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Content Type: Advocacy
Privacy International's response to the call of submissions of the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association on the tools and guidelines which may assist law enforcement in promoting and protecting human rights in the context of peaceful protests. The Special Rapporteur's report will be presented at the 55th session of the UN Human Rights Council.While PI recognises the role of law enforcement can play in facilitating the enjoyment of freedom of…
Content Type: Explainer
The Free to Protest Guide Pakistan has been created by adapting Privacy International's (PI) Free to Protest Guide UK according to the laws and policies of Pakistan, in collaboration with PI and local activists in Pakistan.The Guide has been published in English, Urdu, Punjabi and Pashto.DISCLAIMER: This guide forms part of PI's global work to highlight the range of surveillance tools that law enforcement can use in the protest context, and how data protection laws can help guarantee…
Content Type: Long Read
The rise of the gig-economy, a way of working relying on short term contracts and temporary jobs rather than on an employed workforce, has enabled the growth of a number of companies over the last few years. But without the rights that comes with full employment, gig economy workers today don't have access to essential protections.
In 2021, PI worked with ACDU and Worker Info Exchange to shed a light on the power imbalance between workers and gig economy platforms, exposing how workers find…
Content Type: News & Analysis
We have been fighting for transparency and stronger regulation of the use of IMSI catchers by law enforcement in the UK since 2016. The UK police forces have been very secretive about the use of IMSI catchers – maintaining a strict “neither confirm nor deny” (NCND) policy. In our efforts to seek greater clarity we wrote to the UK body which monitors the use of covert investigatory powers, the Investigatory Powers Commissioner’s Office (IPCO), asking the Commissioner to revisit this…
Content Type: Explainer
What are the key factors you should consider when using a messaging app?
There are two main aspects to consider when deciding on the messaging app you want to use:
whether it offers end to end encryption that protects the content of your communication; and
whether it collects any information beyond the content of the message, such as location, who you communicate with and other details referred to as ‘metadata’.
Why is encrypted messaging important?
Encryption is the process of…
Content Type: Explainer
What protections might VPNs offer?
Adds an extra layer of encryption between your device and the VPN exit, hiding the content and metadata of your traffic, and true destination of your Internet browsing, from your internet service provider (ISP)
Hides your device’s IP address from websites & apps by routing your traffic via a third country, which can bypass country-based blocks
What don’t they offer?
Won’t hide your phone’s presence from IMSI catchers
Doesn’t protect against…
Content Type: Long Read
The defense and protection of the environment continues to come at a high cost for activists and human rights defenders. In 2021, the murders of environment and land defenders hit a record high. This year, a report by Global Witness found that more than 1,700 environmental activists have been murdered in the past decade.
While the issue of surveillance of human rights defenders has received attention, evidence of the surveillance of environmental activists keeps mounting, with recent examples…
Content Type: Examples
Ukraine and Russia are both weaponising facial recognition - but Russia is using it to hunt down anti-war protesters, holding and sometimes torturing anyone who refuses to be photographed, while Ukraine is using software donated by Clearview AI to help find Russian infiltrators at checkpoints, identify the dead and reunite families. Russia's widespread surveillance means that activists can be followed and arrested anywhere. In an approved, peaceful anti-government rally in Moscow in 2019,…
Content Type: Examples
Footage captured by Bloomberg shows that police are arresting anti-war protesters in Russia and scrolling through their phones.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2022-03-07/russian-police-search-protesters-phones-make-arrests-video
Writer: Kommersant
Publication: Bloomberg TV
Publication date: 2022-03-07
Content Type: Examples
Based on a draft methodology from Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry, Kommersant business daily reports that Rostec's data subsidiary, Natsionalny Tsentr Informatizatsii, is developing software that will use machine learning to detect and prevent mass unrest. The software will analyse news reports, social media postings, public transport data, and video surveillance footage; if it fails to prevent mass unrest it is expected to direct the crowd's movements to stop it from escalating. The…
Content Type: Examples
The Kommersant reports that Russia's Rostec State Corporation is developing a new AI-powered anti-riot surveillance system that uses biometrics-powered cameras and can search social media networks and other publicly accessible data and intends to deploy the new system by the end of 2022. The behaviou analysis software is being developed as part of the Safe City project under the aegis of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, which intends to spend 97 billion rubles ($1.3 billion) deploying Safe…
Content Type: Examples
The energy company Cuadrilla used Facebook to surveil anti-fracking protesters in Blackpool and forwarded the gathered intelligence to Lancashire Police, which arrested more than 450 protesters at Cuadrilla's Preston New Road site over a period of three years in a policing operation that cost more than £12 million. Legal experts have called the relationship between fracking companies and the police "increasingly unhealthy" and called on the ICO and the Independent Office for Police Conduct to…
Content Type: Examples
Emails obtained by EFF show that the Los Angeles Police Department contacted Amazon Ring owners specifically asking for footage of protests against racist police violence that took place across the US in the summer of 2020. LAPD signed a formal partnership with Ring and its associated "Neighbors" app in May 2019. Requests for Ring footage typically include the name of the detective, a description of the incident under investigation, and a time period. If enough people in a neighbourhood…
Content Type: Explainer
La guía "Manifestaciones Libres" es un documento que ofrece una serie de propuestas sobre cómo las personas que se manifiestan de forma pacífica deben protegerse durante un evento público. Encontrarás en esta guía descripciones de las herramientas de vigilancia a disposición de las autoridades durante protestas sociales, y cómo puedes protegerte de las mismas.
Puedes descargar la guía desde esta página, de la sección más abajo titulada "Attachments."
This guide was originally…
Content Type: Explainer
La ‘Guía para protegerte digiralmente durante una protesta' es un documento enfocado en Colombia que recopila información básica sobre las capacidades de vigilancia que posee la policía colombiana, y mejores prácticas para evitarla. Encontrarás en esta guía definiciones, explicaciones y recomendaciones sobre la vigilancia a los dispositivos tecnológicos, las comunicaciones, la identidad y las redes sociales de las personas que protestan.
Puedes descargar la guía desde esta página, de la…
Content Type: Explainer
The ‘Guide to Digital Safety and Privacy at Peaceful Protests’ has been produced by 7amleh - The Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media.
7amleh has adapted the content of PI's UK Free to Protest guide to fit the Palestinian context. The guide is organized in three sub-guides: (1) a guide to digital safety and privacy at peaceful protests; (2) a guide to surveillance of protesters’ faces and bodies; and (3) a guide to policing databases and predictive policing tools.
This guide was…
Content Type: Explainer
La 'Guía de Protesta' es un documento que buscar concientizar sobre las herramientas tecnológicas que las fuerzas de seguridad podrían utilizar para monitorear e identificar personas en una protesta en Argentina. Encontrarás en esta guía explicaciones de cómo las tecnologías de vigilancia están siendo utilizadas para vigilar las protestas, y cómo puedes protegerte de las mismas.
Puedes descargar la guía desde esta página, de la sección más abajo titulada "Attachments".
This guide was…
Content Type: Examples
Clashes between police and lockdown protesters have spawned reports of police brutality in Greece. Mobile phone footage of one such protest in March 2021 suggested that the police are using drones to surveil the protests, and some of those remanded have complained that they’ve been beaten and subjected to threats and sexual harassment while in custody. Disinfaux Collective has identified an individual caught on video throwing a petrol bomb as “either a police officer of the DRASI unit… or,under…
Content Type: Explainer
‘Free to Protest: The protestor’s guide to police surveillance and how to avoid it’ (UK edition) is a collection of bite-sized guides about high-tech police surveillance capabilities at protests, including tips and strategies about how you can protect yourself from being identified, tracked and monitored. Each guide is self-contained so you don’t need to read the whole thing, or read it any particular order. You can access each separate section of the guide from the campaign homepage, but if…