Privacy First is an independent foundation with the aim to preserve and promote the right to privacy. Privacy is a universal human right and the basis of a free democracy. Privacy First was founded in 2008 and mainly consists of professional volunteers.
Our field of action
Privacy First is dedicated to protecting the right to:
Privacy and respect for private life.
Protection of personal data.
Confidential communications.
Physical integrity.
Our working methods
Privacy First aims to have these rights enshrined in law in a proper way. To this end, Privacy First is active in the areas of political lobbying, legal action and litigation, knowledge transfer and public campaigns.
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The Privacy First Foundation largely depends on individual donations for pursuing litigation and carrying out its day-to-day operations. Privacy First is recognized by the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration as an Institution for General Benefit (ANBI). Therefore your donations are tax-deductible.
The Dutch Ministry of Finance is about to oblige companies to export personal data on a large scale. The measure is hidden in a subordinate clause of a letter from the Minister of Finance, although it... Read More...
PSD2 opt-out register Is it possible to have innovation in the field of payment data while preserving privacy? Under the new European banking law PSD2, payment data can be shared with non banking part... Read More...
Today an important debate will take place in the Dutch House of Representatives about the introduction of Passenger Name Records (PNR): the large scale, years-long storage of all sorts of data of airl... Read More...
In the context of the National Privacy Conference organized by Privacy First and ECP today the Dutch Privacy Awards have been handed out. These Awards offer a podium to organisations that consider pri... Read More...
New European PSD2 legislation in force At the start of 2019, the Payment Service Directive 2 will enter into force in the Netherlands. Under this new European banking law, consumers can share their ba... Read More...
Writing a New Year’s Column about the state of affairs concerning the protection of everyone’s privacy weighs me down this year. With the exception of a few bright spots, privacy in the Netherlands an... Read More...
Privacy First has had a turbulent year. At the start of 2018, we organized the Dutch Privacy Awards and they were a great success. Soon this event will take place again. The greatest success of the ye... Read More...
Partly on the initiative of Privacy First, a special Committee of the United Nations will this week in Geneva look into the imminent adoption of Taser weapons among the entire Dutch police force. This... Read More...
A train passenger has submitted an enforcement request to the Dutch Data Protection Authority, because he argues that Dutch Railways (NS) violates the privacy of train passengers. In response to three... Read More...
The Privacy First Foundation hereby publishes its 2017 annual report: click HERE to download the pdf version. In our annual report you can read all about our main activities in 2017, including our cou... Read More...
The Dutch citizenry has rejected the new Dutch Intelligence and Security Services Act. This act will now have the be amended. If not, legal action will be pursued. Historic red line Wednesday 21 March... Read More...
Below, in alphabetical order, are Privacy First’s main objections against the new Dutch Intelligence and Security Services Act (Wiv2017, or ‘Tapping law’): A. Authority to hack Under the new law, the... Read More...
The Dutch government and Parliament aim to quickly introduce the privacy-violating Tapping law. A coalition of privacy advocates will start interim injunction proceedings to prevent this from happenin... Read More...
A group of civil society organizations is bringing a case against the Dutch government because of System Risk Indication, better known by the abbreviation SyRI. According to the plaintiffs, this risk... Read More...
On November 2nd 2016, the Dutch House of Representatives will address a controversial legislative proposal that will introduce four week storage of the travel movements of all motorists in the Netherl... Read More...
Mass storage of fingerprints violates the right to privacy Following the Court of Appeal of The Hague, today the Dutch Council of State (Raad van State) judged that municipal (‘decentral’) storage of... Read More...
In the Dutch Citizens v. Plasterk case about the international exchange of data between secret services, the coalition of citizens and organizations (including Privacy First) has explained its appeal... Read More...
Today the Privacy First Foundation and three other public interest groups as well as a number of Dutch individual users of Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram request Mark Zuckerberg to join the public d... Read More...
After years of legal proceedings against the storage of fingerprints under the Dutch Passport Act — one of the gravest privacy violations in the Netherlands — Privacy First and 19 co-plaintiffs were d... Read More...
Today the district court of The Hague has rendered the Dutch Data Retention Act inoperative in a break-through verdict. The judge did so at the request of the Privacy First Foundation and six other or... Read More...
A broad coalition of organizations and companies is starting interim injunction proceedings against the Dutch government. The Privacy First Foundation, internet provider BIT, the Dutch Association of... Read More...
Today the district court of The Hague ruled in the case Citizens v. [Dutch Minister of Home Affairs] Plasterk ("Burgers tegen Plasterk"). In this lawsuit a coalition of citizens and organizations (inc... Read More...
In a groundbreaking judgment, the Hague Court of Appeal has today decided that centralised storage of fingerprints under the Dutch Passport Act is unlawful. The Privacy First Foundation and 19 co-plai... Read More...
By now basically everyone is aware of the far-reaching eavesdropping practices by the American National Security Agency (NSA). For years the NSA has been secretly eavesdropping on millions of people a... Read More...
