Our new report: To Track or Not to Track? Towards Privacy-friendly and Sustainable Online Advertising shows that it’s actually possible to reform the ad tech industry without bankrupting online publishers. But in order to make that happen, EU policymakers must create a regulatory push by enforcing the GDPR and adopting new rules which would incentivise the uptake of alternatives.

Polish government’s proposal for a new law on “protecting free speech of social media users” introduces data retention, a new, questionable definition of “unlawful content”, and an oversight body (Free Speech Council) that is likely to be politically compromised. In this context, “Surveillance and Censorship Act” would be a more accurate name.

On 22 March 2021, a group of journalists and activists published a letter they had received from the non-existent “Agency of National Security” on their social media profiles, informing them that they were subject to surveillance. The letter was accompanied by a message notifying them that it is part of a campaign launched by EDRi member Panoptykon Foundation that aims to demonstrate the problem of unscrutinised powers of intelligence agencies.

We can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, when it comes to the ePrivacy Regulation, on which work began in 2017.

Jan Nowak, previously a general manager at the DPA’s office and a long-term member of PiS, the ruling party, will become the new chair of the Polish Data Protection Authority. The nomination raised controversy as to whether Jan Nowak meets the legal requirements for this position.