Blog
The latest blogs from Open Rights Group
08 Jul 2019 By By Daniel Markuson, a digital privacy expert at NordVPN
European Net Neutrality is Under Attack
Network neutrality explained
Net neutrality is the idea that ISPs must ensure an equal internet connection to each and every user.
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29 Jun 2019 By Ed Johnson-Williams and Amy Shepherd
Online Harms: Blocking websites doesn’t work – use a rights-based approach instead
This is the finding from our recent research into website blocking by mobile and broadband Internet providers.
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Data and Democracy
28 Jun 2019 By Pascal Crowe
Hunting for a solution? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it
It seems apt that it was at this week’s ‘digital hustings’ for the Conservative Party leadership that Jeremy Hunt unilaterally came out in favour of online voting.
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11 Jun 2019 By Jim Killock
EFF and Open Rights Group Defend the Right to Publish Open Source Software to the UK Government
https://www.
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09 May 2019 By Pascal Crowe
More than money – How to tame online political ads
Political parties target ads online by using personal data to include or exclude potential voters.
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08 Apr 2019 By Jim Killock and Amy Shepherd
The DCMS Online Harms Strategy must ‘design in’ fundamental rights
Read the White Paper here.
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19 Mar 2019 By Jim Killock
Jeremy Wright needs to act to avert disasters from porn age checks
The government rejected Parliamentary attempts to include privacy powers over age verification tools, so DCMS have limited possibilities right now.
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14 Mar 2019 By Javier Ruiz
US red lines for digital trade with the UK cause alarm
Trade negotiations between the US and the UK have recently received a lot of attention due to the publication of the official negotiating objectives of the US Government, which set out in sometimes candid detail the areas of interest and priorities.
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11 Mar 2019 By Amy Shepherd
Brexit, Data Privacy and the EU Settled Status Scheme
The EU Settled Status Scheme (“the scheme”) provides the administrative route through which all EU nationals must apply to remain in the UK after 30 June 2021, in the event of a deal, or 31 December 2020, in the event of no deal.
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08 Mar 2019 By Jim Killock
Informal Censorship: The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF)
Read the full report here.
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05 Mar 2019 By Jim Killock
Informal Internet Censorship: The Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU)
Read the full report here.
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28 Feb 2019 By Jim Killock
Informal Internet Censorship: Nominet domain suspensions
Read the full report here.
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27 Feb 2019 By Jim Killock
We met to discuss BBFC’s voluntary age verification privacy scheme, but BBFC did not attend
We invited all the AV providers we know about, and most importantly, the BBFC, at the start of February.
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26 Feb 2019 By Matthew Rice
The missing piece from the DCMS report? Themselves
The Disinformation and ‘fake news’ report from the House of Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Committee splashed onto front pages, news feeds and timelines on 18 February.
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19 Feb 2019 By Jim Killock
Formal Internet Censorship: BBFC pornography blocking
Read the full report here.
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15 Feb 2019 By Jim Killock
Formal Internet Censorship: Copyright blocking injunctions
Read the full report here.
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14 Feb 2019 By Amy Shepherd
Patently unfair – Epson takedowns continue
Platform takedown notice procedures are a personal patent guard-dog
As a verified rights-owner (VeRO) on eBay UK and by using Amazon UK’s reporting notice system, Seiko Epson Corporation (“Epson”) has free rein to remove any and all third-party cartridge listings that it wishes.
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11 Feb 2019 By Mike Morel
A new wave of Internet censorship may be on the horizon
2018 was a pivotal year for data protection.
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06 Feb 2019 By Jim Killock
Duty of care: an empty concept
There is every reason to believe that the government and opposition are moving to a consensus on introducing a duty of care for social media companies to reduce harm and risk to their users.
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04 Feb 2019 By Javier Ruiz
ORG calls for public participation in digital trade policy after Brexit
A key aspect of Brexit is the future of trade policy.
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01 Feb 2019 By Mike Morel
Response to IAB statement
IAB:
We have taken note of media reports regarding an update to complaints made by ad-blocking browser developer Brave and Polish activist group Panoptykon Foundation to a number of European data protection authorities.
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28 Jan 2019 By Ed Johnson-Williams
Public Understanding of GDPR
Over the last couple of years, we’ve seen a lot of attention given to data protection.
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20 Dec 2018 By Javier Ruiz
Law Commission report asks for complete reform of online offensive communications
In 2019 ORG will be doing more work on the regulation of online content and free expression, as there are various important government initiatives in the area that could impact the rights of internet users.
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20 Sep 2018 By Javier Ruiz
Machine learning and the right to explanation in GDPR
This blogpost is a small section of a much larger research report Debates, awareness, and projects about GDPR and data protection.
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11 Sep 2018 By Ed Johnson-Williams
Helping IoT developers to assess ethics, privacy, and social impact
GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) introduces a mandatory Data Protection Impact Assessment.
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04 Sep 2018 By Mike Morel
We need copyright reform that does not threaten free expression
Seen through an economic lens the Directive’s journey is viewed as a battle between rights holders and tech giants.
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21 Aug 2018 By Javier Ruiz
The right of access in GDPR: What are the debates?
This blogpost is a small section of a much larger research report Debates, awareness, and projects about GDPR and data protection.
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03 Aug 2018 By Matthew Rice
What is at stake with the immigration exemption legal challenge?
The immigration exemption in the Data Protection Act 2018 will remove key data protection rights for everyone in the United Kingdom.
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05 Jul 2018 By Mike Morel
MEPs hold off Article 13’s Censorship Machine
The odds were steep, but thanks to everyone who contacted their representatives, MEPs got the message that Article 13 and it’s automated “upload filters” would be a catastrophe for free expression online.
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26 Jun 2018 By Ed Johnson-Williams
A new GDPR digital service: the crowdsourced ideas
A few months ago we put out a call for ideas for a new digital service that would help people use their rights under General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
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13 Jun 2018 By Alex Haydock
Victory for Open Rights Group in Supreme Court web blocking challenge
The Supreme Court ruled today that trade mark holders must bear the cost of blocking websites which sell counterfeit versions of their goods, rather than passing those costs on to Internet service providers.
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08 May 2018 By Jim Killock
The government is acting negligently on privacy and porn AV
We asked the BBFC to tell government that the legislation is not fit for purpose, and that they should halt the scheme until privacy regulation is in place.
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30 Apr 2018 By Alex Haydock
The latest ruling against the Snooper’s Charter is welcome, but the Courts need to do more
Last Friday – 27 April 2018 – the High Court delivered its judgment in a challenge brought by human rights organisation Liberty against the mass surveillance powers of the Investigatory Powers Act.
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25 Apr 2018 By Alex Haydock
We asked the BBFC to warn the Government about the dangers of age verification
On the 23rd April 2018, the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) closed their consultation on their age verification guidelines for online pornography.
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24 Apr 2018 By Jim Killock
Google or CTIRU: who is fibbing about terror takedowns?
These referrals, to Google, Facebook and others, come from a unit hosted at the Metropolitan Police, called CTIRU, or the Counter-Terrorism Internet Referrals Unit.
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04 Apr 2018 By Henry Prince
Filters are for coffee and water, not copyright.
It would be the largest internet filter Europe has ever seen – reading every single piece of text uploaded to the internet, and watching every video.
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29 Mar 2018 By Jim Killock
Facebook Don’t Want You To Know How Their Algorithm Works
Facebook don’t want you to know how their algorithm works.
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29 Mar 2018 By Jim Killock
Facebook Don’t Want You To Know How Their Algorithm Works
Facebook don’t want you to know how their algorithm works.
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29 Mar 2018 By Jim Killock
Facebook Don’t Want You To Know How Their Algorithm Works
Facebook don’t want you to know how their algorithm works.
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29 Mar 2018 By Jim Killock
Facebook Don’t Want You To Know How Their Algorithm Works
Facebook don’t want you to know how their algorithm works.
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20 Mar 2018 By Jim Killock
Matt Hancock has no right to complain about the internet being a ‘Wild West’
In recent years, many have warned about the dangers of Facebook knowing so much about everyone’s beliefs, preferences, and attitudes.
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05 Mar 2018 By Jim Killock
The Data Protection Bill’s Immigration Exemption must go
The government has introduced a sweeping “immigration exemption” in Schedule 2, Paragraph 4.
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20 Feb 2018 By Cory Doctorow
Unleashing ORG in the courts
No one said protecting the digital world was going to be easy (or cheap)!
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15 Feb 2018 By Jim Killock
Election results
The full results are in the linked documents (report, results, details).
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13 Feb 2018 By Jim Killock
Even extremist takedowns require accountability
The Government is very keen to ensure that extremist material is removed from private platforms, like Facebook, Twitter and Youtube.
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10 Jan 2018 By Slavka Bielikova
Peers have a chance to make the UK one of the safest places to be online. They should take it.
Do you remember that time when Uber didn’t tell us that the data of 57 million of their users got exposed?
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04 Jan 2018 By Javier Ruiz
Alphonso knows what you watched last summer
The New York Times has published a story about a company called Alphonso that has developed a technology that uses smartphone microphones to identify TV and films being played in the background.
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11 Dec 2017 By Caitlin Bishop
Battle lines have been drawn over the Data Protection bill
Open Rights Group have delivered briefings to Peers on its core campaigning points, including:
supporting stronger powers for representation of data subjects; and
raising concerns about the hazardous immigration exemptions alongside the3million, the campaigning organisation representing EU citizens living in the United Kingdom.
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30 Nov 2017 By Jim Killock
Home Office concedes independent authorisation
Adding independent authorisation for communications data requests will make the police more effective, as corruption and abuse will be harder.
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24 Oct 2017 By Slavka Bielikova
Epson delete competing Ebay ink listings citing patent claims
Epson have contacted a number of resellers on eBay warning them to remove their listings.
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10 Oct 2017 By Matthew Rice
Time to make Data Protection work for consumers
Data Protection.
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31 Aug 2017 By Pam Cowburn
Nominations for ORG’s Advisory Council are open
ORG is recruiting people to our Advisory Council.
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09 Aug 2017 By Alec Muffett
The British Public & its Freedom to Tinker with Data
This is a guest blog by Alec Muffett, a security researcher and member of ORG’s Board of Directors.
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01 Aug 2017 By Ed Johnson-Williams
Sorry Amber Rudd, real people do value their security
Amber Rudd has been out doing the media rounds this morning (£) talking about the issues end-to-end encryption poses to law enforcement.
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Digital Privacy
21 Jun 2017 By Jim Killock
Queen’s speech 2017 – threats to privacy and free speech
There are references to a review of Counter-terrorism and a Commision for Countering Extremism which will include Internet-related policies.
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13 Jun 2017 By Ed Johnson-Williams
UK and France propose automated censorship of online content
The Government announced this morning that Theresa May and the French President Emmanuel Macron will talk today about making tech companies legally liable if they “fail to remove unacceptable content”.
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05 Jun 2017 By Jim Killock
Our response to the London and Manchester Attacks
As Londoners, we are relieved that we do not know anyone who has been directly affected.
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Digital Privacy
04 Jun 2017 By Jim Killock
The London Attacks
It is disappointing that in the aftermath of this attack, the Government’s response appears to focus on the regulation of the Internet and encryption.
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24 May 2017 By Jim Killock
The Manchester attack
We hope that law enforcement and intelligence agencies will help to bring those involved in these attacks to justice and we support their work combating terrorism.
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22 May 2017 By Jim Killock
Facebook censorship complaints could award government immense control
The leaked Facebook Files, the social media company’s internal policies for content regulation published by the Guardian, show that, like a relationship status on Facebook, content moderation is complicated.
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16 May 2017 By Mike Morel
The UK Government should protect encryption not threaten it
Encryption also strengthens democracy by underpinning digital press freedom.
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13 May 2017 By Jim Killock
NHS ransom shows GCHQ putting us at risk
Here are four points that stand out to us.
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08 May 2017 By Mike Morel
A brief chance for better UK data protection law
However, the GDPR’s enforcement within member countries has considerable flexibility.
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04 May 2017 By Jim Killock
DCMS consultation on data privacy fails to explain why it matters
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) sets out many new rights for UK citizens, including better notions of consent, the right to obtain and download your information, and to delete it at a company.
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03 May 2017 By Mike Morel
ORG delivers anti-Espionage Act petition to the Law Commission
ORG’s petition broadly rejects The Law Commission’s proposals and demands they be dropped.
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Digital Privacy
01 May 2017 By Jim Killock
Automated censorship is not the answer to extremism
Today’s report by the Home Affairs Select Committee brands social media companies as behaving irresponsibly in failing to remove extremist material.
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05 Apr 2017 By Jim Killock
A privacy disaster waiting to happen – the #DEBill on third reading
Age Verification: a privacy disaster waiting to happen
Age Verification is fraught, and likely to result in a chilling effect, where adults avoid visiting websites because of fears around the age verification technology.
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27 Mar 2017 By Ed Johnson-Williams
Encryption must not be a dirty word. Here’re 5 ways we all rely on it
British politicians are again putting pressure on Internet companies to make sure the Government can access end-to-end encrypted messages.
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27 Mar 2017 By Jim Killock
Amber Rudd already has sweeping powers to attack encryption
The striking thing is that if she was genuinely serious about her suggestion, she would not be making public demands; she would be signing legal orders to force companies to change their products.
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22 Mar 2017 By Javier Ruiz
MEPs start push back on online copyright censorship
The EU is introducing some major changes to copyright legislation under a programme to improve the European Digital Single Market.
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17 Mar 2017 By Slavka Bielikova
Government half-turn on data sharing
ORG previously called to limit powers given to Ministers and to put constraints on unlimited bulk sharing of civil registration data.
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08 Mar 2017 By Ed Johnson-Williams
CIA and GCHQ hacking – they must clear up their own mess
The agencies will use these vulnerabilities for targeted surveillance.
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07 Mar 2017 By Ed Johnson-Williams
Yes, the CIA can hack phones but Signal and WhatsApp are still safe for nearly everyone
Wikileaks have published documents claiming that the CIA can use some vulnerabilities in the iOS and Android operating systems to hack mobile phones and then monitor anything that happens on those phones.
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07 Mar 2017 By Jim Killock
Scrap the DEBill Age Verification and censorship – before it is too late
The Bill is an example of how not to legislate for the Internet and complex social issues.
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06 Mar 2017 By Jim Killock
Why the IPO needs to change the criminal offence for online copyright infringement
The IPO has responded to your letters to the minister Jo Johnson MP about the new 10 year sentences for online copyright infringement.
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09 Feb 2017 By Jim Killock
Ten years jail for file sharers – the governments’ gift to copyright trolls
Ten years jail for filesharing: or in fact any minor copyright infringement where there is a “loss by not getting what one might get” or cause a “risk” of further infringement.
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Digital Privacy
08 Feb 2017 By Jim Killock
Just how much censorship will the DEBill lead to?
Officials wrote to the New Statesman yesterday to complain about Myles Jackman’s characterisation of the Digital Economy Bill as leading to an attempt to classify everything on the Internet.
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07 Feb 2017 By Slavka Bielikova
Government says privacy safeguards are not ‘necessary’ in Digital Economy Bill
The House of Lords debated age verification for online pornography last week as the Committee stage of the Digital Economy Bill went ahead.
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20 Jan 2017 By Javier Ruiz
Lords Committee slams data sharing powers in Digital Economy Bill
In a report published today the Committee asks for the “almost untrammeled” powers given to Ministers in the Bill to be severely curtailed, and for all Codes of Practice associated with these data sharing powers to be laid before Parliament in draft for full approval before coming into force.
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16 Jan 2017 By Ed Johnson-Williams
Let’s save ‘backdoor’ for the real thing
The Guardian reported on Friday last week that WhatsApp – owned by Facebook – has a “backdoor” that “allows snooping on encrypted messages”.
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21 Dec 2016 By Javier Ruiz
EU Court slams UK data retention surveillance regime
The full judgment can be read here.
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20 Dec 2016 By Jim Killock
Is the government misleading the Lords about blocking Twitter?
The Bill is even worse than we illustrated.
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16 Dec 2016 By Javier Ruiz
ORG’s first take on the leaked e-Privacy Regulations
Blog Leak
The leaked e-Privacy Regulation (ePR) brings many improved protections to our communications data, which are now extended to communications devices and internet services, not just traditional telecom providers.
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16 Dec 2016 By Jim Killock
How it works: website blocking in the Digital Economy Bill
Blocking takes two shapes, after the Lords debate.
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13 Dec 2016 By Jim Killock
MPs leave it to House of Lords to sort out porn cock up
Although Labour raised the issue of privacy, nothing was changed so there are still no privacy duties in the Bill.
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25 Nov 2016 By Ed Johnson-Williams
TfL needs to give passengers the full picture on WiFi collection scheme
When a device has WiFi turned on, it broadcasts a unique identifier called a MAC address.
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25 Nov 2016 By Pam Cowburn
No one expects spam for Christmas
The benefits of an email, at least according to the shops, are that it’s more convenient for customers who don’t have to worry about losing their receipts, and of course it’s better for the environment to use less paper.
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24 Nov 2016 By Javier Ruiz
DEBill loophole will allow energy companies to be given your tax and benefits data
ORG, of course, supports the idea of helping people lower their energy bills, but we are concerned that for this to happen, companies will be given sensitive information about their customers.
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20 Nov 2016 By Jim Killock
Website blocking will open up age verification to credit card fraud
Currently the BBFC are pinning their hopes on being able to specify some kind of privacy and safety standard through their ability to regulate “arrangements” that deliver age verified material.
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09 Nov 2016 By Jim Killock
Donald Trump will exert a great deal of control over GCHQ’s operations
“If there were a crisis in the relationship between the UK and the US, what risks would our shared intelligence arrangements pose?
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03 Nov 2016 By Jim Killock
Age verification for porn sites is tricky so let’s try censorship
The amendment has been tabled because MPs understand that age verification cannot be imposed upon the entire mostly US-based pornographic industry by the UK alone.
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Digital Privacy
02 Nov 2016 By Jim Killock
Facebook is right to sink Admiral’s app
Late yesterday, on the eve before Admiral tried to launch Firstcarquote, their application’s permission to use Facebook data was revoked by the social media site.
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27 Oct 2016 By Jim Killock
Now we want censorship: porn controls in the Digital Economy Bill are running out of control
That’s right: in order to make age verification technologies “work”, some MPs want to block completely legal content from access by every UK citizen.
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Digital Privacy
19 Oct 2016 By Jim Killock
Fig leafs for privacy in Age Verification
Yesterday we published a blog detailing the lack of privacy safeguards for Age Verification systems mandated in the Digital Economy Bill.
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Digital Privacy
18 Oct 2016 By Jim Killock
A database of the UK’s porn habits. What could possibly go wrong?
To this end the Digital Economy Bill creates a regulator that will seek to ensure that adult content websites will verify the age of users, or face monetary penalties, or in the case of overseas sites, ask payment providers such as VISA to refuse to process UK payments for non-compliant providers.
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17 Oct 2016 By Pam Cowburn
In ‘vest’ing in crime fighting technology – accountability versus privacy rights?
What impact is wearable technology likely to have on police safety and effective crime fighting?
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16 Sep 2016 By Paul Sanders
A fair way to close the value gap
The music industry says that artists, labels, and songwriters are getting a raw deal from services that allow users to upload content.
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