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Privé-communicatie
Security and safety, plain and simple
As a community, and as a society at large, we miss a great opportunity to learn from security incidents and to improve the security of our digital infrastructure. The mechanisme around airplane safety may be used as an example.
Open Whisper Systems at the Dutch Big Brother Awards
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 protecting and advancing privacy, was given to Open Whisper Systems for their work on Signal and the Signal protocol. They have managed to secure the […]
Let your government know what you think of the new bill for the secret services
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. The Minister of the Interior, Ronald Plasterk, wants to empower the intelligence- and security services with the ability to fully monitor all our communication […]
Someone is wrong (not just on the internet)
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 legality of data retention practices, the government wants to retain its current data retention legislation. Equally ridiculous are the arguments the government uses to support that decision. […]
One year after Snowden
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 “democratische rechtsstaten”. Samen met bijna dertig collega-organisaties heeft Bits of Freedom in kaart gebracht wat er sindsdien is veranderd. Als er al iets is veranderd.
DigiNotar breach leads to grave security concerns
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 2011, the Dutch government denounced their trust in certificates issued by DigiNotar after the discovery of fraudulent certificates. It advised Dutch citizens not to log […]
Dutch Senate ‘disappointed’ with Data Retention Directive evaluation
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 Security and Justice on the Data Retention Directive evaluation by the European Commission. In a 31 May 2011 letter to the Minister, the Senate considers […]
Translations of key Dutch internet freedom provisions
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 translated the key provisions into English.
Netherlands launches internet freedom legislation
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 introduce a net neutrality law. In addition, provisions were launched protecting users against disconnection and wiretapping by providers. Digital rights movement Bits of Freedom […]
EU privacy watchdog: Data Retention Directive unlawful
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 violates the privacy of all EU citizens and that the evaluation report itself is flawed. This is good news for your privacy.
European Commission: Top 10 misleading statements on data retention
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 press conference producing an imaginative selection of misleading statements. The following are ten of the most egregious examples:
Data Retention Directive evaluation: expect the unexpected?
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, long-term critic of the Directive Commissioner Malmström (Home Affairs) surprisingly announced that ‘data retention is here to stay’.
[VIDEO] Privacy in the age of data
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 staan. Weet jij hoeveel keer per dag data over jou wordt opgeslagen? En weet je wat de overeenkomsten zijn tussen […]
Bits of Freedom strikes again: Dutch government cancels national database on bank 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 containing bank data of all Dutch citizens. The Dutch digital rights organization Bits of Freedom discovered plans to this end in one of 27 […]