Technologies, laws, and policies must contain modern safeguards to protect people from exploitation.

The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights issued a landmark ruling on 25 May 2021 that the UK's mass surveillance regime, first exposed by whistleblower Edward Snowden in 2013, breached people's rights to privacy and freedom of expression. This will have an impact not only in the UK but across Europe.

En réponse à une action en justice initiée par Privacy International au Royaume-Uni, la Cour de justice de l’Union européenne a estimé que la conservation des données en masse, et la collecte de ces données à des fins de sécurité nationale, telles qu’elles sont menées par des Etats membres, doivent être conformes au droit de l’UE et dans les garanties de respect de la vie privée. A ce titre, les pays de l’UE doivent revoir leurs réglementations et leurs pratiques pour respecter les exigences de l’UE en matière de protection de la sécurité et des droits fondamentaux de la personne.

Following a lawsuit initiated by Privacy International 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. As a result of the decision, EU countries must review their legislation and practices for compliance with the EU requirements to protect people's security and fundamental rights.

The impact that we are ultimately seeking is for our public campaign to give the European Commission an insight into public concerns about the Google/Fitbit merger, and to block the merger accordingly. At the time of writing, that decision is still three months away.

In the meantime, this campaign has nonetheless had a wider impact, in educating, informing and inspiring the public about why big tech mergers matter to their daily lives.