How optimizing the digital capabilities of the Dutch intelligence and security services has derailed.

The Dutch government wants to automatically and administratively gain permission to target victims of hackers.

The proposed Cyber Act addresses the urgent need for stronger intelligence capabilities and revised oversight structures in the Netherlands.

The Dutch government wants to automatically and administratively gain permission to target victims of hackers.

This “Israeli Snowden moment” might tip the scale towards greater proportionality in the laws concerning bulk data collection.

The Complaints Department of CTIVD has used its binding authority for the first time. Though the Dutch secret services are now compelled to delete unlawfully held data, weaknesses of the oversight system are evident.

The U.S. government has consistently denied deploying its foreign intelligence apparatus to benefit U.S. companies. The Data Act proposal proceeds on the premise that it does.

An account of 5 critical changes that merit careful scrutiny from the international community.

The privacy interference in the current practice of ‘automated OSINT’ can no longer be perceived as ‘minor’ and begs for a legal debate and sufficient legal safeguards.

Nurturing a democratic culture is key to ensuring ethical research on surveillance technology.

A second Amendment Proposal prepared by the government is feared to fundamentally threaten effective oversight.

Basic requirements for a more lasting transatlantic data transfer architecture.

Draft law to introduce new data analysis capabilities.

A once-in-a-generation opportunity to ban biometric mass surveillance.

We can’t rely on technologies developed outside our borders.

The Conseil d'État deliberately misinterpreted the EU Court.

A legal analysis on the Court’s recent ruling.

Why the EU’s iBorderCtrl project is being challenged in court.

European taxpayers likely fund discriminatory technology.

The French state’s illiberal drift.

South Africa’s mass surveillance ruling offers an opportunity for fresh debate.

The time for fearing these technologies is over.

South Africa’s foreign SIGINT capabilities shut down.

It’s more than just the Right to Privacy at stake.

The consequences for large-scale intelligence collection and civil liberties.

Some provisions of the draft bill seem incompatible with CJEU rulings.

The draft BNDG undermines requirements set by the Constitutional Court.

One searchable database for all documents about intelligence.

The high-stakes game of shaping the internet of tomorrow.

A brief overview of the voices on about:intel in 2020.

The German government fails to secure essential journalistic protections.

The German Chancellery’s new draft bill ensures no oversight institution really knows what goes on at the BND.

Challenges for privacy and non-discrimination with the inclusion of facial recognition for the next generation Prüm framework.

The German foreign intelligence service must remain operational and internationally connected.

If high standards are observed, automated facial recognition can prevent crime without infringing on basic rights.

The carrot is mightier than the stick.

The Grand Coalition's draft law can’t keep up with what is already practiced in other democracies.

Why the EU must kick its addiction to US technology.

Everyone’s a foreigner somewhere.

Big brother must be banned.

How France abandoned its secular foundation to build an anti-terrorist republic.

The Spanish government’s new Digital Agenda should think of security, the economy, and privacy as interconnected.

A broader look at predictive policing beyond the tech.

Controlling the spread of surveillance technology is a moral, legal, and strategic imperative.

The Security Service’s secret policy on participating in crime.

What the French Parliament needs to discuss in its upcoming legislative debate.

Hellenic police and border authorities are bulking up on surveillance.

Why clean data & ethical frameworks are vital for predictive policing.

Correlation ≠ causation

Are tracking apps really the solution or do they just add surveillance creep into democratic societies?

How GDPR, the Data Protection Directive, and the European Convention on Human Rights guide what European states are allowed to do in the wake of the pandemic.

What the German Constitutional Court’s decision on the BND Act means for the future of surveillance and end-to-end oversight in Germany.

How intelligence agencies can use AI in an effective and accountable way.

NGOs from around the world compare their countries’ experiences with intelligence sharing.

After ignoring the Constitutional Tribunal’s call for greater oversight and safeguards, Polish surveillance law is bad news for human rights.

How one police department hopes to lead by example.

Current cyber operations of Chinese intelligence are hurting Beijing’s global leadership project.

In a rare encouragement for public oversight, South Africa has indicated to use location data responsibly in the fight against Covid-19.

China's new surveillance reality mustn't change what Europe considers a reasonable invasion of privacy in tackling Covid-19.

How the UK compares to the European, Israeli, South Korean, and Singapore models.

An in-depth account of how this notoriously secret club has expanded over the years.

As conflict moves to the cyber realm, peace efforts must, too.

An analysis of the AG’s opinion on data retention and access to metadata at the court in Luxembourg.

The concerns of "dirty data" in data-driven policing.

The only thing worse than secret services with sweeping surveillance powers is secret services with sweeping surveillance powers that are left unchecked by a toothless oversight system.

On the recent past & possible future of regulatory efforts aimed at preventing autocratic repression “Made in the EU”.

How conferring with civil society reference groups can help intelligence oversight bodies do their job.

Seven ideas for how to close the gap between high-tech intelligence and low-tech oversight.

Digital evidence expert and public policy analyst Peter Sommer looks back at nearly three decades working as an intermediary between the public and the secret world.

Thanks to the AI hype, for perhaps the first time ever, the wider public might get to monitor and address technological & operational transformation in Signals Intelligence as it unfolds.

Why the Constitutional Court of Austria scrapped government spyware & street surveillance.

The Dutch secret services share data with foreign services far too easily. Better legal and internal safeguards are essential.

How the Norwegian oversight body mediates between the intelligence services and the public.

New report by the European Network Against Racism shows ostensibly neutral police tools could disproportionately impact and further disadvantage racialised communities.

The key concern with artificial intelligence is not (only) its potency but its inability to seek justice.

A veteran’s perspective on European intelligence oversight: where it’s been, where it’s going, and why we need to internationalise it.

How the big data analytics company focuses on supporting rather than displacing human decision-making.

One of the counsels for the applicant in Centrum för Rättvisa v. Sweden at the European Court of Human Rights explains the case against the Swedish bulk collection regime and what the pending judgment means for civil liberties in the digital age for all of Europe.

AI can augment human creativity and help keep societies safe, but only if issues of bias and transparency are adequately addressed.

The former Inspector-General of Intelligence & Security of New Zealand on her experience with setting up a civil society focus group.

Intelligence oversight needs stronger regulatory support to effectively monitor increasingly international intelligence practice.

Editors-in-Chief Thorsten Wetzling and Eric Kind explain why we started about:intel and what we are trying to achieve with it.