Privacy First supports petition for privacy-friendly digital education
Thursday, 14 July 2022 Online Privacy
CEDO, a newly established Coalition for Fair Digital Education in the Netherlands, has recently launched a manifesto and a petition for privacy-friendly education. The coalition consists of parents, teachers, IT professionals and privacy advocates. Privacy First has for years been concerned about the increasing lack of privacy of children and school pupils. We therefore strongly support this initiative. CEDO notes that public education – i.e. today’s digital learning systems – are dominated by a handful of tech giants and is deeply worried that fundamental rights, such as the privacy of children, parents and teachers, cannot be adequately safeguarded. Whether it concerns the processing and storage of digital educational projects or the use of email services, online notepads and video tools,…
Dutch Privacy Coalition calls for more awareness and action to protect digital privacy
Tuesday, 21 June 2022 Online Privacy
It’s of paramount importance that the Netherlands leads the way not only in terms of digitalization, but also in the field of digital privacy. Public authorities should make people aware of the privacy risks in the digital world and set a good example by providing sufficient privacy-friendly alternatives to existing apps and platforms. This call was made today by a broad coalition of organizations and companies – the Privacy Coalition – to members of the Dutch House of Representatives, who were handed a manifesto. The new Privacy Coalition notes in a joint manifesto that more and more digital platforms, services and apps are collecting users’ data without them realizing it. Those data are resold and integrated and then used to…
Dutch government advisory body: grant the public access to secure Wi-Fi
Tuesday, 05 October 2021 Online Privacy
Recently, the Netherlands Standardisation Forum issued an advice to the government to ensure that public Wi-Fi networks for guest use are always secure. The independent advisory body recommends improving Wi-Fi security by using the WPA2-Enterprise standard. This recommendation applies to all public and semi-public institutions in the Netherlands and therefore has an impact on thousands of Wi-Fi networks. The Standardisation Forum facilitates digital cooperation (interoperability) between government organizations and between government, businesses and citizens. It is the advisory body for the public sector regarding the use of open standards. According to its own website, all standards that the Forum recommends have been thoroughly tested, lower costs and reduce the risk of internet fraud and data abuse. The recent recommendation came…
The Privacy Collective press release Millions of Dutch internet users victim of unlawful collection and use of personal data The Privacy Collective takes Oracle and Salesforce to Court The Privacy Collective - a foundation that acts against violation of privacy rights - is taking Oracle and Salesforce to Court. The foundation accuses the technology concerns of unlawfully collecting and processing data of millions of Dutch internet users. The foundation has launched a class action, a legal procedure in which compensation is claimed for a large group of individuals. It is the first time that this legal instrument is used in the Netherlands in a case of infringement of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Christiaan Alberdingk Thijm, lead lawyer in…
With great concern, Privacy First has taken note of the intention of the Dutch government to employ special apps in the fight against the coronavirus. In Privacy First’s view, the use of such apps is a dangerous development because it could lead to stigmatisation and numerous unfounded suspicions, and may also cause unnecessary unrest and panic. Even when ‘anonymized’, the data from these apps can still be traced back to individuals through data fusion. In case this technology will be introduced on a large scale, it will result in a surveillance society in which everyone is being continuously monitored – something people will be acutely aware of and would lead to an imminent societal chilling effect. Furthermore, there is a…
Urgent call to Dutch Minister of Finance: please prevent the unbridled export of EU personal data!
Friday, 24 May 2019 Financial Privacy & PSD2
The Dutch Ministry of Finance is about to oblige companies to export personal data on a large scale. The measure is hidden in a subordinate clause of a letter from the Minister of Finance, although it has major consequences. The measure obliges companies that trade in 'virtual assets' (such as bitcoins, real estate, but also purchases in computer games) to include personal data of customers in the transaction records and messages. The information from all parties involved needs to remain visible and available to everyone in the value chain. Consumers, companies and citizens cannot object to this mandatory addition of their personal data. The topic is not receiving the proper amount of political attention because it is presented as a…
Privacy First and others start interim injunction proceedings to suspend Dutch Tapping law
Wednesday, 18 April 2018 Litigation
The Dutch government and Parliament aim to quickly introduce the privacy-violating Tapping law. A coalition of privacy advocates will start interim injunction proceedings to prevent this from happening. Implementation of unaltered Tapping law imminent In recent months, there has been a thorough public debate in the Netherlands about the new Dutch Intelligence and Security Services Act, the so-called ‘Tapping law’. In a referendum that was held on 21 March 2018, a majority of the Dutch citizenry voted AGAINST this act. In response to this, the Dutch government has promised only a few minor, superficial policy changes as well as a few non-fundamental legislative amendments. Both the Dutch government and the House of Representatives have with full intent pushed for a…
The Dutch citizenry has rejected the new Dutch Intelligence and Security Services Act. This act will now have the be amended. If not, legal action will be pursued. Historic red line Wednesday 21 March 2018 is a historic day: for the first time ever, the populace of a nation has spoken out against a law on intelligence services in a referendum. In this referendum, the Dutch had the chance to cast their ballots on the new Dutch Intelligence and Security Services Act, better known as the ‘Tapping law’. By now, it is known that a clear majority is AGAINST the law. Privacy First considers this as a historic victory and hopes that, as a result, similar developments will unfold in…
Below, in alphabetical order, are Privacy First’s main objections against the new Dutch Intelligence and Security Services Act (Wiv2017, or ‘Tapping law’): A. Authority to hack Under the new law, the Dutch intelligence services will be able to hack a target through innocent third parties. By hacking a third party (for example an aunt, a sister, a friend, a husband, a grandfather, a colleague, a neighbour, a public authority, a company, etc.), information can be obtained about the target. In other words, any devices of innocent citizens may be hacked by the intelligence services. Citizens will never be notified about this, as there is no duty to inform. C. Chilling effectThe new law may result in people behaving differently (either…
NL Times, 12 July 2017: 'Lawsuit started against new Dutch data mining law'
Wednesday, 12 July 2017 Privacy First in the Media
"Twelve organizations teamed up to file a lawsuit to stop the implementation of a new data mining law in the Netherlands. The new law was adopted by the Dutch Senate on Tuesday and gives the intelligence services more capabilities to spy on internet traffic on a large scale. "We trust that the Dutch judges will pull the brake and say: this law goes too far", human rights lawyer Jelle Klaas, who is representing the coalition of organizations in their lawsuit, said to RTL Nieuws. The coalition includes the Public Interest Litigation Project, civil rights organization Privacy First, the Dutch Association of Journalists, the Dutch Association of Criminal Law Attorneys and the Platform for the Protection of Civil Rights. According to…
