Data

Data protection, privacy and new technologies

More of our everyday lives are online — both at work and home. Meanwhile, terror attacks intensify calls for more surveillance. Concerns grow over the safety of our privacy and personal data.

FRA helps lawmakers and practitioners protect your rights in a connected world.

Highlights

Products
25
May
2018
Serbian version now available
18 March 2024
The rapid development of information technology has exacerbated the need for robust personal data protection, the right to which is safeguarded by both European Union (EU) and Council of Europe (CoE) instruments. Safeguarding this important right entails new and significant challenges as technological advances expand the frontiers of areas such as surveillance, communication interception and data storage. This handbook is designed to familiarise legal practitioners not specialised in data protection with this emerging area of the law.
17
May
2018
Civil society organisations in the European Union play a crucial role in promoting fundamental
rights, but it has become harder for them do so – due to both legal and practical restrictions.
This summary outlines the main
findings and FRA’s opinions on the different
types and patterns of challenges faced by civil society
organisations across the EU,
9
May
2018
With terrorism, cyber-attacks and sophisticated cross-border criminal networks posing growing threats, the work of intelligence services has become more urgent, complex and international. Such work can strongly interfere with fundamental rights, especially privacy and data protection. While continuous technological advances potentially exacerbate the threat of such interference, effective oversight and remedies can curb the potential for abuse.
This video blog by FRA Director Michael O'Flaherty is released periodically and will address burning fundamental rights themes.
19
April
2018
This Opinion by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) aims to inform the European Parliament position concerning legislative proposals on interoperability between EU information technology systems (IT systems) presented on 12 December 2017 and currently discussed by the EU legislators.
28
March
2018
This report outlines the fundamental rights implications of collecting, storing and using
biometric and other data in EU IT systems in the area of asylum and migration.
Mario Oetheimer presented FRA’s second surveillance report to the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) Committee on 21 November in Brussels.
This is the recording of the online press briefing about mass surveillance as presented by the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) on 16 October 2017.
This second volume, ‘Surveillance by intelligence services: fundamental rights safeguards and remedies in the EU’, explores legal changes since the first volume in 2015 and how these laws are applied in practice. It is based on data from all EU Member States on the legal framework governing surveillance and complemented by field research in seven Member States: Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK. This involved more than 70 interviews with a range of stakeholders related to surveillance. These included overseers and controllers from the executive, indedepent expert bodies, parliamentary committees, the judiciary and actors from the civil society. These quotes are contained in the report. Below are a selection of some of them:
23
October
2017
This report is FRA’s second publication addressing a European Parliament request for in-depth research on the impact of surveillance on fundamental rights. It updates FRA’s 2015 legal analysis on the topic, and supplements that analysis with field-based insights gained from extensive interviews with diverse experts in intelligence and related fields, including its oversight.
13
July
2017
In 2006 the EU issued its Data Retention Directive. According to the Directive, EU Member States had to store electronic telecommunications data for at least six months and at most 24 months for investigating, detecting and prosecuting serious crime. In 2016, with an EU legal framework on data retention still lacking, the CJEU further clarified what safeguards are required for data retention to be lawful.This paper looks at amendments to national data retention laws in 2016 after the Digital Rights Ireland judgment.
11
July
2017
The European Parliament requested this FRA Opinion on the fundamental rights and personal data protection implications of the proposed Regulation for the creation of a European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS), including an assessment of the fundamental rights aspects of the access
by law enforcement authorities and Europol.
7
July
2017
Various proposals on EU-level information systems in the areas of borders and security mention interoperability, aiming to provide fast and easy access to information about third-country nationals.
30
May
2017
Diverse efforts at both EU and national levels sought to bolster fundamental rights protection in 2016, while some measures threatened to undermine such protection.
30
May
2017
Diverse efforts at both EU and national levels sought to bolster fundamental rights protection in 2016, while some measures threatened to undermine such protection.
29
May
2017
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights. Such a milestone offers an opportunity for reflection – both on the progress that provides cause for celebration and on the lingering shortcomings that must be addressed.
The Agency’s Director, Michael O’Flaherty, took part in a meeting of the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) on 9 February.
25
January
2017
The European Parliament asked the Agency to provide its Opinion on the fundamental rights impact of the proposed revision of the Eurodac Regulation on children.
5
December
2016
EU Member States are increasingly involved in border management activities on the high seas, within – or i cooperation with – third countries, and at the EU’s borders. Such activities entail risks of violating the principle of non-refoulement, the cornerstone of the international legal regime for the protection of refugees, which prohibits returning individuals to a risk of persecution. This report aims to encourage fundamental-rights compliant approaches to border management, including by highlighting potential grey areas.
FRA presented the main findings from its facial recognition technology paper during an event organised by the International Network of Civil Liberties Organizations (INCLO). The network brings together 15 independent, national human rights NGOs from different countries.
Our personal data shape the ads we see. They help governments trace the spread of COVID-19. But as technology advances, so should data protection safeguards. For this year’s Data Protection Day, the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) highlights data protection challenges to ensure our rights are upheld.
From tracking the spread of COVID-19 to deciding who will receive social benefits, artificial intelligence (AI) affects the lives of millions of Europeans. Automation can improve decision-making. But AI can lead to mistakes, discrimination and be hard to challenge. A new EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) report reveals confusion about the impact of AI on people’s rights. This even among organisations already using it. FRA calls on policymakers to provide more guidance on how existing rules apply to AI and ensure any future AI laws protect fundamental rights.
FRA’s Director joined the 7th Glion Human Rights Dialogue 2020 on 3 and 4 December. The high-level online event brought together over 100 human rights practitioners and experts.
FRA took part in a meeting of the Public Interest Litigation Project on 17 November.
The Estonian version of Handbook on European data protection law - 2018 edition is the latest language version of this popular handbook.
On 30 October, FRA presented the fundamental rights implications of processing data in large-scale IT systems.
FRA joined a debate on the legal control of algorithms.
The European Commission held the second assembly of the AI Alliance on 9 October. It featured EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton, representatives of the German Presidency of the European Council, as well as other high-level participants.
FRA presented main findings from its ‘Facial recognition technology paper during an EFUS webinar.
FRA joined a panel discussion on 14 September on the collection and sharing of information and new technologies in counter-terrorism.
FRA Director Michael O'Flaherty gave a keynote speech in Salzburg on 28 August on fundamental rights during the COVID 19 pandemic.
Living with COVID-19 continues to constrain our daily lives, as a new Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) report shows. Moving forward, governments need to ensure existing fundamental rights challenges do not worsen and vulnerable members of society do not suffer disproportionately.
FRA took part in a virtual expert seminar on 23 July on the role of data protection authorities in the context of COVID-19 exit strategies and contact tracing apps.
Most Europeans are worried about their data and bank details being misused by criminals and fraudsters. Two in five Europeans have been harassed face-to-face and every fifth is very worried of experiencing a terrorist attack. These findings come from the Fundamental Rights Survey, carried out by the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) in the European Union, North Macedonia and the United Kingdom in 2019. The results feed into the European Commission’s Security Union Strategy.
As EU countries continue rolling out new coronavirus contact-tracing apps, the data protection and privacy risks remain high on the agenda. Amid these developments, the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) and the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) renew their cooperation agreement today to further strengthen data protection across the EU. Both FRA and EDPS argue that respect for fundamental rights, including privacy and data protection, has to be centre stage to make tracing apps, or any other technology, a success.
As governments discuss using technology to stop the spread of COVID-19, many Europeans are unwilling to share data about themselves with public and private bodies. These findings emerged from a EU Agency’s Fundamental Rights survey, carried out before the pandemic.
Growing intolerance and attacks on people’s fundamental rights continue to erode the considerable progress achieved over the years, finds FRA’s Fundamental Rights Report 2020. As Europe begins to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic we see a worsening of existing inequalities and threats to societal cohesion.
The 2018 edition of the Handbook on European data protection law is now also available online in Croatian.
On 26 May, FRA presented key fundamental rights considerations emerging from the second edition of its COVID-19 Bulletin during a webinar on privacy and using technology to control the pandemic.
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FRA will join the 7th Europol-INTERPOL cybercrime conference on law enforcement in the connected future.
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Facial recognition technology has developed considerably over the past years resulting in a lot of discussion.
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FRA will join discussions in Berlin from 17 to 18 September on setting the conditions for a possible EU framework for governing Artificial Intelligence.
FRA will join discussions at the informal meeting of the Council Working Party on Fundamental Rights, Citizens' Rights and Free Movement of Persons (FREMP) on 11 September in Helsinki.
FRA has been invited to a hearing of the Equality and Non-Discrimination Committee of the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly.
FRA will present its focus paper on data quality and artificial intelligence to the Council Working Party on Information Exchange and Data Protection (DAPIX) on 3 September in Brussels.