The Dutch government continues to struggle with algorithms, a DSA awareness campaign and more: a quick read through the most interesting developments at the intersection of human rights and techn...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2024/03/20/monthly-update-on-human-rights-tech-march-2024/
Internet freedom advocates, European media corporation takes on Big Tech ad kings, and the Dutch registry goes Canadian: a quick read through the most interesting developments at the intersection...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2024/02/12/monthly-update-on-human-rights-tech-february-2024/
Election results, re-thinking security and political advertising: a quick read through the most interesting developments at the intersection of human rights and technology from the Netherlands.
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2023/12/06/monthly-update-on-human-rights-tech-december-2023/
The difficulty of proving algorithmic discrimination, Parliament protests (again)against client-side scanning and more: a quick read through the most interesting developments at the intersection ...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2023/11/08/monthly-update-on-human-rights-tech-november-2023/
As stipulated in Article 20 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (EU) (‘the Charter’), all individuals are equal and stand equal before the law. Yet, equality does not e...
A secret terrorism watch list, government pressured to reject client-side scanning, and the DPA looks into generative AI: a quick read through the most interesting developments at the intersectio...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2023/10/10/monthly-update-on-human-rights-tech-10-october-2023/
The umpteenth social media monitoring fail, Meta ordered to hand over user information, and storm Poly teaches government a lesson about social media: a quick read through the most interesting de...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2023/09/06/monthly-update-on-human-rights-tech-august-2023/
Criticism piling onto Dutch mass surveillance plans, GDPR lows and highs, and a vigilant Parliament speaks out against client-side device scanning: a quick read through the most interesting devel...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2023/05/31/monthly-update-on-human-rights-tech-may-2023/
Good and bad news for Dutch surveillance powers, and a promising position on the AI-treaty: a quick read through the most interesting developments at the intersection of human rights and technolo...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2023/05/05/monthly-update-on-human-rights-tech-april-2023/
Bits of Freedom has done researchRead the report in Dutch here on the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)-compliance within the ten largest municipalities of the Netherlands. Unfortunately...
At the start of 2024, the Digital Services Act (DSA) will come into effect. That means that there will be many new rules that will benefit users of platforms like Google, Instagram, and TikTok. W...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2022/10/13/8-new-rules-that-will-protect-you-from-online-platforms/
Between June and July 2022 we interviewed 10 civil society organizations about their use of digital tooling. With still a number of interviews to go, we wish to report back on our first findings ...
One of the priorities of the current European Commission is "a Europe that is ready for the digital age". That means Brussels is producing quite a lot of legislation aimed at regulating the digit...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2022/08/11/whats-going-on-in-brussels/
The Complaints Department of the Review Committee on the Intelligence and Security Services (CTIVD), the Dutch supervisor of the secret services, ruled that we are right! After we filed a complai...
The secret services are illegally storing the data of millions of citizens. The supervisor does not have the means to do anything about this violation of the law, so we filed a formal complaint. ...
This might sound attention-seeking, but we really believe to be not far off the mark. It really looks like the European Commission wants to cancel encryption.
The secret services have been calling for more powers and less supervision for a long time. And they do not shy away from seizing crisis situations. There is now a new proposal on the way, which ...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2022/03/29/the-secret-services-try-again/
There is much to do about the supervision of the secret services in the Netherlands. The Minister of the Interior asked academics from three universities to join forces and study the system of su...
The Dutch Senate shares the concerns we have about the Artificial Intelligence Act and wrote a letter to the European Commission about the need to better protect people from harmful uses of AI su...
Of course, the term stealing is not entirely correct here, because our data is not taken away. But the secret services illegally store the data of millions of citizens that they do not investigat...
After a referendum in 2018 where a majority of participants voted against the Intelligence and Security Services Act, a first Amendment Proposal has now been passed by the Dutch Senate. The sligh...
There is increasing talk of measures that allow for selection at the gate based on health data. Can you show proof of vaccination? Then you may pass. Do you have a recent, negative test result? T...
Also in times of Corona, Google follows you wherever you go. The company collects all our location data en masse and can thus graph how well we adhere to the imposed measures. Google presents thi...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2020/05/08/google-seizes-crisis-to-legitimize-mass-surveillance/
We are seeing a lot of calls for a moratorium on face surveillance. We're worried that, more than anything, a moratorium will simply offer time in which biometric surveillance technologies become...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2020/01/30/we-need-to-be-bolder/
Questions about regulation, convenience and efficiency might distract from a more fundamental discussion about face surveillance: is it acceptable to be reduced to walking barcodes?
Late last night the Dutch Senate passed the bill for the new Intelligence and Security Services Act. With the Senate’s vote, a years-long political battle has come to an end: the secret service...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2017/07/12/dutch-senate-votes-in-favor-of-dragnet-surveillance-powers/
On February 14, 2017 the bill for the new Intelligence and Security Services Act was passed by the Dutch lower house. Despite being met with serious opposition from experts, regulators, civil soc...
An anonymous country singer, the watchdog-walking service and the I-have-nothing-to-hide musical. These were just a few ingredients by theatre producers and performers Oscar Kocken and Daan Windh...
Open Whisper Systems was awarded the Felipe Rodriguez award at the twelfth edition of Dutch Big Brother Awards. This award, given to people and organisations who have been invaluable for protecti...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2016/11/23/open-whisper-systems-at-the-dutch-big-brother-awards-2/
Will people who value privacy know that they allowed a terrorist attack to take place? Rob Bertholee, head of the General Intelligence and Security Service of the Netherlands (AIVD) made this and...
The new European privacy law was a feast for lobbyists, but how did the Dutch government deal with all that information? And is lobbying bad? The new European data protection regulation is the mo...
Anti-fraud is an important argument for less privacy protection. Insurance companies, banks, and lenders use it to get access to data. The new European data protection regulation is the most lobb...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2016/09/11/the-lobby-tomy-8-anti-fraud-the-other-magic-word/
Within the privacy world, different schools of thought exist. Connecting different viewpoints to a seemingly positive ideology is also a persuasion strategy. The new European data protection regu...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2016/09/11/the-lobby-tomy-7-not-all-roads-lead-to-privacy/
Is legal help always objective? Writing laws is a complicated process. A frequently used lobby strategy involves offering “legal help” and arguments that promise legal certainty. Parties clai...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2016/09/11/the-lobby-tomy-5-legal-help-or-political-choices/
If there is one term that seems to be popular in the current political climate, it’s “innovation.” Lobbying is about convincing policy makers of the importance of your position. But is inno...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2016/09/11/the-lobby-tomy-4-innovation-is-the-magic-word/
Did you know that there are 340,000 dentists in Europe? And that they lobby about privacy? Who else lobbies? How do parties/groups create coalitions to persuade policy makers? What’s the mayor ...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2016/09/11/the-lobby-tomy-3-who-are-lobbying/
What do companies really think about privacy protection? Publicly everybody thinks privacy is important, but do they think the same thing behind closed doors? What were the hot issues during the ...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2016/09/11/the-lobby-tomy-2-what-was-the-lobbying-about/
The new European data protection regulation is the most lobbied piece of legislation in Europe thus far because the subject is very important and touches upon almost every aspect of our daily liv...
Last week, the Dutch parliament approved a proposal from the government that prohibits zero rating. The vote is in accordance with the country’s history of upholding strong net neutrality law. ...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2016/05/25/translation-of-current-dutch-net-neutrality-provisions/
European Digital Rights (EDRi) is an association of civil and human rights organisations from across Europe. They do a wonderful job in defending rights and freedoms in the digital environment in...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2016/05/19/edri-puts-members-in-the-spotlights/
The Dutch Lower House has approved a proposal from the government to prohibit zero rating. Zero rating is when telecom operators do not charge end customers for data used by specific applications...
Each of the Member States of the European Union is required to incorporate European directives into national legislation. If a Member State does not obey this obligation, the European Commission ...
At the end of April, an updated draft for the Dutch dragnet surveillance bill was leaked. It turns out that minister of the Interior Ronald Plasterk persists on granting the secret services the p...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2016/05/04/dutch-dragnet-surveillance-bill-leaked/
Is there another way of looking at technology? How is technology impacting our freedoms? And what can we do to make things better? We answered each of these three questions in a 10-minute talk fo...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2016/05/03/the-impact-of-technology-on-our-freedoms/
The Ubers and Googles of the future are just around the corner and we had no idea who they are. Together with Studio Spomenik we decided to take a look into the Dutch startup scene. What can we l...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2016/04/20/what-we-talk-about-when-we-ask-startups-about-privacy/
We acquired this story from C.D. Hermelin, a young man who sits in the park and writes stories for a fee using his old school typewriter. The internet, labeling him a “fucking hipster” with h...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2016/04/14/a-story-about-identity-theft-stolen/
How the focus on security and the culture of fear has real negative effects and hurts our social integrity. The term ‘doublethink’ comes from the book ‘1984’ of course. Big Brother’s �...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2016/03/11/everybody-has-a-share-2/
The Dutch government will, “at this time”, “not adopt restrictive legislative measures against the development, availability and use of encryption within the Netherlands.” This statement ...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2016/01/14/dutch-government-says-no-to-weakening-encryption/
The winners of the Dutch Big Brother Awards 2015 are minister of the Interior Ronald Plasterk, and the chief of the National Police Force. The minister won for proposing the most far reaching sur...
Every year, the Big Brother Awards pays tribute to the creme de la creme of privacy offenders: individuals, corporations and governments who have distinguished themselves by grossly infringing on...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2015/10/27/big-brother-awards-2015-wednesday-28-october-in-amsterdam/
Our German colleagues of Digitalcourage asked us what we think the most important developments in the field of digital civil rights in the Netherlands. There’s all kinds of broad tendencies tha...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2015/09/28/state-of-play-of-internet-freedom-in-the-netherlands/
We launched a website (in Dutch and English) that helps everyone living in the Netherlands form and voice an opinion about the recently published bill for the Dutch secret services: wiv.bof.nl. T...
Ronald Plasterk, the Dutch Minister of the Interior, wants to make sure that the Dutch secret services have the powers to spy on the behaviour of all citizens and gain insight in all of their com...
I live in Amsterdam. In Amsterdam we bike everywhere. Often, I use Google Maps to see what route I should cycle and how long it will take. Recently I started noticing something strange: Google do...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2015/06/26/demystifying-the-algorithm-who-designs-your-life/
Since 2003, the EDRi-gram is reporting on developments across Europe to raise awareness of attacks on freedom of expression and privacy as well as to highlight good news and best practice. To cel...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2015/05/21/the-road-ahead-marching-backwards-into-the-future/
We will livestream the Godwin lecture that Cory Doctorow will give today, May 5th – Dutch national Liberation Day. During his lecture, Doctorow will draw comparisons between the NSA and the Sta...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2015/05/05/livestream-godwin-lecture-by-cory-doctorow/
The Godwin lecture: Which lessons about privacy can we learn in the present day from the attack on Amsterdam’s municipal register in 1943? On 27 March 1943, a cell of the Dutch resistance commi...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2015/04/30/during-world-war-ii-we-did-have-something-to-hide/
This year we are organizing the second Godwin lecture in collaboration with De Correspondent and Artis. We are proud to announce that Cory Doctorow will be giving the lecture. You might know him ...
And then everything went BANG: from our Twitter-timeline to the champagne bottle at our office. This morning the court annulled the data retention law. Effective immediately. But what exactly did...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2015/03/11/data-retention-law-struck-down-for-now/
In December 2014, the Dutch consumer authority (ACM) issued two decisions based on the Dutch net neutrality provision, against KPN and Vodafone, that were released to the general public in Janua...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2015/02/12/two-dutch-telcos-fined-for-net-neutrality-violations/
Good news! KPN is offering more internet for less money. A direct outcome of the regulation of net neutrality in the Netherlands. Positive discrimination and zero-rating are bad for the market Ze...
Living under permanent surveillance and what that means for our freedom This talk was delivered on December 30th at 31C3 in Hamburg. Ai Weiwei has been living in our future. His movements are res...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2015/01/02/ai-weiwei-is-living-in-our-future/
In April of this year, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that the data retention directive is invalid. That alone doesn’t invalidate the Dutch implementation directly. The Dutch ...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2014/12/16/dutch-government-lets-keep-data-retention-mostly-unchanged/
The Dutch government’s response to the groundbreaking decision by the European Court of Justice to invalidate the data retention directive, is shocking. Despite all the debate about the legalit...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2014/11/24/someone-is-wrong-not-just-on-the-internet-2/
Intelligence services collect metadata on the communication of all citizens. Politicians would have us believe that this data doesn’t say all that much. A reader of De Correspondent put this to...
In Nederland is weinig veranderd sinds de eerste onthullingen over het grootschalig en ongericht afluisteren en analyseren van onze communicatie door geheime diensten. Het rampzalige beleid dat m...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2014/06/10/alleen-bewustwording-maakt-rampzalig-beleid-niet-ongedaan/
Wat al jarenlang werd bevreesd, bleek het afgelopen jaar ook bewaarheid: onze digitale communicatie wordt op grote schaal afgeluisterd, opgeslagen en geanalyseerd door een groot aantal “democra...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2014/06/05/one-year-after-snowden/
Gisteravond was Evegeny Morozov in De Balie om ons uit te leggen hoe wij wél moeten nadenken over technologie. De volledige sessie is online beschikbaar. Ik was één van de drie referenten. De ...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2014/05/27/privacy-is-geen-product/
An international coalition of more than 25 civil rights organizations and security experts is concerned about the level of security provided by antivirus software companies. “The users of this ...
European governments should liberate the films and television series that they fund from copyright law, both as a matter of fairness to their own citizens, and as a pragmatic matter of cultural a...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2013/08/15/two-reasons-to-liberate-european-cinema/
The police should be allowed to hack into mobile phones and computers, even when these are located abroad. This is proposed by the Dutch government on May 2nd of 2013. While this appears to be a ...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2013/05/02/dutch-hacking-proposal-puts-citizens-at-risk/
Last week LeaseWeb, a large international hosting provider based in The Netherlands, published its first transparency report. The report is a direct result of a campaign by Bits of Freedom callin...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2013/04/16/dutch-provider-first-to-publish-transparency-report/
The European Parliament at a press conference today at 10.00 hours (livestream) presents her first evaluation of the new European privacy rules. These rules would replace the existing ones, whic...
In response to serious information security incidents, we see the development of cybersecurity policy becoming more and more urgent. However, a vision of what such policy must include is still la...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2013/01/02/improving-cybersecurity/
An international coalition of more than 40 civil rights organizations and security experts is “gravely concerned” about a Dutch proposal to break into foreign computers and search and delete ...
We blogden eerder over het computerinbraak-voorstel van Opstelten. Dit onzalige plan raakt niet alleen maar onschuldige Nederlanders, maar ook internetters in andere landen. Gelukkig spreekt de E...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2012/10/24/internationaal-verzet-tegen-cyberaanvallen-opstelten-groeit/
In response to an open letter sent by EDRi-member Bits of Freedom (BoF), the Dutch government has confirmed that it opposes any controversial ACTA-provisions in whatever form. This confirmation...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2012/09/26/the-netherlands-against-acta-all-its-forms/
On 4 July 2012 the European Parliament decided to reject ACTA. Unfortunately, less than six days later, ACTA was yet again the centre of debate. It turns out that a draft text of the Canada – ...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2012/08/01/translation-open-letter-dutch-government-must-reject-ceta/
By popular demand: an English translation of our Internet Freedom Manifesto for the upcoming Dutch elections. We believe the Netherlands needs an open internet: a place where everyone can freely ...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2012/05/24/our-internet-freedom-manifesto/
On 8 May 2012 The Netherlands adopted crucial legislation to safeguard an open and secure internet in The Netherlands. It is the first country in Europe to implement net neutrality in the law. In...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2012/05/08/netherlands-first-country-in-europe-with-net-neutrality/
A breach in the computer systems of Dutch certificate company DigiNotar led to grave concerns regarding the security of internet users in Iran and Dutch government communications. On 2 September ...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2011/09/07/diginotar-breach-leads-to-grave-security-concerns/
If you were wondering what hacking is all about, you will find your answer at Finowfurt Airbase, close to Berlin. Here, at the ‘Hackers in Space’ camp, thousands of ‘hackers and associated ...
In the same week the Dutch Senate approved a long-anticipated shortening of mandatory retention periods for internet data to six months, it published its correspondence with the Dutch Minister of...
As we recently mentioned on this blog, the Dutch parliament launched crucial internet freedom legislation. Since we hope that other countries are inspired and launch their own legislation, we tra...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2011/06/27/translations-of-key-dutch-internet-freedom-provisions/
Amsterdam, June 22nd – A broad majority in the Dutch parliament voted for a legislative proposal to safeguard an open Internet in The Netherlands. The proposal prohibits Internet access provide...
A broad majority in the Dutch parliament voted for crucial legislative proposals to safeguard an open and secure internet in The Netherlands. The Netherlands is the first country in Europe to int...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2011/06/22/netherlands-launches-internet-freedom-legislation/
The past weeks, the Dutch parliament has been discussing net neutrality. If all goes well, The Netherlands will be the first country in Europe to launch net neutrality legislation. But what does ...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2011/06/15/net-neutrality-in-the-netherlands-state-of-play/
The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) adopted an Opinion on the European Commission’s Evaluation Report on the Data Retention Directive. The EDPS demonstrates that the Directive violat...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2011/06/07/eu-privacy-watchdog-data-retention-directive-unlawful/
During a meeting in February 2011 of the Council of the European Union’s Law Enforcement Working Party (LEWP), a disturbing proposal was tabled to create a “Great Firewall of Europe” by blo...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2011/05/05/the-virtual-schengen-border-or-great-firewall-of-europe/
The European Commission adopted its evaluation report on the Data Retention Directive this week. The Commission lived down to our expectations, with the report itself and the Commissioner’s pre...
The European Commission is currently reviewing the Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive. In its response to a public consultation, Bits of Freedom critically addresses several funda...
We come in peace. The theme for the 27c3 conference in Berlin hits the needle on the head, as the expertise and enthusiasm of the hacking community will and should play a pivotal role for the goo...
If you were wondering where to find your contemporary Columbus, look no further. At 27c3, the 27th Chaos Communication Congress in Berlin, around 3.500 coders of cyberspace from around the worl...
The evaluation of the controversial Data Retention Directive takes an unexpected turn, for the worse. At a crucial one-day conference in Brussels, aimed at gathering input for the evaluation, lon...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2010/12/08/data-retention-directive-evaluation-expect-the-unexpected/
8 november sprak Axel Arnbak bij een Mobile Monday Amsterdam die helemaal in het teken stond van Data. In zijn verhaal gaat hij in op de betekenis van privacy in een tijd waarin data centraal sta...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2010/11/18/video-privacy-in-the-age-of-data/
After facing enormous pressure from the media, civil society and several MPs, The Dutch Ministry of Security and Justice announced that it will not develop a national database or search engine co...
Who gets to decide what you do on the internet: you or your internet service provider? Until recently, the answer was simple: you decide which services and websites you want visit. This is changi...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2010/09/30/europe-should-keep-the-internet-open/
As we write this, the European Parliament is discussing a report on copyright enforcement, the so-called Gallo-report. Although we expected the liberal group in the European Parliament (the ALDE-...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2010/09/17/manders-vvd-pushes-for-online-repression-in-eu/
Amsterdam, 28 July 2010 – The Dutch government is not respecting its obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The government is not taking concrete measures to prevent th...
The European Parliament last week adopted a report on copyright enforcement. In the so-called Gallo report, the parliament calls for stricter enforcement, criminalizing millions of internet users...
https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2010/06/05/a-repressive-eu-copyright-policy-thanks-to-the-vvd/