Favorite This year, a far-reaching, complex new piece of legislation comes into effect in EU: the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which represents some of the most ambitious tech policy in European history. We don’t love everything in the DMA, but some of its provisions are great, because they center the rights of users of technology,…
All posts tagged EU Policy
Big Tech to EU: "Drop Dead"
Favorite The European Union’s new Digital Markets Act (DMA) is a complex, many-legged beast, but at root, it is a regulation that aims to make it easier for the public to control the technology they use and rely on. One DMA rule forces the powerful “gatekeeper” tech companies to allow third-party app stores. That means…
Disinformation and Elections: EFF and ARTICLE 19 Submit Key Recommendations to EU Commission
Favorite Global Elections and Platform Responsibility This year is a major one for elections around the world, with pivotal races in the U.S., the UK, the European Union, Russia, and India, to name just a few. Social media platforms play a crucial role in democratic engagement by enabling users to participate in public discourse and by providing access to information,…
European Court of Human Rights Confirms: Weakening Encryption Violates Fundamental Rights
Favorite In a milestone judgment—Podchasov v. Russia—the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has ruled that weakening of encryption can lead to general and indiscriminate surveillance of the communications of all users and violates the human right to privacy. In 2017, the landscape of digital communication in Russia faced a pivotal moment when the…
EFF And Other Experts Join in Pointing Out Pitfalls of Proposed EU Cyber-Resilience Act
Favorite Today we join a set of 56 experts from organizations such as Google, Panasonic, Citizen Lab, Trend Micro and many others in an open letter calling on the European Commission, European Parliament, and Spain’s Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation to reconsider the obligatory vulnerability reporting mechanisms built into Article 11 of the…
EU’s Proposed Cyber Resilience Act Raises Concerns for Open Source and Cybersecurity
Favorite The EU is in the middle of the amendments process for its proposed Cyber Resilience Act (CRA), a law intended to bolster Europe’s defenses against cyber-attacks and improve product security. This law targets a broad swath of products brought to market intended for European consumers, including Internet of Things (IoT) devices, desktop computers, and…
Here's How Apple Could Open Its App Store Without Really Opening Its App Store
Favorite And what we can do about it. With this year’s passage of the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), very large online platforms – those with EU revenues of €75 billion or more and at least 45 million EU users – will have to open up their devices to rival app stores. While this has…
A Promising New GDPR Ruling Against Targeted Ads
Favorite Targeted advertising’s days may be numbered. The Wall Street Journal and Reuters report that the European Data Protection Board has ruled that Meta cannot continue targeting ads based on user’s online activity without affirmative, opt-in consent. This ruling is based on the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This is a big step…
Google Loses Appeal Against EU's Record Antitrust fine, But Will Big Tech Ever Change?
Favorite The EU continues to crack down on big tech companies with its full arsenal of antitrust rules. This month, Google lost its appeal against a record fine, now slightly trimmed to €4.13 billion, for abusing its dominant position through the tactics it used to keep traffic on Android devices flowing through to the Google…
The EU's Copyright Directive Is Still About Filters, But EU’s Top Court Limits Its Use
Favorite The Court of Justice of the European Union has issued a long-awaited judgment on the compatibility of the EU Copyright Directive’s filtering requirements with the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. The ruling recognizes the tension between copyright filters and the right to freedom of expression, but falls short of banning upload…