-------- Forwarded Message -------- Subject: EDRi-gram 27 September 2023: Civil society urges EU to regulate police tech in AI Act, say no to CSAR mass surveillance, & more! Date: Wed, 27 Sep 2023 10:55:07 +0200 From: EDRi - European Digital Rights <edrigram@edri.org> EDRi-gram 27 September 2023: Civil society urges EU to regulate police tech in AI Act, say no to CSAR mass surveillance, & more! A sign reading "EDRi-gram" <https://edri.org/take-action/edri-gram/> Dear supporters, The weather might be cooling off but the digital rights world is heating up with activity. Civil society continues to fight against dystopian surveillance technology. More than 85 organisations have called on EU governments to *say no to the CSA Regulation* until it fully protects online rights, freedoms, and security. Over 115 civil society organisations are urging EU lawmakers to *regulate the use of AI technology for harmful and discriminatory surveillance by law enforcement*. In the *Czech Republic*, EDRi member Iuridicum Remedium have details on the Czech *police’s illegal use of a facial recognition system*. In this EDRi-gram you will find out more about: * *Privacy & Data protection* o Meta pledges to ask EU users for consent before showing behavioural ads <#privacyarticle2> o Czech police use facial recognition system, IuRe finds out details <#privacyarticle3> o Polish Senate calls Pegasus illegal and demands scrutiny over secret services <#privacyarticle4> * *Mass Surveillance & AI* o EU lawmakers must regulate the harmful use of tech by law enforcement in the AI Act <#aiarticle1> o Open letter: EU countries should say no to the CSAR mass surveillance proposal <#privacyarticle1> o Potential loopholes in the AI Act could allow use of intrusive tech on ‘national security’ grounds <#aiarticle2> <#aiarticle3>** * *EDRi's Recommendations <#recommended>* * *Jobs & Events! <#jobs>* Illustration showing people being labeled and targeted by the police; journalists; activists, etc. <https://edri.org/our-work/polish-senate-calls-pegasus-illegal-and-demands-sc...> Polish Senate calls Pegasus illegal and demands scrutiny over secret services ////EDRi member,/Panoptykon Foundation <https://panoptykon.org/> / The Senate of Poland concluded its investigation on the use of Pegasus by Polish secret services to spy on opposition politicians and unapologetic public persons. They declared that *Pegasus should be considered illegal* in Poland and the secret services should be put under strict and independent scrutiny. *Doubts also arose around the fairness of Poland’s 2019 elections*.*Read more. <https://edri.org/our-work/polish-senate-calls-pegasus-illegal-and-demands-scrutiny-over-secret-services>* Meta pledges to ask EU users for consent before showing behavioural ads ////Mickey Manakas <https://twitter.com/m_manakas>, PR Manager, EDRi member, /noyb <https://noyb.eu/en>/ In a surprise announcement, Meta made the long overdue promise to finally *ask its users for their consent before showing ads* – at least if they live in the European Union, EEA or Switzerland. According to Meta, the change is due to a new interpretation of the GDPR by the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC). What about the fact that the company has been in legal trouble over its advertising business in the past five years?*Read more. <https://edri.org/our-work/meta-pledges-to-ask-eu-users-for-consent-before-showing-behavioural-ads/>* Czech police use facial recognition system, IuRe finds out details ////EDRi member, /Iuridicum Remedium <https://iure.org/> / EDRi member Iuridicum Remedium (IuRe) have details on the Czech police’s *illegal use of a facial recognition system*. The country’s data protection authorities were not consulted in advance on the system, which is being used for biometric identification. IuRe's findings have led to increased scrutiny of the use of the system and an examination by the Czech Office for Personal Data Protection.*Read more. <https://edri.org/our-work/czech-police-use-facial-recognition-system-iure-finds-out-details>* Donate to EDRi <https://edri.org/take-action/donate/> <https://edri.org/our-work/civil-society-statement-regulate-police-tech-ai-ac...> EU lawmakers must regulate the harmful use of tech by law enforcement in the AI Act ////EDRi <https://edri.org/> & EDRi member, /Access Now <https://www.accessnow.org/>/ As the European Union inches closer to finalising the AI Act, civil society organisations are concerned about the unchecked, discriminatory and mass surveillance due to the use of AI in *policing and migration control*. Thus, *115 civil society organisations* are asking EU policymakers to regulate the use of AI systems by law enforcement, migration control and national security authorities throughout Europe. *Read more <https://edri.org/our-work/civil-society-statement-regulate-police-tech-ai-act/>.* Open letter: EU countries should say no to the CSAR mass surveillance proposal ////EDRi <https://edri.org/> EDRi and 81 organisations have sent an open letter to European governments to once again urge them *to say no to the Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) Regulation* until it fully protects online rights, freedoms, and security. This public call builds on the widely supported academic and tech position <https://docs.google.com/document/d/13Aeex72MtFBjKhExRTooVMWN9TC-pbH-5LEaAbMF...> of nearly *500 scientists and researchers*, who have warned that the proposal is technically dangerous and poses a severe threat to encryption. *Read more <https://edri.org/our-work/open-letter-eu-countries-should-say-no-to-the-csar-mass-surveillance-proposal/>*. Potential loopholes in the AI Act could allow use of intrusive tech on ‘national security’ grounds EDRi affiliate, /European Center for Not-for-Profit Law <https://ecnl.org/> & /Stop Killer Robots <https://www.stopkillerrobots.org/> Both the European Union (EU) and the Council of Europe (COE) negotiations are considering *excluding AI systems designed, developed and used for military purposes*, matters of national defence and national security from the scope of their final regulatory frameworks. If this indeed happens, we will have a *huge regulatory gap* regarding such systems. *Read more <https://edri.org/our-work/potential-loopholes-in-the-ai-act-could-allow-use-of-intrusive-tech-on-national-security-grounds>.* Read How the European Parliament will vote for and against biometric mass surveillance? Joe McNamee <https://www.linkedin.com/in/joemcnamee/>/ / The purpose of this article is to explain the decision-making process for the AI Act and how it risks leading to the rollout of AI-powered biometric mass surveillance. *We can, together, stop biometric mass surveillance*, for the good of people in the EU and for populations around the globe. *Read more* <https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-european-parliament-vote-against-biometri...>. Do Demand a future without manipulation The Greens/EFA <https://www.greens-efa.eu/en/> In a world with the EU Digital Services Act, surveillance-based advertising will be banned to help the industry to innovate and start using respectful ways of advertising. *Contextual advertising, which does not rely on personal data, will become the norm*. Demand a future without manipulation. *Act now! <https://afuturewithoutmanipulation.eu/surveillance-based-advertising/#afuturewithoutmanipulation>* Watch Telegram isn’t as private as you think NBTV, with Naomi Brockwell <https://www.youtube.com/@NaomiBrockwellTV> Telegram advertises itself as a private messaging app, and has attracted over 800 million users. But, *if you're looking for private communication, this is not the app to recommend*. This video explains how encryption actually works on Telegram: how it's not possible to end-to-end encrypt group chats, and how direct messages are not private by default. *Watch the video <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtRQKQkvUfE>*. Listen The world of mesh networking with Elektra Wagenrad EDRi member, /fsfe <https://fsfe.org/index.en.html> / With this episode the Software Freedom Podcast opens the door to the fascinating and sometimes complex world of mesh networking. *If you are new to this world*, this episode is an easy entrance to it. Elektra not only explains the theory behind the protocols but also dives deeper into the philosophical idea of it.*Listen to the podcast <https://fsfe.org/news/podcast/episode-14.en.html>*. <https://edri.org/our-work/edri-gram-13-september-2023> *EDRi *| Policy Advisor (2 year position) <https://edri.org/take-action/careers/edri-is-looking-for-a-policy-advisor/> | Brussels, Belgium *ICCL *| Head of Research and Policy <https://edri.org/take-action/careers/iccl-is-hiring-head-of-research-and-pol...> | not mentioned *Access Now* | Senior Finance Officer & Grants and Contracts Manager <https://edri.org/take-action/careers/access-now-is-hiring-for-program-assist...> | Brussels, Belgium & remote *Civitates* | Senior Programme Manager <https://edri.org/take-action/careers/civitates-is-hiring-for-a-senior-progra...> | Brussels, Belgium & remote *Freedom of the Press Foundation* | Senior Security Engineer <https://edri.org/take-action/careers/freedom-of-the-press-foundation-is-hiri...> | Remote *Human Rights Watch* | Director, Technology and Human rights <https://edri.org/take-action/careers/technologist-information-security-vacan...> | Multiple Locations Considered *Liberties* | Communication and Campaign assistant (intern) <https://edri.org/take-action/careers/liberties-is-hiring-for-a-communication...> | Berlin, Germany *Mozilla Foundation* | Executive Director <https://edri.org/take-action/careers/mozilla-is-hiring-for-marketing-manager...> | Various *noyb* |Full stack developer & Data protection lawyer <https://edri.org/take-action/careers/noyb-is-hiring-for-a-legal-trainee/> | Vienna, Austria *Privacy International* | Advocacy officer <https://edri.org/take-action/careers/privacy-international-is-hiring-for-var...> | London, UK *SOMO* | Tech Mergers Project Coordinator <https://edri.org/take-action/careers/somo-is-hiring-for-a-tech-mergers-proje...> | Amsterdam, the Netherlands or Brussels, Belgium *Statewatch* | Communications worker <https://edri.org/take-action/careers/fundraiser-vacancy-at-statewatch/> | London, UK *Systemic Justice* | Systemic Justice roster & Student Researchers <https://edri.org/take-action/careers/systemic-justice-is-hiring-for-finance-...> | Various *The Center for Democracy & Technology* | Senior Policy Analyst elections & democracy & Deputy Director, Free Expression Project <https://edri.org/take-action/careers/the-center-for-democracy-technology-is-...> | Washington, D.C. *Wikimedia Foundation*｜Creative Associate - Online Fundraising,Privacy Specialist & Senior Site Reliability Engineer <https://edri.org/take-action/careers/wikimedia-foundation-is-hiring-for-various-positions/>｜ Various 04.09 - 23.11.2023｜*Virtual School on Internet Governance* <https://edri.org/take-action/events/virtual-school-on-internet-governance/>｜by VirtualSig 03.10.2023｜*Imposter syndrome in activism: how do we cope? <https://digitalrights.formstack.com/forms/wellbeingmonthly4>*｜by TeamCOMMUNITY 04.10 - 05.10.2023｜*The future of speech online 2023: generative AI <https://edri.org/take-action/events/the-future-of-speech-online-2023-generative-ai/>*｜by CDT 05.10.2023｜*The Good Lobby tracker: report launch <https://edri.org/take-action/events/the-good-lobby-tracker-report-launch/>*｜by The Good Lobby 11.10 – 12.10.2023｜*EU DisinfoLab 2023 annual conference <https://edri.org/take-action/events/eu-disinfolab-2023-annual-conference/>*｜by EU DisinfoLab 24.10 - 26.10.2023｜*Digital Sovereignty Conference* <https://edri.org/take-action/events/digital-sovereignty-conference/>｜by Disco Slovenia 02.11.2023｜*Tech Prom <https://edri.org/take-action/events/2023-tech-prom/>*｜ by Center for Democracy and Technology 13.11 – 14.11.2023｜*Tackling disinformation: Strengthening democracy through information integrity* <https://edri.org/take-action/events/tackling-disinformation-strengthening-democracy-through-information-integrity/>｜by OECD 20.11 – 21.11.2023｜*Disinformation Congress* <https://edri.org/take-action/events/disinformation-congress/>｜by Disinformation Congress 25.02 – 27.02.2024 ｜*EDMO Scientific Conference: call for papers <https://edri.org/take-action/events/save-the-date-call-for-papers-edmo-scientific-conference-2024/>*｜by EDMO *About us* European Digital Rights is a dynamic collective of 50+ NGOs, experts, advocates and academics working to defend and advance digital rights across Europe. We advocate for robust and enforced laws, inform and mobilise people, promote a healthy and accountable technology market, and build a movement committed to digital rights in a connected world. 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