Privacy Now

Data protection New EU rules provide major step forward for consumer protection

Cristian BulumacThursday, 14 April, 2016 - 12:09

The European Parliament today adopted a legislative agreement on the reform of the EU's data protection rules, finalising the new law. After the vote Green MEP and European Parliament draftsperson/rapporteur on the data protection regulation Jan Philipp Albrecht stated:
...The new rules will give users back the right to decide on their own private data. Businesses that have accessed users' data for a specific purpose would generally not be allowed to transfer the data without the user being asked. Users will have to give clear consent for their data to be used. Crucially, firms contravening these rules will face fines of up to 4% of revenue, which could imply billions of Euro for the major global online corporations. ...

My data, my choice // What you need to know about the EU's new privacy law

Cristian BulumacFriday, 8 April, 2016 - 12:12

Thanks to the incredible work of the EU institution's translators and lawyer lunguists the final vote on the data protection package will happen Thursday 14 April 2016 in the European Parliament! The council will have his final vote 8 April. On Tuesday 12 April the LIBE committee will vote on it.
Check out the video on ‪#‎GDPR‬ ‪#‎EUdataP‬

EU data protection rules: major step forward

Cristian BulumacWednesday, 16 December, 2015 - 16:07

Green MEP and European Parliament draftsperson/rapporteur on the data protection regulation Jan Philipp Albrecht stated: announced that negotiators from the European Parliament and Council reached an agreement on the long-open reform of the EU's data protection rules. The agreement must now be confirmed by the representatives of EU governments before the end of the year.

PNR, air passenger data retention: MEPs wave through new PNR system

Cristian BulumacThursday, 10 December, 2015 - 10:51

The European Parliament's lead civil liberties and home affairs committee today approved a legislative agreement on the creation of an EU passenger name record system (1). The Greens have criticised the creation of the system and voted against the agreement, with Green home affairs spokesperson Jan Philipp Albrecht stating:

EU: Travel surveillance leaked document

Cristian BulumacWednesday, 28 January, 2015 - 16:11

A leaked European Commission note sets out considerations on "the best way forward to respond to the different calls for a swift adoption of the EU PNR [Passenger Name Record] proposal," which would introduce blanket law enforcement surveillance and profiling of all passengers arriving in the EU by air.
The European Parliament's Civil Liberties Committee (LIBE) voted against the proposed PNR Directive in April 2013, but EU officials and national politicians have repeatedly demanded agreement on the legislation.
These calls reached a crescendo following the terrorist attacks in Paris earlier this month, with politicians and officials claiming the attacks made clear the necessity of an EU PNR system. As Gilles de Kerchove, the EU's Counter-Terrorism Coordinator, said to the LIBE committee yesterday (27 January) during a session on counter-terrorism: "Never let a serious crisis go to waste."

Experts Unmask 'Regin' Trojan as NSA Tool

Cristian BulumacTuesday, 27 January, 2015 - 16:38

According to Kaspersky, the malware had already been in circulation for 10 years and had been deployed against targets in at least 14 countries, including Germany, Belgium and Brazil but also India and Indonesia.
Symantec spoke of a "highly complex" threat. Many of the targets were in the telecommunications sector, but others included energy companies and airlines.

Blog | Access

Cristian BulumacFriday, 9 January, 2015 - 16:25

Following last year’s ruling, the Civil Liberties Committee of the European Parliament (LIBE) requested an opinion from Legal Services to determine its impact on national laws establishing data retention and other existing international agreements that include data retention schemes such Passenger Name Records agreements (PNR) and the Terrorist Finance Tracking Programme (TFTP).

Online privacy: still be a mess for a decade

Cristian BulumacFriday, 19 December, 2014 - 12:02

The shifting sands of online privacy are not going to solidify any time soon, judging by the responses to a recent survey of technology experts, internet pioneers and prominent sociologists done by the Pew Research Center’s Internet Project. The survey asked respondents whether they thought the minefield of issues surrounding online privacy rights would be solved either by government or by society as a whole by 2025. The verdict? Not bloody likely.

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U.S. Businesses lobby against proposals to restrict surveillance

Cristian BulumacMonday, 24 November, 2014 - 11:26

In its comments submitted on Oct. 29. to USTR for its annual report on foreign trade barriers, Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA: an advocacy organization based in Washington, DC) said : "Data localization requirements run afoul of global trade norms where trade restrictive measures are supposed to be limited to policies that are both necessary for achieving a legitimate national security or public policy objective and the least trade restrictive method possible for achieving that desired policy outcome...

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