On January 17th, 2017 US President Barack Obama published a report on digital privacy. Minutes after the transition to Trump on January 20th this report vanished from the White House Website. Nevertheless those who are interested, may read the full text of the report here, because we managed to get a copy (thanks to IAPP!)   https://www.eaid-berlin.de/?attachment_id=1575

Translation - German version see here. The European Court of Justice has made a Christmas present to more than 500 million EU citizens. With its new judgment on data retention (C-203/15 of 21 December 2016) - the highest court of the European Union stresses the importance of fundamental rights. All Member States are required to respect the rights represented in the European Charter of Fundamental Rights in their national ...

Press Release Confidentiality and security of electronic communications in Europe need better protection EAID Opinion in the course of a consultation procedure of the EU Commission on the evaluation ePrivacy Directive The European Academy for Freedom of Information and Privacy (EAID) takes the view that  the privacy of electronic communications needs better protection  by European law . This is suggested by the former Berlin Data ...

By Peter Schaar, Chairman, European Academy for Freedom of Information and Data Protection, Berlin   What the consequences of the the UK Brexit referendum are for data protection currently cannot be said conclusively. Considerable uncertainties remain until the end of the upcoming exit negotiations at least. Unless specific arrangements on data protection are made between the EU and the UK, the United Kingdom will be seen from the EU perspective as a regular third country like any ...

Update on the Legal opinion of the Legal Service of the EP (18 February 2016) The Legal Service of the European Parliament issued on 14 February 2016 a legal opinion on the draft EU-US Umbrella agreement concerning the protection of personal data and cooperation between law enforcement authorities in the EU and the US. In this paper, published recently on the Website of Statewatch the Legal ...

The results of the trilogue of the EU institutions (European Parliament, Commission and Council) on the data protection reform package is an important milestone on the way into the global information society. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will replace 28 different data protection laws of the Member States. The reach of the new legal framework extends beyond the European Union. Even companies with headquarters outside the EU will have to comply with the GDPR so far they are ...

By Peter Schaar, chairman of the EAID, former German Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (2003-2013) Amsterdam is a city of famous bridges. These days Amsterdam as well might become the city of privacy bridges. The Dutch data protection authority has been hosting the ...

Keynote on the conference „New Directions in Cyber Security“ Berlin, 1 October 2015 Safe Harbor - No Future? How the General Data Protection Regulation and the rulings of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) will influence transatlantic data transfers Ladies and gentlemen, One week ago, the Advocate General at the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) issued his ...

Update on the Legal opinion of the Legal Service of the EP (18 February 2016) The Legal Service of the European Parliament issued on 14 February 2016 a legal opinion on the draft EU-US Umbrella agreement concerning the protection of personal data and cooperation between law enforcement authorities in the EU and the US. In this paper, published recently on the Website of Statewatch the Legal ...

The Snowden revelations revealed just how far some states had departed from the guarantees of privacy enshrined in the human and civil rights agreements of the post-war era. The European Union can play the central role in setting enforceable data protection standards internationally, however resisting the logic of surveillance also depends on pressure from society, writes Peter Schaar. Read the full article in ...