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
9
October
2012
Following a request by the European Parliament on 5 September 2012 for an analysis of the fundamental rights issues associated with the proposed EU data protection reform package, FRA issued its opinion on the draft legislation on 1 October 2012.
20
June
2012
This year‘s summary of the FRA Annual report – Highlights 2011 – chronicles the positive developments made in 2011 as well as the challenges facing the EU and its Member States in the field of fundamental rights, drawing on objective, reliable and comparable socio-legal data.
11
October
2010
When a decision to stop an individual is motivated solely or mainly by virtue of a person's race, ethnicity or religion, this constitutes discriminatory ethnic profiling. Such practices can serve to alienate certain communities in the EU, and in turn can contribute to inefficient policing. The FRA guide aims to help the police address and avoid discriminatory ethnic profiling, and is designed to be used as a tool for more effective policing.
7
May
2010
The EU plays a pioneering role in the protection of personal data. The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU enshrines the right to data protection as an autonomous fundamental right. Despite the underlying importance and centrality of the right to data protection in the EU, many deficiencies are present in the data protection system. This study on data protection identifies deficiencies in the EU Member States.
20
June
2012
To secure and safeguard the fundamental rights of everyone in the European Union (EU), the EU and its 27 Member States pressed forward with a number of initiatives in 2011. This report chronicles the positive developments made in 2011 as well as the challenges facing the EU and its Member States in the field of fundamental rights.
15
June
2011
Upon request of the European Parliament, the FRA presented an expert opinion on the fundamental rights compliance of a proposal for a Directive on the use of Passenger Name Record (PNR) data for the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of terrorist offences and serious crime (COM(2011) 32 final). This was a follow-up request to the opinion of the FRA related to PNR from October 2008.
11
October
2010
When used as an investigation technique in the context of law enforcement, ethnic profiling is often referred to as “criminal profiling”. This type of profiling uses indicators such as physical features, appearance or behaviour to give a “suspect description”. Profiling becomes unlawful when it is discriminatory.
27
July
2010
"Body scanners" is a generic term used for a technology that is capable of detecting objects carried under clothes.
3
November
2009
On 16 October the Swedish Presidency presented a "draft of the Stockholm Programme" that is to be adopted at the EU summit in December 2009. Following this publication, the Fundamental Rights Agency has presented the following opinion paper "FRA Comments on the Presidency Draft Stockholm Programme" available for download below.
29
July
2009
The FRA opinion paper presents a selection primarily based on the current thematic priorities of the Agency and are inspired by the factual evidence the Agency's own research has so far produced. This contribution is therefore just a first step in a long term approach of the Agency to follow and address the issues in the Stockholm Programme.
28
October
2008
Upon the request of the French Presidency, FRA presented an opinion on the Commission's proposal for a Council framework decision on the use of Passenger Name Record (PNR) data.
It is with great sadness that the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights learned about the death of Giovanni Buttarelli, the European Data Protection Supervisor.
Many people across the EU risk being left behind, as growing intolerance and attacks on people’s fundamental rights continue to erode the considerable progress achieved to date, finds FRA’s Fundamental Rights Report 2019.
Nearly 60% of Europeans consider being old a disadvantage when looking for work. Societies often view older people as burdens. Too often we overlook the basic human rights of our older people. This year, the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) in its 2018 Fundamental Rights Report explores how a rights-based approach towards respect for older people is starting to happen.
IT systems can help trace missing migrant children and combat identity theft. But there are also significant risks to people’s fundamental rights, for instance not being fairly treated within the asylum procedure. So finds the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) in a new report. As authorities increasingly rely on these systems, the report suggests ways to better defend the rights of those affected.
Reforms to surveillance laws are improving transparency but better checks and balances to match the powers of intelligence services are needed, finds a new report from the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA). It shows how clear legal frameworks, robust safeguards and effective oversight are needed to enhance security and respect fundamental rights.
Over the last decade, new fundamental rights laws and policies have been adopted and specialist institutions created. But fundamental rights challenges still remain and rights are under attack, underlining the lack of a fundamental rights culture across institutions and societies, as the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) reveals in its 2017 Fundamental Rights Report.
Suggestions to help tackle Europe’s pressing human rights crisis were captured at the Fundamental Rights Forum in Vienna. Over 700 leading experts from around the world contributed to the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights’ event. All the 100+ practical ideas that were generated are being distilled in the Forum Chair’s Statement.
Over one million people sought refuge in the EU in 2015, a fivefold increase from the year before. In its Fundamental Rights Report 2016, the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) examines the scale and nature of the challenge and proposes measures to ensure fundamental rights are respected across the EU.
The EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) has published a report today looking into the legal arrangements that govern intelligence services and their surveillance practices in the EU Member States. It underlines the challenges of protecting citizens while safeguarding the fundamental rights that underpin European societies.
Record numbers of migrants died as they tried to cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe in 2014. Member States should therefore consider offering more legal possibilities for people in need of international protection to enter the EU, as viable alternatives to risky irregular entry. This is one of the conclusions from this year’s Annual report which looks at developments across the EU in many areas over 2014.
As EU ministers meet to discuss the future of the EU’s policies on freedom, security and justice, the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) outlines practical suggestions in its Annual report about how to ensure people in the EU can have their rights better protected. It also maps out the fundamental rights challenges and achievements that took place over the course of 2013.
People across the EU have become victims of data protection violations brought on by the widespread use of information and communication technologies by public and private bodies. Web-based activities, direct marketing, and video surveillance account for most data protection violations.
Fundamental rights: challenges and achievements in 2010, the flagship Annual Report of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), charts the progress made in 2010 by the European Union (EU) and its Member States towards securing the rights guaranteed by the Charter of Fundamental Rights through developments in legislation, policies and practices. The FRA Annual Report, presented at the European Parliament today, points to promising practices and obstacles to rights protection across a range of policy areas. Some of the major challenges in 2010 related to asylum, the Roma and data protection.
Protection mechanisms on paper do not yet fully function in practiceThe 2010 Annual Report of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) identifies challenges in the areas of data protection, extreme exploitation in the workplace, rights of the child, racism and discrimination, and LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) issues.