.
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06 Feb 2019 By Jim Killock
Duty of care: an empty concept
There is every reason to believe that the government and opposition are moving to a consensus on introducing a duty of care for social media companies to reduce harm and risk to their users.
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04 Feb 2019 By Javier Ruiz
ORG calls for public participation in digital trade policy after Brexit
A key aspect of Brexit is the future of trade policy.
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01 Feb 2019 By Mike Morel
Response to IAB statement
IAB:
We have taken note of media reports regarding an update to complaints made by ad-blocking browser developer Brave and Polish activist group Panoptykon Foundation to a number of European data protection authorities.
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28 Jan 2019 By Ed Johnson-Williams
Public Understanding of GDPR
Over the last couple of years, we’ve seen a lot of attention given to data protection.
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20 Dec 2018 By Javier Ruiz
Law Commission report asks for complete reform of online offensive communications
In 2019 ORG will be doing more work on the regulation of online content and free expression, as there are various important government initiatives in the area that could impact the rights of internet users.
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20 Sep 2018 By Javier Ruiz
Machine learning and the right to explanation in GDPR
This blogpost is a small section of a much larger research report Debates, awareness, and projects about GDPR and data protection.
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11 Sep 2018 By Ed Johnson-Williams
Helping IoT developers to assess ethics, privacy, and social impact
GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) introduces a mandatory Data Protection Impact Assessment.
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04 Sep 2018 By Mike Morel
We need copyright reform that does not threaten free expression
Seen through an economic lens the Directive’s journey is viewed as a battle between rights holders and tech giants.
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21 Aug 2018 By Javier Ruiz
The right of access in GDPR: What are the debates?
This blogpost is a small section of a much larger research report Debates, awareness, and projects about GDPR and data protection.
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03 Aug 2018 By Matthew Rice
What is at stake with the immigration exemption legal challenge?
The immigration exemption in the Data Protection Act 2018 will remove key data protection rights for everyone in the United Kingdom.
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05 Jul 2018 By Mike Morel
MEPs hold off Article 13’s Censorship Machine
The odds were steep, but thanks to everyone who contacted their representatives, MEPs got the message that Article 13 and it’s automated “upload filters” would be a catastrophe for free expression online.
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26 Jun 2018 By Ed Johnson-Williams
A new GDPR digital service: the crowdsourced ideas
A few months ago we put out a call for ideas for a new digital service that would help people use their rights under General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
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13 Jun 2018 By Alex Haydock
Victory for Open Rights Group in Supreme Court web blocking challenge
The Supreme Court ruled today that trade mark holders must bear the cost of blocking websites which sell counterfeit versions of their goods, rather than passing those costs on to Internet service providers.
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08 May 2018 By Jim Killock
The government is acting negligently on privacy and porn AV
We asked the BBFC to tell government that the legislation is not fit for purpose, and that they should halt the scheme until privacy regulation is in place.
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30 Apr 2018 By Alex Haydock
The latest ruling against the Snooper’s Charter is welcome, but the Courts need to do more
Last Friday – 27 April 2018 – the High Court delivered its judgment in a challenge brought by human rights organisation Liberty against the mass surveillance powers of the Investigatory Powers Act.
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25 Apr 2018 By Alex Haydock
We asked the BBFC to warn the Government about the dangers of age verification
On the 23rd April 2018, the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) closed their consultation on their age verification guidelines for online pornography.
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24 Apr 2018 By Jim Killock
Google or CTIRU: who is fibbing about terror takedowns?
These referrals, to Google, Facebook and others, come from a unit hosted at the Metropolitan Police, called CTIRU, or the Counter-Terrorism Internet Referrals Unit.
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04 Apr 2018 By Henry Prince
Filters are for coffee and water, not copyright.
It would be the largest internet filter Europe has ever seen – reading every single piece of text uploaded to the internet, and watching every video.
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29 Mar 2018 By Jim Killock
Facebook Don’t Want You To Know How Their Algorithm Works
Facebook don’t want you to know how their algorithm works.
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29 Mar 2018 By Jim Killock
Facebook Don’t Want You To Know How Their Algorithm Works
Facebook don’t want you to know how their algorithm works.
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29 Mar 2018 By Jim Killock
Facebook Don’t Want You To Know How Their Algorithm Works
Facebook don’t want you to know how their algorithm works.
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29 Mar 2018 By Jim Killock
Facebook Don’t Want You To Know How Their Algorithm Works
Facebook don’t want you to know how their algorithm works.
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20 Mar 2018 By Jim Killock
Matt Hancock has no right to complain about the internet being a ‘Wild West’
In recent years, many have warned about the dangers of Facebook knowing so much about everyone’s beliefs, preferences, and attitudes.
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05 Mar 2018 By Jim Killock
The Data Protection Bill’s Immigration Exemption must go
The government has introduced a sweeping “immigration exemption” in Schedule 2, Paragraph 4.
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20 Feb 2018 By Cory Doctorow
Unleashing ORG in the courts
No one said protecting the digital world was going to be easy (or cheap)!
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15 Feb 2018 By Jim Killock
Election results
The full results are in the linked documents (report, results, details).
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13 Feb 2018 By Jim Killock
Even extremist takedowns require accountability
The Government is very keen to ensure that extremist material is removed from private platforms, like Facebook, Twitter and Youtube.
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10 Jan 2018 By Slavka Bielikova
Peers have a chance to make the UK one of the safest places to be online. They should take it.
Do you remember that time when Uber didn’t tell us that the data of 57 million of their users got exposed?
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04 Jan 2018 By Javier Ruiz
Alphonso knows what you watched last summer
The New York Times has published a story about a company called Alphonso that has developed a technology that uses smartphone microphones to identify TV and films being played in the background.
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11 Dec 2017 By Caitlin Bishop
Battle lines have been drawn over the Data Protection bill
Open Rights Group have delivered briefings to Peers on its core campaigning points, including:
supporting stronger powers for representation of data subjects; and
raising concerns about the hazardous immigration exemptions alongside the3million, the campaigning organisation representing EU citizens living in the United Kingdom.
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30 Nov 2017 By Jim Killock
Home Office concedes independent authorisation
Adding independent authorisation for communications data requests will make the police more effective, as corruption and abuse will be harder.
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24 Oct 2017 By Slavka Bielikova
Epson delete competing Ebay ink listings citing patent claims
Epson have contacted a number of resellers on eBay warning them to remove their listings.
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10 Oct 2017 By Matthew Rice
Time to make Data Protection work for consumers
Data Protection.
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31 Aug 2017 By Pam Cowburn
Nominations for ORG’s Advisory Council are open
ORG is recruiting people to our Advisory Council.
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09 Aug 2017 By Alec Muffett
The British Public & its Freedom to Tinker with Data
This is a guest blog by Alec Muffett, a security researcher and member of ORG’s Board of Directors.
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01 Aug 2017 By Ed Johnson-Williams
Sorry Amber Rudd, real people do value their security
Amber Rudd has been out doing the media rounds this morning (£) talking about the issues end-to-end encryption poses to law enforcement.
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Digital Privacy
21 Jun 2017 By Jim Killock
Queen’s speech 2017 – threats to privacy and free speech
There are references to a review of Counter-terrorism and a Commision for Countering Extremism which will include Internet-related policies.
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13 Jun 2017 By Ed Johnson-Williams
UK and France propose automated censorship of online content
The Government announced this morning that Theresa May and the French President Emmanuel Macron will talk today about making tech companies legally liable if they “fail to remove unacceptable content”.
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05 Jun 2017 By Jim Killock
Our response to the London and Manchester Attacks
As Londoners, we are relieved that we do not know anyone who has been directly affected.
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Digital Privacy
04 Jun 2017 By Jim Killock
The London Attacks
It is disappointing that in the aftermath of this attack, the Government’s response appears to focus on the regulation of the Internet and encryption.
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24 May 2017 By Jim Killock
The Manchester attack
We hope that law enforcement and intelligence agencies will help to bring those involved in these attacks to justice and we support their work combating terrorism.
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22 May 2017 By Jim Killock
Facebook censorship complaints could award government immense control
The leaked Facebook Files, the social media company’s internal policies for content regulation published by the Guardian, show that, like a relationship status on Facebook, content moderation is complicated.
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16 May 2017 By Mike Morel
The UK Government should protect encryption not threaten it
Encryption also strengthens democracy by underpinning digital press freedom.
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13 May 2017 By Jim Killock
NHS ransom shows GCHQ putting us at risk
Here are four points that stand out to us.
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08 May 2017 By Mike Morel
A brief chance for better UK data protection law
However, the GDPR’s enforcement within member countries has considerable flexibility.
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04 May 2017 By Jim Killock
DCMS consultation on data privacy fails to explain why it matters
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) sets out many new rights for UK citizens, including better notions of consent, the right to obtain and download your information, and to delete it at a company.
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03 May 2017 By Mike Morel
ORG delivers anti-Espionage Act petition to the Law Commission
ORG’s petition broadly rejects The Law Commission’s proposals and demands they be dropped.
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Digital Privacy
01 May 2017 By Jim Killock
Automated censorship is not the answer to extremism
Today’s report by the Home Affairs Select Committee brands social media companies as behaving irresponsibly in failing to remove extremist material.
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05 Apr 2017 By Jim Killock
A privacy disaster waiting to happen – the #DEBill on third reading
Age Verification: a privacy disaster waiting to happen
Age Verification is fraught, and likely to result in a chilling effect, where adults avoid visiting websites because of fears around the age verification technology.
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27 Mar 2017 By Ed Johnson-Williams
Encryption must not be a dirty word. Here’re 5 ways we all rely on it
British politicians are again putting pressure on Internet companies to make sure the Government can access end-to-end encrypted messages.
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27 Mar 2017 By Jim Killock
Amber Rudd already has sweeping powers to attack encryption
The striking thing is that if she was genuinely serious about her suggestion, she would not be making public demands; she would be signing legal orders to force companies to change their products.
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22 Mar 2017 By Javier Ruiz
MEPs start push back on online copyright censorship
The EU is introducing some major changes to copyright legislation under a programme to improve the European Digital Single Market.
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17 Mar 2017 By Slavka Bielikova
Government half-turn on data sharing
ORG previously called to limit powers given to Ministers and to put constraints on unlimited bulk sharing of civil registration data.
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08 Mar 2017 By Ed Johnson-Williams
CIA and GCHQ hacking – they must clear up their own mess
The agencies will use these vulnerabilities for targeted surveillance.
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07 Mar 2017 By Ed Johnson-Williams
Yes, the CIA can hack phones but Signal and WhatsApp are still safe for nearly everyone
Wikileaks have published documents claiming that the CIA can use some vulnerabilities in the iOS and Android operating systems to hack mobile phones and then monitor anything that happens on those phones.
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07 Mar 2017 By Jim Killock
Scrap the DEBill Age Verification and censorship – before it is too late
The Bill is an example of how not to legislate for the Internet and complex social issues.
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