Do western democracies protect free speech?

October 14th, 2012

In the age of social media, the European Union needs to defend free expression. But it often falls far short, says Padraig Reidy

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The Leveson Inquiry: The danger of power

September 17th, 2012

With power comes responsibility, warns Martin Moore of the Hacked Off campaign 

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Communications Data Bill: Technology is making dystopia not just possible, but cheap

August 7th, 2012

The boom in surveillance technology sales is chilling free speech. We need to wake up to this reality, says Mike Harris (more…)

Dynamics of digital freedom

June 28th, 2012

Last week we hosted a conference with the Global Network Initiative (GNI), where we had a heated debate around surveillance, security, and freedom of expression. Check out the conversation here.

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The return of a bad idea

June 15th, 2012

Cindy Cohn is alarmed by the shift towards mass surveillance in the UK government’s “snooper’s charter”
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Telco caught colluding with dictators

May 1st, 2012

Nordic Telecom giant TeliaSonera forced to act after evidence that its data has been abused to target, harass and jail activists in Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Belarus. Fredrik Laurin reports (more…)

Tighter privacy laws would only serve the rich and powerful

March 27th, 2012

The report by MPs on privacy talks of the importance of free expression, but the measures it proposes fly in the face of that aim,  says Index’s John Kampfner

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UK: Ryan Giggs loses privacy damages claim against the Sun

March 2nd, 2012

A damages claim by Manchester United and Wales footballer Ryan Giggs against the Sun newspaper was thrown out by the High Court today. Giggs claimed that the tabloid had “misused” private information, and said he was entitled to claim damages for distress and breach of a right to privacy. Giggs was granted an injunction in April 2011 after an article was published in the tabloid about an unnamed player’s alleged affair with model Imogen Thomas. The anonymity part of the injunction was lifted last month, despite the footballer already having been widely identified on Twitter and named in the Commons by Lib Dem MP John Hemming in May 2011. News Group Newspapers, publisher of the Sun, argued at a hearing last month that Giggs’ damages claim was “dead in the water” and should be thrown out.