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In 2020, claims foundation The Privacy Collective (TPC) dragged two adtech companies, Salesforce and Oracle, to court for violating the privacy of millions of Dutch citizens. Bits of Freedom supported the case. Already back in 2019, we ourselves filed complaints with European data protection authorities because of the real-time bidding ad industry. That is still ongoing. In the meantime, privacy violations continue. When rights are violated and the law is not effectively enforced, it makes complete sense that people choose to go to court.
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Why this good news is more than legal nitpicking? Our rights and freedoms cannot be taken for granted. When the government fails to protect citizens' rights, or breaks the law herself, citizens can go to court. A last resort, but certainly not a "hack": the democratic rule of law is, by design, set up that way.
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In countries where the democratic rule of law is at risk, you often see attacks on the judiciary. By cutting legal aid, by questioning the independence of judges, or by legislating to restrict access to justice, among others. Sound familiar? Indeed, we see this trend in the Netherlands as well. For example, following the November elections, a majority in Parliament wants to limit the ability of organizations such as Bits of Freedom to challenge government in court. The direct cause are the (successful) lawsuits being brought against the state over failing environmental policy (link only available in Dutch).
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However, when both the legislative and the executive fail, the solution obviously is not to weaken the judiciary. By attempting to do so, the government basically says it will not be held accountable. A strong signal, as if we needed one, that in the coming years citizens might find themselves in desperate need of the court.
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Executive director Bits of Freedom
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PS. From now on, you'll be receiving our monthly English update in this new format. Let us know if there are any topics in particular you would like to know more about!
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A privacy win! LinkedIn restricts ad targeting
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A privacy win! LinkedIn has abolished targeting ads based on users' personal sensitive data! The platform did this after we filed a complaint about it, together with European Digital Rights (EDRi), Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte (GFF) and Global Witness.
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Controversial CSAM proposal: what's needed now
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The unpredictability of the European legislative process is sometimes tiresome. And perhaps more importantly, it gets in the way of solving real problems, such as risks to the safety of children and young people. Rejo explains the latest developments in the CSAM proposal.
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Meta's new AI plan: what will this mean for you?
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Recently, Meta announced that it wants to use posts and images from its users to train AI models. What those AI models are supposed to do, and what your Facebook and Instagram posts have to do with it, remains rather vague. Lotje explains what's going on.
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