Blog
12 Mar 2015 By Ed Johnson-Williams
What the ISC missed – ORG’s quick take on the ISC report
The Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) today released the results of their inquiry into GCHQ’s surveillance.
Find Out More
10 Mar 2015 By Ed Johnson-Williams
MPs criticise TTIP on corporate courts and lack of transparency
A committee of MPs released a report today on TTIP (the Trans-Atlantic Trade & Investment Partnership) – the trade agreement being negotiated in secret by the EU and the USA.
Find Out More
05 Mar 2015 By Ruth Coustick-Deal
Digital Rights Matter Day: Coming soon
Help us hit 3000 supporters!
Find Out More
Digital Privacy
26 Feb 2015 By Jim Killock
GCHQ is damaging businesses and the digital economy – we need your help
But it is the Internet economy that is at risk, just as much as our civil liberties.
Find Out More
25 Feb 2015 By Ruth Coustick-Deal
CITIZENFOUR: Best documentary of 2014 on tonight
In response to Edward Snowden’s revelations that GCHQ and the NSA were invading the privacy of ordinary citizens through programmes unknown to the public, and to the politicians, ORG joined with Article 19, Big Brother Watch, English PEN, Liberty, and Privacy International to form the Don’t Spy on Us coalition.
Find Out More
25 Feb 2015 By Ruth Coustick-Deal
Election funding update: half way there!
We launched our campaign to fund our election work on the 10th January with the goal of 300 new supporters
We’re excited to announce we are now 50% of the way towards our goal!
Find Out More
09 Feb 2015 By Javier Ruiz
Hate speech social media bans may not be the answer
The All-Party Parliamentary Group Against Antisemitism has recently published a major report raising concerns on the rise of attacks on Jewish people in the UK.
Find Out More
05 Feb 2015 By Ruth Coustick-Deal
The real impact of surveillance
The Government are finally having conversations about surveillance, but unfortunately they are simply framing it as an Us vs Them story, a choice between security and privacy.
Find Out More
29 Jan 2015 By Ruth Coustick-Deal
Help fundraise for us
Events this week showed just why we need our members: four House of Lords peers attempted to sneak the Snooper’s Charter into law.
Find Out More
27 Jan 2015 By Jim Killock
Lords should drop the Snooper’s Charter and let the parties set out their views at the election
Many Lords argued that Parliament should be given the chance to vote on the legislation, decrying the years of delay – read repeated defeats – in bringing this Bill into law.
Find Out More
Digital Privacy
20 Jan 2015 By Richard King
Default censorship is wrong and unfair to Sky’s customers
Sky Broadband have announced they will force web-filters on all customers, starting this week, unless the account-holder opts out.
Find Out More
15 Jan 2015 By Ruth Coustick-Deal
Join today and vote for digital rights
We don’t protect our civil liberties by attacking them.
Find Out More
Digital Privacy
13 Jan 2015 By Jim Killock
What does David Cameron want?
On Monday, David Cameron declared war on encryption as the latest knee-jerk reaction to the atrocities committed in Paris against Charlie Hebdo journalists.
Find Out More
13 Jan 2015 By Pam Cowburn
Letters from ORG’s Advisory Council members: Mass surveillance is not needed
Paul Bernal, lecturer at UEA Law School:
It is not just libertarians who are dismayed by the growing calls for the return of the Snooper’s Charter in response to events in Paris, but anyone who has studied the reality of recent terrorist atrocities and the role of intelligence and surveillance.
Find Out More
09 Jan 2015 By Pam Cowburn
The response to the Charlie Hebdo murders is not more untargeted surveillance
We know that the Hebdo offices were already a target, having been firebombed in 2011, over the publication of a caricature of the prophet Mohammed.
Find Out More
19 Dec 2014 By Elizabeth Knight
ORG signs amicus brief in Microsoft case
In the case, US law enforcement agencies are seeking to access data in an email account held on a server in Ireland.
Find Out More
18 Dec 2014 By Ruth Coustick-Deal
10 Brilliant Moments
This year we saw thousands of people take part in our campaigns to defend our rights online.
Find Out More
08 Dec 2014 By Lydia Snodin
ORGCon Day 2 – Learning How To Campaign
The second day of our annual conference was a series of interactive training sessions to share information on how to campaign, plus an all-day hack space.
Find Out More
05 Dec 2014 By Elizabeth Knight
Court ruling paves the way for European Court of Human Rights to consider ‘Privacy not PRISM’ case
The decision should enable the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) to proceed with hearing the “Privacy not PRISM” case brought by ORG and others.
Find Out More
05 Dec 2014 By Elizabeth Knight
Court ruling paves the way for European Court of Human Rights to consider ‘Privacy not PRISM’ case
The decision should enable the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) to proceed with hearing the “Privacy not PRISM” case brought by ORG and others.
Find Out More
05 Dec 2014 By Elizabeth Knight
Court ruling paves the way for European Court of Human Rights to consider ‘Privacy not PRISM’ case
The decision should enable the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) to proceed with hearing the “Privacy not PRISM” case brought by ORG and others.
Find Out More
05 Dec 2014 By Elizabeth Knight
Court ruling paves the way for European Court of Human Rights to consider ‘Privacy not PRISM’ case
The decision should enable the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) to proceed with hearing the “Privacy not PRISM” case brought by ORG and others.
Find Out More
05 Dec 2014 By Jim Killock
Website blocking orders made more transparent
So far, BT, Sky and Virgin are providing more information about the blocks, stating that:
you have the right to apply to the High Court to vary or discharge the Orders below if you are affected by the blocks which have been imposed.
Find Out More
02 Dec 2014 By Ruth Coustick-Deal
ORGCon2014: In review
Thank you so much for coming to ORGCon2014, we hope you had a brilliant time, and enjoyed learning and meeting with the digital rights community.
Find Out More
26 Nov 2014 By Elizabeth Knight
Lee Rigby murder should not be used as excuse for an increase in state power
The report showed that Rigby’s killers Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale had appeared in seven different investigations by the security services and there were “errors in these operations, where processes were not followed, decisions not recorded, or delays encountered”.
Find Out More
24 Nov 2014 By Jim Killock
Blanket data retention does not come in ‘good’ and ‘bad’ forms
These principles include that data retention should be targeted against a specific threat, confined by criteria such as a specific time or place.
Find Out More
12 Nov 2014 By Florri Burton
3 days to go till ORGCon2014
We are all busy getting ready for ORGCon2014 this weekend.
Find Out More
11 Nov 2014 By Javier Ruiz
ORG and Privacy International publish guidance on privacy and open government
Open Rights Group and Privacy International have worked with the Transparency and Accountability Initiative to develop a new chapter on Privacy and Data Protection in the Open Government Guide, which will be officially launched at Open Up on November 12th.
Find Out More
06 Nov 2014 By Ed Johnson-Williams
GCHQ are plunging into the privacy debate.
Writing in Tuesday’s Financial Times, the new director of GCHQ Robert Hannigan, called for “greater co-operation from technology companies” to stop terrorists and criminals groups using online services as their “command-and-control networks of choice”.
Find Out More
06 Nov 2014 By Jim Killock
The courts should decide how much privacy we’re entitled to – not GCHQ
In his first public statement since becoming Director of GCHQ, Robert Hannigan yesterday described the likes of Facebook, Twitter, Google and Apple as, ‘the command-and-control networks of choice for terrorists and criminals,’ and called on them to give ‘greater co-operation’ to the intelligence services.
Find Out More
18 Oct 2014 By Richard King
Hacking for your digital rights
The day was all about planning and prototyping hacks to help defend digital rights directly, raise awareness of ORG’s issues, support our campaigns with evidence and make ORG more accessible to everyone.
Find Out More
14 Oct 2014 By Ed Johnson-Williams
TTIP’s threat to our privacy and culture
TTIP (the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership) is a trade agreement currently being negotiated behind closed doors between the United States and the European Union.
Find Out More
06 Oct 2014 By Ed Paton-Williams and Elizabeth Knight
Journalists and their sources require privacy. But so does everyone else
We support stronger protection for journalists and their sources.
Find Out More
03 Oct 2014 By Elizabeth Knight
Join ORG to fight increasing surveillance and attacks on our human rights
David Cameron also announced that the government intends to scrap the Human Rights Act.
Find Out More
02 Oct 2014 By Elizabeth Knight
Will we now see parliamentary footage used in parodies?
Previously, broadcasters had been banned from using the footage for purposes other than reporting news.
Find Out More
30 Sep 2014 By Jim Killock
Theresa May’s call for new Snooper’s Charter can launch a national debate
Theresa May said:
… because the way in which we communicate is increasingly online, our ability to obtain the data we need is declining rapidly and dangerously.
Find Out More
25 Sep 2014 By David Allen Green
When can a High Court grant an injunction to trade mark holders against ISPs to block access to ‘infringing’ websites?
The question before the Court is whether the owner of a trade mark can obtain an injunction – not against an alleged counterfeiter, or even against the owners and operators of the websites on which counterfeiters sell their items.
Find Out More
23 Sep 2014 By Jim Killock
Help us start campaigning in Scotland
Major questions remain.
Find Out More
16 Sep 2014 By Javier Ruiz
ORG rejects calls for 10 year prison sentences for online copyright breaches
The consultation, carried out on behalf of the IPO by Inngot is based around the following question:
“Today, there is a significant difference between the penalties for offline and online copyright infringement.
Find Out More
04 Sep 2014 By Javier Ruiz
Culture Secretary threatens search engines with anti-piracy legislation
In his speech to the AGM of the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) Javid skimmed over existing government policies, from tax reliefs to £246 million in music education hubs that will give children the chance to learn to play an instrument.
Find Out More
04 Sep 2014 By Pam Cowburn
Tom Newton Dunn is one in half a million
The request was made to identify police whistleblowers who contacted Newton Dunn over the Plebgate scandal.
Find Out More
29 Aug 2014 By Ruth Coustick-Deal
Digital Rights in Scotland: Decision Time
As the vote on Scottish Independence fast approaches, we are worried by the lack of a strong network of rights organisations in Scotland.
Find Out More
19 Aug 2014 By Pam Cowburn
Cameron’s big stand will have little impact
Yesterday, the Prime Minister David Cameron announced his latest effort to take a ‘big stand on protecting our children online’.
Find Out More
30 Jul 2014 By Javier Ruiz
Victory: format shifting and parody clear last hurdle
Reform of outdated copyright laws has been a major campaign focus for ORG from day one.
Find Out More
25 Jul 2014 By Javier Ruiz
Ofcom report shows consumers don’t want filters
The ISPs told Ofcom how many customers have been offered the filters, and how many have set them up.
Find Out More
18 Jul 2014 By Jim Killock
Dear Theresa, see you in court
But in doing so they won’t have had the final word.
Find Out More
17 Jul 2014 By Jim Killock and Elizabeth Knight
DRIP: Convenience or Necessity?
What is beyond doubt is that the UK police seem to use data on a pretty routine basis.
Find Out More
16 Jul 2014 By Jim Killock
Scottish NGO results
We have removed most of the “dead” websites we found in the dataset.
Find Out More
15 Jul 2014 By Jim Killock
#DRIP heroes, round one
#DRIP HEROES
For a list of everyone who voted against the bill, a smaller list, see Hansard.
Find Out More
10 Jul 2014 By Ruth Coustick-Deal
‘Emergency’ Data Retention: What I told my MP
The European Court of Justice ruled in April that blanket data retention, which the government requires of ISPs, is illegal and ignores the fundamental rights to privacy and data protection.
Find Out More
10 Jul 2014 By Jim Killock
Updates on ’emergency’ data retention law
Email your MP – No Emergency!
Find Out More
07 Jul 2014 By Jim Killock
Theresa May is attempting to mislead the public
The real reason they need to legislate on data retention is that they are asking ISPs to operate illegally by retaining data, since the CJEU struck the Data Retention Directive down.
Find Out More
Digital Privacy
06 Jul 2014 By Jim Killock
What Google isn’t doing with requests for search redaction
A search for Stan o’Neal brings up Robert Peston’s article on the first page.
Find Out More
03 Jul 2014 By Jim Killock
Getting filter categories right
When we set up our filtered Internet lines, we did our best to choose the ‘normal’ set of filters for each line.
Find Out More
Digital Privacy
02 Jul 2014 By Pam Cowburn
ORG’s Blocked project finds almost 1 in 5 sites are blocked by filters
Today, Open Rights Group relaunched www.
Find Out More
19 Jun 2014 By Elizabeth Knight
Data retention: why we have to keep the pressure on ISPs
In the last four hours, over 400 ORG supporters have contacted their ISPs to demand that they stop retaining customers’ email, SMS, web and phone data.
Find Out More
19 Jun 2014 By Ed Johnson-Williams
Demand your ISP stops retaining your data
In April, the European law forcing Internet Service Providers like BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin to collect our communications data was struck down by the European Court of Justice.
Find Out More
10 Jun 2014 By Pam Cowburn
Don’t Spy on Us: Day of Action, June 7, 2014
On Saturday, June 7, the Don’t Spy on Us campaign and The Guardian hosted a day of action to mark the anniversary of Edward Snowden’s revelations about mass surveillance by the NSA and GCHQ.
Find Out More
07 Jun 2014 By Jim Killock
No transparency for the UK in Vodafone’s transparency report
Vodafone’s argument for publishing these statistics where they can is that “The need for governments to balance their duty to protect the state and its citizens against their duty to protect individual privacy is now the focus of a significant global public debate.
Find Out More
05 Jun 2014 By Ed Johnson-Williams
Snowden: one year on and still no action by the British government
Last weekend I was on holiday in Hamburg.
Find Out More
04 Jun 2014 By Ruth Coustick-Deal
Big announcement: Strengthening ORG’s legal work
ORG’s first full time Legal Director started work this week.
Find Out More
29 May 2014 By Javier Ruiz
How will government share your data?
The Cabinet Office has started an early pre-consultation process looking at removing barriers to sharing or linking different databases across government departments.
Find Out More
22 May 2014 By Jim Killock
Please vote for a digital rights candidate today
WePromise.
Find Out More
15 May 2014 By Javier Ruiz
Landmark ruling by European Court on Google and the “Right to be Forgotten”
The European Court of Justice has published a landmark ruling forcing Google to remove some search results related to Mr Costeja González, a Spanish national, after he claimed the linked information was outdated and irrelevant, giving a wrong impression of him.
Find Out More
14 May 2014 By Ed Johnson-Williams
ORG hands in petition saying no to HMRC’s tax data sell off
We handed in our tax data sell-off petition to HMRC earlier today, along with ORG Advisory Council member Julian Huppert MP and campaign groups 38 Degrees and SumofUs.
Find Out More
13 May 2014 By Jason Kitcat
Guest blog: Estonia and the risks of internet voting
In my capacity as an ORG Advisory Council member I’ve been working with an independent team of election observers researching the Internet voting systems used by Estonia.
Find Out More
08 May 2014 By Jim Killock
Lobby tries to kill private copying with demand for iPod tax
Right now, both the private copying exception and parody appear to be delayed.
Find Out More
16 Apr 2014 By Jim Killock
Quiz your MEP candidates on digital rights
Last week, the European Court of Justice declared the Data Retention Directive invalid: which has huge implications for our claim that UK law supervising surveillance is inadequate.
Find Out More
15 Apr 2014 By Jim Killock
Help us to re-start the debate about internet filters
At times the campaign to prevent internet filters has bordered on the surreal, such as when the Deputy Children’s Commissioner Sue Berelowitz said, ‘no one should be panicking – but why should there not be a moral panic?
Find Out More
Digital Privacy
14 Apr 2014 By Richard King
Making progress on monitoring censorship
Since the start of the year ORG’s community of technical volunteers have been turning blocked.
Find Out More
10 Apr 2014 By Jim Killock
Back to the coalition agreement: data retention laws should not be revived
No doubt, once the coalition settled down, ministers were briefed that the retention of user data was required by European law: so they could easily forget about this pledge.
Find Out More
09 Apr 2014 By Jim Killock
ISPs will break the law if they continue to retain our data
The Data Retention Directive is retrospectively invalid: not only is it gone, but in legal terms it never was.
Find Out More
08 Apr 2014 By Pam Cowburn
Victory for privacy rights as ECJ rules that Data Retention Directive is invalid
There was a major victory for privacy rights today when the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that the 2006 Data Retention Directive is invalid on the grounds that it severely interferes with two of our fundamental rights: the right to respect for private life and to the protection of personal data.
Find Out More
Digital Privacy
07 Apr 2014 By Ruth Coustick-Deal
We’re making web censorship more transparent – thanks to you!
The generosity of our supporters raised more than £6500 to support our campaign to end the imposition of web censorship in the UK.
Find Out More
04 Apr 2014 By Ed Johnson-Williams
Defend your digital rights in the European elections this May
While Nigel Farage and Nick Clegg kicked around old political footballs like immigration on Wednesday night, there was a glaring omission from the debate: digital rights.
Find Out More
03 Apr 2014 By Jim Killock
Join to found ORG Scotland
Last month, we asked our Scottish supporters whether we should set up an office to deal with policies from Holyrood.
Find Out More
28 Mar 2014 By Jim Killock
Copyright: it’s a long fight to get it right
The result is that ORG has been fighting since 2005 for sensible copyright laws, and resisting overblown attempts by rights holders to control the flow of information on the Internet.
Find Out More
27 Mar 2014 By Ed Johnson-Williams
Thanks to ORG supporters copyright takes a great leap forward into the 21st century
This is a big victory for ORG.
Find Out More
26 Mar 2014 By Ed Johnson-Williams
Why is parodying Sky’s Captain America filtering adverts still illegal?
He’s “Here to serve and protect your family” with “Heroic new internet protection that lets you filter which websites can be seen in your home.
Find Out More
21 Mar 2014 By Pam Cowburn
Bingo and beer spoofs show that our copyright laws are a joke
After the Conservative Chairman, Grant Shapps, tweeted an advert praising cuts to beer and bingo duty, Twitter responded with a series of spoofs ads that derided this seemingly clumsy attempt to engage with the working classes.
Find Out More
20 Mar 2014 By Emily Goodhand
Why UK copyright reform is needed
This is a guest blog post by Emily Goodhand.
Find Out More
20 Mar 2014 By Jim Killock
Will ‘voluntary’ copyright enforcement protect users’ rights?
It is approaching four years since the Digital Economy Act was passed, and still measures within it to deal with individuals alleged to have infringed copyright have not been implemented.
Find Out More
17 Mar 2014 By Javier Ruiz
EU crucial vote on Net Neutrality
Net neutrality is a fundamental aspect of the Internet as we know it.
Find Out More
12 Mar 2014 By Alan Cox
Openness and Privacy in Big Data
This is a guest blog from ORG Advisory Council member Alan Cox.
Find Out More
12 Mar 2014 By Javier Ruiz
Open Rights Group at RightsCon
ORG participated in RightsCon, an international conference organised by Access that saw 700 participants convening in San Francisco to talk about censorship, surveillance and digital rights in general.
Find Out More
Digital Privacy
10 Mar 2014 By Ruth Coustick-Deal
Support ORG’s Censorship Monitoring Project
ORG are building tools to monitor the effects of default filtering in the UK
Can you join us now to help keep this project going?
Find Out More
07 Mar 2014 By Jim Killock
The world we want and how we get there
We wrote this short statement of our aims, objectives and values after asking all our supporters what you thought we should be working on, and what you thought our values are.
Find Out More
28 Feb 2014 By Javier Ruiz
ICO Survey on the Code of Practice on Anonymisation
The ICO survey on the Code of Practice on Anonymisation closes today.
Find Out More
11 Feb 2014 By Peter Bradwell
Join our new campaign to fight mass surveillance
You can learn more about the new campaign, sign our petition and email your MP at our new Don’t Spy On Us campaign site.
Find Out More
07 Feb 2014 By Ed Johnson-Williams
Don’t Spy On Us – Help get the word out!
On Tuesday, internet users all over the world are standing up to say no to GCHQ and the NSA’s mass surveillance.
Find Out More
04 Feb 2014 By Jim Killock
You did it!
You can still help out – there are always extra costs, including rent and fees for legal publications, that an extra contribution can cover costs for.
Find Out More
03 Feb 2014 By ORG Law project
Our lawyers want to have a word with you
That’s why we are asking you to join ORG today, so they can hire a Legal Director.
Find Out More
29 Jan 2014 By Cory Doctorow
Open Rights Group and impact litigation
This case not only marks a chance to make a change for better—it also marks a new stage in ORG’s growth as an organisation that makes the Internet safe for human habitation.
Find Out More
Digital Privacy
23 Jan 2014 By Peter Bradwell
What’s happening to your medical records and how you can opt out
Where your records will be stored, the people deciding who has access to them, the reasons people can access them – all of these things are affected by what’s happening.
Find Out More
15 Jan 2014 By Peter Bradwell
How to complain about mobile filtering over-blocking
Yesterday we had a very helpful meeting with the BBFC.
Find Out More
08 Jan 2014 By Ed Johnson-Williams
MEPs release draft report damning blanket Internet surveillance
It won’t be officially presented to the committee until tomorrow but you can already read the draft report on the EU Parliament website.
Find Out More
24 Dec 2013 By Jim Killock
O2 pulls blocked URL checker as wave of new customers activate their phones
While O2 are the only company providing any transparency with their checker, this is a bad move.
Find Out More