Digital Privacy
Campaign
Hands Off Our Data
Your data will be used against you and you’ll have less ability to do anything about it.
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Blog
28 Jul 2023 By Mariano delli Santi
The CPTPP: trading away your privacy rights
The Government have recently announced the UK accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
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Campaign
End Pre-Crime
Data and content is being weaponised to criminalise people without cause.
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Campaign
Councils against data discrimination
Council’s should use technology to support justice, rights and freedoms.
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Blog
14 Dec 2022 By Mariano delli Santi
Data Grab Bill from an EU perspective
A delegation from the European Parliament visited London and left with some rather scathing opinions about the UK data protection reform, but UK Ministers have been denying that there is any issue with their proposals.
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Campaign
Stop Data Discrimination
The government wants to make it easier for companies and authorities to use your data against you.
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Campaign
The Global Privacy Race to the Bottom
UK privacy rights are getting trampled in the Government’s rush to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
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Campaign
Ending illegal online advertising
When you see an advertisement online, chances are that Real-Time Bidding advertising systems (RTB AdTech) have just auctioned your personal data, illegally, to hundreds of companies vying for your attention.
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Campaign
Demand privacy protections for Test & Trace
The Government’s Test and Trace Programme risks the privacy rights of hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of individuals in the UK whose personal data has been or will be processed through the Programme.
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Campaign
Make data protection law work for everyone
Currently only citizens – who rarely have the expertise, ability or time – are able to initiate complaints when data law is broken.
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Campaign
NHSX scraps centralised model for Covid-19 app
In a huge win for digital privacy, in June 2020 the UK Government scrapped plans to use a centralised model for its Covid-19 tracker app, opting for the decentralised model long advocated by Open Rights Group (ORG).
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Campaign
The Government assault on privacy
From expanded Police data powers to undermining the UK’s privacy regulator, the Government is rolling out a multifaceted attack on our hard won rights to privacy.
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Campaign
“Immigration exemption” ruled unlawful under GDPR
When the “immigration exemption” became law as part of the 2018 Data Protection Act, it threatened the data rights of all UK residents, including British citizens.
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Campaign
Government drops risky age verification plan
Open Rights Group (ORG) has been warning about major privacy risks in plans for age checks on adult websites since they were proposed in the Digital Economy Act 2017.
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Campaign
Migrant Digital Justice
The Migrant Digital Justice programme empowers the migrants’ rights sector to challenge technologies used in immigration controls.
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23 November, 2018
Publication
Response to consultation on a new Free Trade Agreement with the United States
We have general concerns about the process of trade policy, shared with much of civil society.
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Blog
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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Blog
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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Blog
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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Blog
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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Blog
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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Blog
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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Blog
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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Blog
28 Jan 2016 By Jason Kitcat
E-voting won’t solve the problem of voter apathy
As the old English proverb has it “the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
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Blog
19 Jan 2016 By Jim Killock
Does the government want to break encryption or not?
The government opens up by stating:
This Government recognises the importance of encryption, which helps keep people’s personal data and intellectual property safe from theft by cyber means.
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Blog
26 Feb 2015 By Jim Killock
GCHQ is damaging businesses and the digital economy – we need your help
But it is the Internet economy that is at risk, just as much as our civil liberties.
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Blog
20 Jan 2015 By Richard King
Default censorship is wrong and unfair to Sky’s customers
Sky Broadband have announced they will force web-filters on all customers, starting this week, unless the account-holder opts out.
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Blog
13 Jan 2015 By Jim Killock
What does David Cameron want?
On Monday, David Cameron declared war on encryption as the latest knee-jerk reaction to the atrocities committed in Paris against Charlie Hebdo journalists.
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Blog
06 Jul 2014 By Jim Killock
What Google isn’t doing with requests for search redaction
A search for Stan o’Neal brings up Robert Peston’s article on the first page.
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Blog
02 Jul 2014 By Pam Cowburn
ORG’s Blocked project finds almost 1 in 5 sites are blocked by filters
Today, Open Rights Group relaunched www.
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Blog
14 Apr 2014 By Richard King
Making progress on monitoring censorship
Since the start of the year ORG’s community of technical volunteers have been turning blocked.
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Blog
07 Apr 2014 By Ruth Coustick-Deal
We’re making web censorship more transparent – thanks to you!
The generosity of our supporters raised more than £6500 to support our campaign to end the imposition of web censorship in the UK.
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Blog
10 Mar 2014 By Ruth Coustick-Deal
Support ORG’s Censorship Monitoring Project
ORG are building tools to monitor the effects of default filtering in the UK
Can you join us now to help keep this project going?
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Blog
23 Jan 2014 By Peter Bradwell
What’s happening to your medical records and how you can opt out
Where your records will be stored, the people deciding who has access to them, the reasons people can access them – all of these things are affected by what’s happening.
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Blog
19 Dec 2013 By Peter Bradwell
Ten recommendations to ISPs for dealing with over-blocking
We started looking closely at internet filtering by mobile networks a couple of years ago.
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Blog
13 Dec 2013 By Peter Bradwell
BT answers our questions about parental controls
Today BT launched their new Parental Controls service, the latest ISP to roll out network level filters following the Government’s push this summer.
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Blog
11 Dec 2013 By Peter Bradwell
Important opinion about data retention due tomorrow
Update: The opinion has now been published, with the Advocate General arguing that the Directive breaches the Charter of Fundamental Rights.
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Blog
15 Nov 2013 By Peter Bradwell
Sky’s reply to ORG on default internet filters
Sky are the first Internet Service Provider to send us answers to all of our questions about their default filtering.
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Blog
09 Nov 2013 By Jim Killock
Now talking is treachery
The security services in Parliament claimed that the Guardian’s stories have led directly to discussions among terrorists to improve their information security.
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08 November, 2013
Publication
Response to Nominet domain registration policy review
Contact: Peter Bradwell, peter@openrightsgroup.org
1.
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30 October, 2013
Publication
Mass surveillance oversight debate
Download PDF version
Civil Society Concerns about UK Surveillance
Secret mass surveillance is a threat to democracy and the rule of law.
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Blog
06 Sep 2013 By Jim Killock
The security services are stripping us of basic Internet security
Their reports of NSA and GCHQ attacks on fundamental Internet security really matter.
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Blog
01 Aug 2013 By Jim Killock
Diane Abbott responds on web forum blocking
On a cycling forum, members who are rightly worried that their forum may be blocked by default filters, Skydancer posted a response he was given by Diane Abbott:
I do not believe that the arrangements to protect children from hard core porn online will affect a forum to discuss cycling!
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Blog
31 Jul 2013 By Jim Killock
Government wants default blocking to hit small ISPs
Announced without fanfare, this is the result of several years work on a Communications Bill, now parked, it seems.
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Blog
27 Jul 2013 By Jim Killock
Who exactly is responsible for ‘nudge censorship’?
In essence, DCMS’s Maria Miller, Claire Perry and David Cameron’s staff have hijacked agreed cabinet policy, pushed for something very different and persuaded ISPs that they should implement significantly worse policies than originally envisaged.
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Blog
23 Jul 2013 By Jim Killock
ISPs need to explain their filtering systems
We are asking ISPs to explain how their systems will work, and to what extent David Cameron has represented or misrepresented their intentions.
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Blog
22 Jul 2013 By Jim Killock
David Cameron is issuing bad advice to parents
Last week, we published a list of questions about the impacts of filtering technologies, on privacy, Internet applications and user awareness of the technology.
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Blog
19 Jul 2013 By Jim Killock
ORG asks court for web blocking documents
A few weeks ago, ORG published the website 451unavailable.
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Blog
17 Jun 2013 By Jim Killock
Jargon File blocked by O2, Youtube by Orange
Report your blocks here.
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Blog
13 Jun 2013 By Jim Killock
Website filtering problems are a ‘load of cock’
The motion laid down by Labour says:
That this House deplores the growth in child abuse images online; deeply regrets that up to one and a half million people have seen such images; notes with alarm the lack of resources available to the police to tackle this problem; further notes the correlation between viewing such images and further child abuse; notes with concern the Government’s failure to implement the recommendations of the Bailey Review and the Independent Parliamentary Inquiry into Online Child Protection on ensuring children’s safe access to the internet; and calls on the Government to set a timetable for the introduction of safe search as a default, effective age verification and splash page warnings and to bring forward legislative proposals to ensure these changes are speedily implemented.
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Blog
07 Jun 2013 By Peter Bradwell
PRISM: The FISAAA smoking gun
UPDATED: see presentation by Caspar Bowden below.
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Blog
31 May 2013 By Peter Bradwell
What mobile internet filtering tells us about porn blocks
There’s been plenty of coverage today of calls to do more to block access to pornography, and specifically pornography on the Internet.
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Blog
26 Apr 2013 By Claudia Mateus
Digital Surveillance video
The Digital Surveillance report – to be launched at a public event on Monday – gives a history of surveillance policy, looks at the current state of the law, examines why technology poses a problem and offers alternative, more targeted and more accountable approaches.
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Blog
21 Mar 2013 By Jim Killock
Meeting Hacked Off
Simon Phipps’ article and comments from Cory Doctorow and Alec Muffett prompted the invite from Evan Harris and Hacked Off.
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Blog
20 Dec 2012 By Peter Bradwell
Confusion over parental Internet controls
Five days ago, the Department for Education announced a very reasonable approach to child protection online.
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18 December, 2012
Publication
Response to the DfE National Pupil Database consultation
Context
In late 2012 the Department for Education launched a consultation looking at who is able to access and use the information held in the National Pupil Database.
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Blog
17 Dec 2012 By Peter Bradwell
Another church blocked by mobile networks
About this time last year we wrote about a church that had been blocked by O2’s mobile Internet filters.
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Blog
12 Dec 2012 By Peter Bradwell
How the Home Office let their Minister down
A week ago the Home Secretary said that anybody opposed to the draft Communications Data Bill was ‘putting politics before lives’.
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Blog
30 Nov 2012 By Jim Killock
Data protection debate at MoJ
Yesterday I attended the first of the Department of Justice’s Advisory panel meetings on the new Data Protection regulation laws being proposed at the EU.
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Blog
17 Nov 2012 By Jim Killock
Victory in sight: government signals climb down from “default” filtering?
According to reports this Saturday in the Daily Mail and Telegraph, David Cameron will be asking ISPs to ask customers if they have children, and if so, help them install filtering technology.
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Blog
01 Nov 2012 By Peter Bradwell
Getting the facts straight in the parental controls debate
Yesterday there was a Westminster Hall debate about the responsibilities of Internet companies.
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24 September, 2012
Publication
Response to DfE consultation on parental controls
September 2012.
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Blog
18 Jul 2012 By Jim Killock
Snooper’s Charter: a Bill without a proposal
Yesterday’s hearings on the proposed Communications Data Bill provided for some hilarity, as Professor Glees laid into the “civil liberties lobby” and made quite outrageous claims for the need for increased surveillance to reduce criminality.
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Blog
13 Jun 2012 By Peter Bradwell
Update on reported BT block of Black Triangle campaign website
Earlier this week TechWeekly reported the campaign group Black Triangle had complained that their site was being blocked by BT.
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Blog
28 May 2012 By Peter Bradwell
Reporting ‘over-blocking’ to mobile operators
Since we published our report ‘Mobile Internet censorship: what’s happening and what to do about it‘, jointly with LSE Media Policy project, a number of people have been in touch with us asking what to do if they discover their site is blocked incorrectly by mobile networks’ child protection filters.
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Blog
18 May 2012 By Peter Bradwell
New reports of overblocking on mobile networks
Since we launched our new research about Mobile Internet censorship on Monday, there’s been a rise in the number of reports to our website Blocked.
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14 May, 2012
Publication
Mobile Internet censorship: what’s happening and what we can do about it
This report is about mobile Internet censorship.
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Blog
04 May 2012 By Peter Bradwell
Peace advocates’ website is blocked as porn on UK mobile networks
The past few days have seen a lot of attention given to the neo Mary Whitehouse campaign for default censorship.
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Blog
01 May 2012 By Jim Killock
What they want is control
If you want to know how bad things are getting, look no further than the confused conversation on Radio 4’s Today Programme this morning.
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Blog
15 Feb 2012 By Alessandra Cappuccini and Gemma Craggs
Orange UK blocking La Quadrature du Net
Through reports to the blocked.
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Blog
31 Jan 2012 By Jim Killock
Protecting Internet users from tracking and profiling
For three days last week, a group of technicians and lawyers at W3C – the World Wide Web Consortium, headed by Sir Tim Berners-Lee – has debated how to protect user privacy from ‘third party’ tracking websites.
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Blog
23 Jan 2012 By Peter Bradwell
UK Mobile operators censor privacy tool ‘Tor’
Open Rights Group and Tor have established that UK mobile networks such as Vodafone, O2 and 3 are filtering UK users’ access to Tor’s primary website (meaning the HTTP version of the Tor Project website, rather than connections to the Tor network) on pre-paid contractless accounts.
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Blog
01 Nov 2011 By Peter Bradwell
Joint letter to the Foreign Secretary
To coincide with the start of the London Conference on Cyberspace, eleven organisations and experts on freedom of expression and privacy online have today written to the Foreign Secretary stating that Britain’s desire to promote these ideals internationally is being hampered by domestic policy.
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Blog
11 Oct 2011 By Jim Killock
ACTION: Repeal Web Censorship!
Fantastic news: Julian Huppert MP has tabled amendments to the Freedom Bill to repeal the website blocking clauses of the Digital Economy Act.
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05 July, 2011
Publication
Briefing to Ed Vaizey: website blocking
Open Rights Group believes that website blocking and the filtering of content should be avoided.
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Campaign
Changing the law on tracking
In 2008 BT, Virgin and TalkTalk signed up to a new technology called Phorm, tracking users’ online habits to target them with ads.
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Blog
24 Jun 2010 By Jason Kitcat
ORG at Hansard debate: Why can’t I vote at my ATM?
This is a cross-posting from Jason Kitcat’s blog.
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Blog
17 Jun 2010 By Jim Killock
Summary Health Care records: failing and dangerous
The independent Summary Care Record (SCR) evaluation report show the project to be failing in its core aim, to make people safer, while introducing new dangers to their privacy and dignity.
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Blog
20 May 2010 By Jason Kitcat
Changing the way we vote
In the sixth of our series on the challenges facing the new government, Jason Kitcat looks at proposals for changes to the way our elections are run, including dangerous calls for e-voting.
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Blog
08 Dec 2009 By Jason Kitcat
London e-counting: Boris doesn’t want to know
An update following on from the Greater London Assembly’s decision to charge ahead with e-counting regardless of the cost or criticism from the Electoral Commission.
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Blog
07 Jul 2009 By Michael Holloway
There’s no excuse for industrial-scale snooping
Following yesterday’s news that BT have ditched Phorm, it is now reported that Carphone Warehouse have joined the list of big-name clients shunning the service.
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Blog
06 Jul 2009 By Jim Killock
BT’s decision to ditch Phorm is a victory for privacy
It is reported this morning that BT has dropped Phorm’s Webwise, the controversial behavioural advertising system that profiles internet users based on a reading of their internet traffic.
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Blog
29 Jun 2009 By Jim Killock
Lobbying and public policy
Corporate lobbying in the European union has long been recognised as a significant problem for citizens.
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Blog
28 Apr 2009 By Jim Killock
Phorm and the Home Office: cold comfort to citizens
You’ll probably have read today that leaked emails have shown that the Home Office worked with Phorm to offer advice that would give “comfort” to their investors.
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Blog
17 Apr 2009 By Jim Killock
Goverment announces RIPA review in wake of EU threat
The government has announced a review of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act.
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Blog
17 Apr 2009 By Jim Killock
Wikipedia blocks Phorm
Wikipedia have announced that they are blocking Phorm as they
consider the scanning and profiling of our visitors’ behavior by a third party to be an infringement on their privacy.
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Blog
15 Apr 2009 By Jim Killock
Open Rights Group welcomes decisions to block Phorm
Open Rights Group welcomes decisions by various major websites, including Amazon.
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Blog
14 Apr 2009 By Jim Killock
EU Commission moves against UK Government and Phorm
The EU Commission has launched proceedings against the UK concerning Phorm, the intrusive behavioural advertising system.
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Blog
25 Mar 2009 By Jim Killock
Telecom Package in second reading – dangerous amendments?
[ A Black Out Europe campaign has started on Facebook.
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Blog
17 Dec 2008 By Becky Hogge
Who’s been losing your data?
You hand over your personal details to councils, hospitals, employers and businesses all the time.
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Blog
27 Oct 2008 By Becky Hogge
No e-voting in next year’s elections
The Government have announced today that they do not plan to run e-voting pilots during the 2009 European or local elections.
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Blog
30 Sep 2008 By Becky Hogge
4 good reasons not to take part in the BT Webwise trial
Today, BT will start trials of Webwise, a technology which analyses your web surfing habits in order to serve you targetted ads.
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Blog
19 Sep 2008 By Becky Hogge
What BERR want from Phorm – and what we think they’re missing
Phorm, the targeted behavioural advertising technology company, has been back in the headlines this week.
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Blog
29 Jul 2008 By Becky Hogge
Next election for Mayor of London to be counted manually?
Will the 2012 election for Mayor of London be counted manually?
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Blog
18 Jul 2008 By Jason Kitcat
London Assembly Elections Review Committee – who would want to steal an election?
Yesterday the Greater London Authority’s Elections Review Committee met to discuss the conduct of the May 2008 London elections.
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Blog
25 Jun 2008 By Glyn Wintle
HMRC “Datagate” verdict: further data loss “a distinct possibility”
Kieran Poynter has published his review of information security at HM Revenue and Customs.
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Blog
19 May 2008 By Glyn Wintle
Scottish Affairs Committee recommendation on e-Counting
The House of Commons Scottish Affairs Committee has released its report on the experience of the Scottish elections and unsurprisingly they are worried about e-counting.
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Blog
06 May 2008 By Becky Hogge
Thanks to all ORG Election Observers!
A huge thanks to everyone who devoted their day to democracy last week, and joined the Open Rights Group Election Watch 2008.
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Blog
28 Mar 2008 By Becky Hogge
ORG and FIPR meet with Phorm
On Wednesday, at their invitation, I went to Phorm’s offices in Central London.
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