Article Panoptykon’s complaints against IAB and Google referred to lead authorities in Belgium and Ireland The Polish DPA decided that Panoptykon’s complaints against IAB Europe and Google, who are responsible for the functioning of targeted advertising, have a cross-border character, which means that they affect data subjects residing not only in Poland. In order to ensure a consistent application of the GDPR in the entire European Union, the Polish DPA referred our complaints to DPAs in Belgium and in Ireland where IAB and Google respectively have their European headquarters. This gives hope for a systemic change of how behavioural advertising works in the entire EU. 16.04.2019 Text
Article SIN v Facebook: tech giant sued over private censorship in landmark case in Poland On 7 May 2019 Spoleczna Inicjatywa Narkopolityki (Civil Society Drug Policy Initiative, “SIN”), supported by the Panoptykon Foundation, filed a lawsuit against Facebook in a strategic litigation aimed at fighting private censorship on the Internet. Online platforms act as the ‘gatekeepers’ to online expression, thus gaining tremendous power over the information circulated on the Internet – power which they wield without an adequate accountability or responsibility. Moderation is necessary to fight illegal, harmful content but unfortunately perfectly legal and socially valuable materials often fall prey to it. We hope that our lawsuit against Facebook will help change this. 07.05.2019 Text
Article The Act on Constitutional Tribunal inconsistent with the Constitution. Citizens get mobilized Polish Constitutional Tribunal decided yesterday that the Act of 22 December 2015 amending the Constitutional Tribunal Act was enacted in breach of the Constitution. E.g. the Sejm violated the rule that bills are considered in the course of three readings. 10.03.2016 Text
Article Poland adopted a controversial anti-terrorism law On 22 June, Polish president signed a new anti-terrorism law. The law contains measures that are inconsistent with the Polish Constitution and with the European Convention on Human Rights. The list of controversies is long: foreigners’ phone calls might be wire-tapped without a court order, and police might collect their fingerprints, biometric photos and DNA if their identity is “doubtful”. Online content might be blocked, citizens' freedom of assembly limited, and secret services are given free access to all public databases. 22.06.2016 Text