Access Now Brussels Office

Today, we delivered a petition to the French Senate opposing yet another surveillance bill, which is up for a vote on Tuesday 27 October. Thousands of internet users urged the senate to reject the bill, citing violations of the fundamental right to privacy and freedom of expression. The bill has already passed the lower chamber of the French Parliament earlier this month.

On Tuesday 22 September, Access will hold an apéro on the Future of the Internet where our Brussels team and civil society representatives will meet with Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and their staff.

Access welcomes the much-anticipated decision of European Ministers in charge of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to conclude their position on this crucial reform and allow for the start of trialogue.

Two years ago today, newspapers began reporting on what are now known as the “Snowden revelations”. These documents revealed how the US National Security Agency (NSA), in concert with intelligence agencies such as the UK Government Communication Headquarters (GCHQ), has been indiscriminately collecting the personal data of people all over the world. The disclosures that followed those initial reports exposed NSA spying programs such as PRISM, stirring outrage worldwide about the scope of human rights violations that these programs represent.

For the last two months, the EU Commission, the EU Parliament, and representatives of the EU member states (Council) have gathered almost every week to try to strike a deal on the Telecoms Single Market (TSM).

Cecilia Malmström, EU Commissioner for Trade, presented on May 6th a handful of cosmetic proposals to the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanism. ISDS has been a central point of the ongoing discussions about the controversial Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) agreement, currently being negotiated between the U.S. and the EU. Malmström’s “new” ISDS reminds us of a Thai turn of phrase, “same same but different.”

On May 6, the European Union’s Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, Günther Oettinger, and the Vice President for the Digital Single Market, Andrus Ansip, presented the EU Commission’s strategic plan to establish the Digital Single Market, or DSM.

Access advises the Council of Europe to develop guidance for regulations that protects users’ freedom of expression and freedom from surveillance

Access has submitted input to the European Parliament (EP) Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET) on a draft report on human rights and technology. This report focuses on “the impact of intrusion and surveillance systems on human rights in third countries.”