Latest news and stories about privacy rights in Portugal for expats and residents.
A teachers' movement known as MetaPROF has filed a formal complaint with the National Data Protection Commission (Comissão Nacional de Proteção de Dados or CNPD). The group alleges irregularities in the digital grading and distribution process for national exams, citing potential violations of the General Data Protection Regulation (Regulamento Geral sobre a Proteção de Dados or RGPD).
A provisional European Union regime that allowed digital platforms to voluntarily detect and report child sexual abuse content expired this Friday. The lapse follows a failure by the European Parliament and the Council of the EU to reach an agreement on a permanent legislative framework, effectively ending the temporary bypass of electronic communication privacy rules.
This analysis examines how demands for transparency from presidential hopefuls in the run-up to the 18 January election have become a tactical weapon between rivals. It explores the tension between legitimate public interest in candidates’ backgrounds and the risk of intrusive exposure of private life, reviews the legal and ethical boundaries, and argues for clearer, proportionate rules and safeguards to balance accountability, privacy and fair campaigning.
This decision follows requests for a preliminary ruling sent to the CJEU by the Competition, Regulation and Supervision Court of Portugal
The European Parliament approved this Thursday amendments to the European Council's position regarding the extension of the exception to European privacy rules, which allows digital platforms to voluntarily detect child sexual abuse content, while excluding end-to-end encrypted communications from its scope. In an initial vote, a simple majority...
Montenegro appeals to the Constitutional Court to try to prevent public access to the services provided and bank balances of Spinumviva, citing privacy rights and the protection of third parties.
Right of reply from the United Lisbon International School regarding a news report published on 13 March 2026 in the online and print editions of PÚBLICO.
The concept of privacy corresponds to the protection of intimate private and family life, guaranteed by Article 26(1) of our Constitution. Most citizens have a general idea of what privacy entails: the ability to delimit a part of one's life where behaviours are freely adopted, protected from interference by public authorities. Transparency, originating from the Anglo-Saxon concept of 'open file', applies to administrative procedures where public officials must justify their decisions to ensure they serve the public interest rather than private ones. While citizens have a right to access administrative records to scrutinise public decisions, this does not strip public officials of their right to privacy. Media exposure that reveals personal assets without evidence of wrongdoing constitutes an intolerable violation of privacy rather than a promotion of transparency. The pursuit of transparency must not devolve into a mix of gossip and punitive impulses that damage reputations and discourage public service.
The European Parliament has rejected the extension of the temporary derogation from ePrivacy rules. Without this mechanism, which allowed online platforms to detect and report child sexual abuse material, authorities lose their eyes and ears in an ecosystem where abusers operate with enhanced anonymity.
Scanning for child abuse content will become illegal in Europe after April 3.
The European Parliament wants to restrict the automatic detection of pornographic content to users who are already flagged. The new European regulation remains mired in controversy.
The court upheld the decision not to hear the appeal he had filed.
