28 May 2024
The Unbearable Lightness of Interfering with the Right to Privacy
The European Court of Justice has once again ruled on national data retention laws. In La Quadrature du Net II, the full court allowed the indiscriminate retention of IP addresses for the purpose of fighting copyright infringement. It seems that the Court is slowly but surely abandoning its role as guardian of the right to privacy, as it now allows member states to collect vast amounts of data on their citizens in order to solve even the most minor of crimes. Continue reading >>
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21 August 2023
A Plea for Proportionality
In recent months the burning of the Koran in Sweden has caused headlines and severe anger in many parts of the Muslim world as well as bewilderment across the EU as to why Sweden continues to permit the practice. The Government is currently looking into how the law can be changed to include a ban on the burning of the Koran in the Public Order Act. In this blog post, I explain why it might be wise to do so and how this might be done. Continue reading >>24 February 2023
A Unique Identification Number for Every European Citizen
On 3 June 2021, the European Commission issued a proposal for a European Digital Identity Regulation, which seems to not have raised much discussion among legal scholars, even though digital identity raises several fundamental rights implications. The introduction of a unique and persistent identifier may be understandable from a practical point of view, but cannot be accepted due to its risks and the fact that it potentially infringes the German prohibition on general unique identifiers. Continue reading >>
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22 December 2022
“We Know Where You Live”
"We know where you live" is one of the most dreaded and threatening statements a Kashmiri can hear from the state armed forces. It can mean a number of things to an ordinary Kashmiri, including “we have information on you” and “we are watching you”. It can also be perceived as an immediate threat to the life and safety of the person given the absolute impunity enjoyed by the state armed forces. Continue reading >>
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05 November 2022
Regressive, Sexist, and Unconstitutional
On 31 October 2022, a two judge bench of the Indian Supreme Court delivered a crucial order, reiterating its ban on the so called “two finger test”. The continued usage of the test, the Court stated in State of Jharkhand v. Shailendra Kumar Rai, is professional misconduct. To enforce the ban of this practice against survivors of sexual violence the bench issued a slew of directions. In this post, I discuss the impact of this order on the constitutional rights of survivors of sexual violence. While the Court’s judgment is a progressive one, it might not have the desired effect, namely the complete ban on the conduct of the ‘two finger test’. Continue reading >>
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18 August 2022
“Thank you very much, your mail is perfectly fine”
About two weeks ago, the Commission presented its draft for a "Regulation laying down rules to prevent and combat child sexual abuse". The planned introduction of the inspection of all digitally sent messages is likely to be the largest state surveillance project in Europe since the end of the Cold War and blatantly violates the Charter of Fundamental Rights. Continue reading >>
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18 August 2022
My spy is always with me
On 11 May this year, the European Commission presented its draft of a "Regulation laying down rules to prevent and combat child sexual abuse". Initial reactions to the draft have been controversial. The draft bundles measures to combat sexualized violence that have been common for some time, but whose technical and legal controversies have still not been fully overcome. What is new, however, is that under the proposed regulation, individual communications on certain communications services are to be searched for certain content on a large scale and in part without any probable cause. Continue reading >>
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12 August 2022
Privacy in Peril
On Saturday, 25 June 2022, American women woke up to a different reality – one day earlier, in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, five justices on the US Supreme Court decided that the US Constitution does not protect a woman’s right to terminate a pregnancy. This undoing of women’s autonomy comes in part from the Dobbs majority’s failure to recognize that the right to terminate a pregnancy derives from a right to privacy. Roe and Casey recognized that reproductive freedom implicates bodily integrity and physical privacy, along with a decisional privacy interest in the critical life choices surrounding reproduction and family planning. In the space of a single day, the Dobbs Court eviscerated the freedom and the privacy rights Americans have relied on since 1973. Moreover, in an era driven by an information economy and rapidly expanding surveillance technologies, the Dobbs Court’s eradication of the right to terminate a pregnancy also severely compromises informational privacy, which involves the right to shield information from disclosure. Continue reading >>
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25 May 2022
„Vielen Dank, Ihre Post ist unbedenklich“
Vor rund zwei Wochen hat die Kommission ihren Entwurf für eine Verordnung zur Bekämpfung des sexuellen Missbrauchs von Kindern vorgestellt. Die damit verbundene Einführung der Überprüfung sämtlicher digital verschickter Inhalte dürfte das größte staatliche Überwachungsvorhaben in Europa seit dem Ende des Kalten Krieges sein und verstößt offenkundig gegen die Grundrechte-Charta. Continue reading >>21 May 2022
Enabling Digital Authoritarianism in the Name of Counterterrorism
Nigeria's transition to a digital economy is in full swing. As terrorism and violent extremism are ravaging certain parts of the country, the mounting insecurity has necessitated huge budgetary allocations to national security, giving way to a new kind of digital authoritarianism. Serious concerns have been raised regarding the misuse of collected data and arbitrary surveillance, which undermine human rights and civic freedoms. Continue reading >>
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