Shall we care about Europol? The answer is... Read our latest investigation to catch a glimpse about what the agency is doing to accelerate the AI transformation of policing across the EU, with minimal safeguards. www.computerweekly.com/news/3666344...
Στις 22 και 29 Νοέμβρη θα κάνω δύο διαλέξεις εξ αποστάσεως στα πλαίσια των μεθοδολογικών εργαστηρίων του Εθνικού και Καποδιστριακού Πανεπιστημίου Αθηνών για το ρόλο του λόμπινγκ στην πολιτική ζωή της ΕΕ.
Περισσότερες λεπτομέρειες www.facebook.com/YiorgosVassa...
A big thank you to the experts+editors that supported this two years long effort: @annskaja.bsky.social @krisshrishak.bsky.social @lydiaemman.bsky.social @billgoodwin.bsky.social @nunomoniz.bsky.social @article19.bsky.social @gabrielgeiger.bsky.social and Seb. Klovig Skelton from CW.
Based on internal documents obtained from Europol and analyzed by data protection and AI experts, this investigation raises serious concerns about the implications of the agency’s program on people’s privacy and the lack of solid oversight in the development of AI models.
Since 2021, the Hague-based EU law enforcement agency has embarked on an increasingly ambitious, yet largely secretive, mission to develop automated models that will affect how policing is carried out across Europe.
German version below:
Btw 2020 and 2021 Europol landed enormous volumes of data as a part of three mega-hack operations that dismantled encrypted communication systems. This would become the starting point of the agency's AI ambitions. New investigation out with @giacomoza.bsky.social and @stavinoha.bsky.social
Since 2022, there have been repeated efforts to mandate the scanning of private communications in the EU. Denmark is trying again, bringing another version of the proposal for a vote in the Council of the EU on October 14th. Will this really make Europeans safer? www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Frontex doesn't like to hear its 'voluntary' interviews of people arriving at Europe's shores being described as covert 'interrogations'. Why? Because it has no legal mandate to interrogate and criminalise migrants.
Yet, that is precisely what's happening in Spain.
elpais.com/espana/2025-...
A probe into a massive fraud in Greece involving hundreds of millions of EU cash is widening.
It now includes a former official from the ruling New Democracy party of PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
Good morning, I've written a piece about the prime minister. I spoke to several dozen sources, including government insiders, former legal colleagues and campaigners to ask: what happened to Keir Starmer the heroic human rights lawyer? www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
This comes on the back of our latest investigation with @lolahierro.bsky.social and @balkanizator.bsky.social, revealing Europol's apparent refusal to delete/restrict using data of more than 11,000 people Frontex had unlawfully shared since 2016.
english.elpais.com/internationa...
Dänemark schlägt wieder eine weitreichende verpflichtende Chatkontrolle vor. Der Juristische Dienst des Rats bezeichnet auch diesen Vorschlag als rechtswidrig. Ob das Gesetz noch kommt, könnte von Deutschland und Frankreich abhängen. Wir veröffentlichen das Protokoll. netzpolitik.org/2025/interne...
More evidence of Europol's apparent disregard for legal norms and boundaries - this time from Lesvos, where its officers appear to be behaving like secret intelligence agents, misusing Frontex activities to interrogate migrants.
🚨 New investigation co-authored by our colleague @stavinoha.bsky.social: EU agencies #Frontex & #Europol unlawfully shared data, sweeping up migrants and #HumanRights defenders.
Published in @elpais.com, @lemonde.fr, Solomon, @netzpolitik.org
Read more: english.elpais.com/internationa...
Based on our investigation with @lolahierro.bsky.social and @balkanizator.bsky.social into years of unlawful personal data transfers between Frontex and Europol, under the guise of EU 'counter-smuggling' efforts.
english.elpais.com/internationa...
After publication 41 MEPs have called upon the European Commission to initiate an independent inquiry into large-scale unlawful transfers of personal data between Frontex and Europol due to the findings of the investigation @ @elpais.com , @lemonde.fr, @wearesolomon.bsky.social and @netzpolitik.org
We also reveal how in Nov 2022 the Commission, Frontex and Europol representatives misled parliamentarians during a hearing in the LIBE committee, by telling that transfers were not automatic and took place only on a case by case basis. netzpolitik.org/2025/gefluec...
Frontex revised its protocols in May 2023. It is no longer passing data 'automatically'. But, crucially, Europol is refusing to confirm it will 'restrict' or 'delete' data - unlawfully shared by Frontex - as required by law.
www.lemonde.fr/en/les-decod...
Between 2016-2023, Frontex unlawfully shared the personal data of more than 13,000 'suspects' with Europol, via 'voluntary' interviews with newly arrived migrants that lack basic legal safeguards - branded by experts as 'covert interrogations'. english.elpais.com/internationa...
For years Frontex gathered data and automatically passed it unlawfully to Europol. With @stavinoha.bsky.social & @lolahierro.bsky.social we investigated how this dragnet scooped up thousands of people, migrants and EU activists.
wearesolomon.com/mag/format/i...
Frontex suma una nueva ilegalidad a su larga lista: la filtración de datos personales.
Impulsamos una carta apoyada por decenas de eurodiputados, para exigir que se investiguen estos abusos y acabar con la criminalización de las personas migrantes y la sociedad civil
elpais.com/internaciona...
41 MEPs call upon the European Commission to initiate an independent inquiry into large-scale unlawful transfers of personal data between @frontex.bsky.social and @europol.europa.eu following our investigation for El Pais, Le Monde, Solomon, and Netzpolitik.
I feel this scoop did not get all the attention it deserves yet:
Great work by @stavinoha.bsky.social and @balkanizator.bsky.social shedding light on a widely overlooked (and unlawful) programme to feed Europol's database with data collected by Frontex, including those of activists and journalists.
For years, human rights advocates have warned of the criminalisation of migrants & activists at Europe’s borders.
With @balkanizator.bsky.social & @lolahierro.bsky.social we shed light on the opaque role of Frontex and Europol in drawing thousands into this dragnet.
wearesolomon.com/mag/format/i...
❗In the name of 'combating migrant smugglers', the European Union's border agency, Frontex, spent years collecting information on migrants and civil society activists deemed 'suspect,' before passing it on to Europol.
Here is how #Frontex unlawfully shared thousands of people’s personal data with #Europol
Investigation conducted by Solomon, the French newspaper Le Monde, the Spanish newspaper El País, and the German outlet Netzpolitik.
wearesolomon.com/mag/format/i...
NEW: an investigation reveals that Frontex unlawfully shared thousands of people's data with Europol.
Frontex decided to label as “suspects” anyone mentioned during the "debriefing interviews" conducted at disembarkation points at EU’s borders.
🧵Why it matters
wearesolomon.com/mag/format/i...
Frontex transfirió durante años ilegalmente a Europol datos de migrantes y activistas
elpais.com/internaciona...