In the course of the initiative "Fighting child sexual abuse: detection, removal, and reporting of illegal content", the European Union plans to abolish the digital privacy of correspondence.

Law enforcement authorities in the United States and Europe, however, say it was created with the sole purpose of facilitating drug trafficking and had become the messaging app of choice for transnational crime organisations.

Last November the European group filed a complaint to the German and Spanish data protection authorities concerning Apple's IDFA (Identifier for Advertisers) on iPhones, claiming it was equivalent to a tracking cookie being placed by a website without the user's consent, which is against the EU's e-Privacy law.

“Out of Control: Failing EU Laws for Digital Surveillance Export”, noted that “The current European Union export regulation framework fails to protect human rights.” The document provides a good introduction to the region’s digital surveillance exports, and how these tools are already being abused, notably by the Chinese authorities in Xinjiang.

Police agencies were able to monitor the encrypted communications of about 70,000 people in a second major hack by European law enforcement in the last year.Sky ECC has rejected the claim its app has been unlocked by European agencies and said it was cloned devices running a fake application that were hacked.

The next major flash point over coronavirus response has already provoked cries of tyranny and discrimination in Britain, protests in Denmark, digital disinformation in the United States and geopolitical skirmishing within the European Union.The subject of debate: vaccine passports — government-issued cards or smartphone badges stating that the bearer has been inoculated against the coronavirus.

On 6 October 2020, the EU’s highest court, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), issued its judgments for three related cases: the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that mass data retention and collection practices for national security purposes undertaken by member states, must comply with EU law, and therefore have to be subjected to its privacy safeguards.

The US Department of Justice has indicted the CEO of encrypted messaging company Sky Global, and an associate for allegedly aiding criminal enterprises avoid detection by law enforcement.Earlier this week, Europol announced that law enforcement in Belgium and the Netherlands made arrests after monitoring the Sky ECC encrypted chat platform for illegal activity.

On Wednesday, Wojciech Wiewiorówski, the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), opined that Europe's Digital Services Act proposal should go further in its effort to promote online transparency and safety by eliminating targeted advertising.

These include Article 13 of the Swiss Constitution and a Swiss law called the DPA, as well as European legislation, such as the GDPR.While we’re reluctant to make such sweeping statements, Swiss companies in general are more secure than their U.S.-based counterparts, thanks to Switzerland’s strict laws governing the processing of personal data.

It said the company’s virtual item policy where users can purchase coins to use for virtual gifts for TikTok celebrities whose performance they like, contains unfair terms and misleading practices.“TikTok fails to protect children and teenagers from hidden advertising and potentially harmful content on its platform,” BEUC said.

Ten people belonging to a criminal network have been arrested in connection with a series of SIM-swapping attacks that resulted in the theft of more than $100 million by hijacking the mobile phone accounts of high-profile individuals in the U.S. The Europol-coordinated year-long investigation was jointly conducted by law enforcement authorities from the U.K., U.S., Belgium, Malta, and Canada.

A follow-up report by security researchers Talal Haj Bakry and Tommy Mysk has alleged that Facebook Messenger and Instagram are collecting and using data from link previews in a way that would breach European privacy law.

In response, these four leading European technology companies reject any attempts to use legal instruments to violate citizens’ privacy and stand up to protect the rights of people and businesses choosing end-to-end encryption.

A blog post on New America explains: China’s draft PIPL represents a third way between the sectoral U.S. approach, which applies different rules for specific industries or classes of consumers, and the European Union’s comprehensive General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) framework, which enshrines fundamental rights across contexts.

In it I described the danger that a platform like Google poses for the individual rights of citizens, for pluralist competition, and for freedom of expression when it remains unchecked by regulations.

European Parliament services are coming under pressure from a group of lawmakers working with privacy activist Max Schrems over allegations that the institution’s coronavirus test management website is illegally siphoning data to US-based firms.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has admitted a Reporters Without Borders (RWB) complaint claiming that people are not properly protected against groundless and unjustified mass surveillance by Germany's foreign intelligence service, the BND.

The vaccine will not be mandatory, said Health Minister Salvador Illa, but whoever decides not to do so will be included in a "register" which will then be shared with other European Union countries.

This week Europol launched an innovative decryption platform, developed in close cooperation with the European Commission's Joint Research Centre.The new Europol Decryption Platform, funded by the European Commission, will allow us to further enhance our support for Member State investigations.

TikTok discloses that "your data is stored in China" in privacy-policy documents for candidates in European countries, Japan, and Singapore.TikTok routes the personal data of job applicants through servers in China, and discloses this to candidates only in certain countries, Business Insider has discovered.

Facebook’s UK users will remain subject to UK privacy law, which for now tracks the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Speaking at the European Data Protection and Privacy Conference on Tuesday, Apple's senior VP of software Craig Federighi made a number of pointed comments about how “some tech companies” would prefer it if Apple’s new App Tracking Transparency (ATT) feature was “never implemented at all.”.

Privacy concerns in Europe have led to some of the world’s toughest restrictions on companies like Facebook and Google and the ways they monitor people online.It would also restrict the use of software that scans for child sexual abuse imagery and so-called grooming by online predators.

BERLIN (Reuters) - An Austrian privacy advocacy group drew a strongly critical response from Apple on Monday after it said an online tracking tool used in its devices breached European law.

But the non-profit group says that Apple's iOS operating system creates unique codes for each iPhone that allow the company and other third parties to "identify users across applications and even connect online and mobile behaviour.".

United States secret service NSA for years abused a cooperation agreement with Denmark to spy on allies in Europe, including the Netherlands, Danish public broadcaster DR reported based on reports from a whistleblower and confirmation from various sources.

Next year, however, Apple will require apps to seek customer consent before the IDFA can be used in iOS 14 to track user behavior and preference across apps and websites for ad targeting purposes.

BERLIN (Reuters) - A group led by privacy activist Max Schrems on Monday filed complaints with German and Spanish data protection authorities over Apple's AAPL.O online tracking tool, alleging that it allows iPhones to store users' data without their consent in breach of European law.

Lawmakers in the European Union may push for access to end-to-end encrypted chats in popular apps such as Signal and WhatsApp, according to a draft proposal circulated by the German government—currently president of the EU—over the weekend.