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In January 2025 as Robert Fico's coalition government fell apart, he began claiming, based on a single ChatGPT-generated email, that peaceful mass anti-government protests could escalate into violent clashes between citizens and security forces, and trigger a coup d'état. The government began wiretapping organisers of anti-government protesters, journalists, and opponents, as well as tracing financial transactions and photos. The opposition party filed a criminal complaint alleging the…
Content Type: Examples
Human Rights Watch has called for an investigation into Georgian security forces' "brutal police violence" against peaceful protesters during two weeks of demonstrations against the government following elections in October that the OSCE has said were marred by vote-buying, double voting, physical violence, and intimidation. The authorities have since arrested hundreds of people and surveilled participants with Chinese-made facial recognition cameras. https://www.rferl.org/a/hrw-…
Content Type: Examples
UCLA has come under criticism for "militarising" its campus and the amount of money it's spending on security since pro-Palestinian protests began in 2023. The university's new Office of Campus Safety is led by former Sacramento police chief Rick Braziel, who says he wants to create a "beautiful campus where people feel safe and comfortable with each other". Others, however, feel that stepped-up patrols are making the campus climate tense.https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-10-11/…
Content Type: Examples
The Vancouver police board has asked retired officers to investigate police surveillance of pro-Palestinian demonstrations following complaints from protesters and legal advocates about the excessive use of force and invasions of privacy during a protest on May 31, 2024. Protesters have accused the police of attempting to criminalise and repress people's right to freedom of expression; conducting surveillance via drones, personal mobile phones, and body-worn cameras; and using extreme force.…
Content Type: Examples
In preparation for the anniversary of the October 7 attacks, Vancouver police planned to post "significant and visible" extra officers throughout the city. In the year since, the Vancouver police department had attended 344 protests relating to the Israel-Hamas war at a cost of C$4.1 million and including 3,318 overtime shifts. Police also planned to increase their presence around mosques, synagogues, SkyTrain stations, and community centres, including a public safety trailer and mobile command…
Content Type: Examples
Anti-Israel groups planned protests in New York City for the anniversary of the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack. Law enforcement said police planned to be out in full force and to beef up security at synagogues and mosques for Rosh Hashanah, taking place the same week. Expectations were that the anniversary would exacerbate already-inflamed tensions on university campuses. In addition, additional cameras were planned in addition to the 80,000 cameras already in the city's NYPD Domain…
Content Type: Video
It's our first time attempting a video podcast, so please let us know what you think by dropping us an email at [email protected]! Read more about our challenge against the UK's secret TCN powers.
Content Type: Long Read
If you’ve ever used TikTok, Instagram, or X/Twitter, you will already be familiar with centralised social media.Centralised social media means big company owns the app, controls the software, and keeps all your data.For example, ByteDance makes TikTok. They own it, run the servers, decide what you see in your feed, and hold onto every video you like or comment on. They call the shots when it comes to your data.But what if social media didn’t work that way? What if no single company was in…
Content Type: People
Vera has 25 years of experience at the intersection of digital technology, social justice and philanthropy. She is an independent philanthropic advisor and Honorary Senior Research Fellow at UCL Faculty of Laws. For two decades, she has served in programmatic leadership roles for the Open Society Foundations (OSF), the world’s largest private funder of human rights, where she directed the Global Program on Technology & Society. Prior to her work in philanthropy, she has held academic…
Content Type: People
Sara Fratti is a Guatemalan lawyer specializing in technology and human rights, with 10+ years of experience in Internet governance, digital rights, international law, intellectual property, and AI policies. She focuses on data protection, gender-based violence facilitated by technology, and surveillance from a human rights perspective. She is the Strategic Partnerships manager at ILDA (Iniciativa Latinoamericana por los Datos Abiertos), fostering collaboration on data and AI governance.…
Content Type: People
Martin Scheinin is Guest Professor of international human rights law at Lund University (Sweden) and part-time professor at the European University Institute (Italy). He has served as member of the UN Human Rights Committee, UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and counterterrorism and member of the Scientific Committee of the EU Fundamental Rights Agency. As academic scholar, he has run several multi-annual research projects related to the right to privacy, including the EU-funded project…
Content Type: Long Read
Go back to the report page Methodology We looked at the top period tracking apps downloaded in the Google Play Store, some of which we had examined in our original research, and some of which are newly emerging apps that have since grown in popularity. The top period-tracking apps with the most downloads included Flo; Period Tracker by Simple Design; and apps we'd tested in our previous research that still exist such as Maya, Period Tracker by GP Apps, as well as several apps popular…
Content Type: Long Read
Go back to the full report page Flo, headquartered in London, UK, is one of the most popular period-tracking apps on the market with over 380 million downloads. The app was previously accused of sharing data with Facebook, such as informing Facebook whenever a Flo user was on their period or if they intended to get pregnant. In 2021, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reached a settlement with Flo to undergo an audit of their privacy policy and to obtain user permissions before…
Content Type: Long Read
Go back to the full report pagePeriod Tracker by Simple Design is another popular period tracking app that has over 150 million users. To begin using this app the user answers a set of three onboarding questions for about their cycle pattern. The user has the option to answer 'I'm not sure' for each question. After answering 'I'm not sure' for these three questions, we were able to proceed on the app without having to create an account. Throughout our experience inputting our cycle…
Content Type: Long Read
Go back to the full report pageThe Maya app is a period tracker app by Plackal Tech based in India. In our previous investigation, we revealed Maya was sharing a plethora of user input data to Facebook. However, in response to our 2019 research, the app claimed it had since ‘removed both the Facebook core SDK and Analytics SDK from Maya’ while ‘continu[ing] to use the Facebook Ad SDK, post opt-in to our terms and conditions and privacy policy’ for revenue purposes, the latter of which 'does not…
Content Type: Long Read
Go back to the full report pagePeriod Tracker by GP Apps is another popularly downloaded app we previously looked at in 2019. In our original research, we determined that this app did not appear to share any user input data with Facebook. This time, we examined the third parties that the app appeared to integrate and what kind of data was being shared with these third parties, as well as what user data the app was storing on its own or external services. It’s worth noting that the…
Content Type: Long Read
Go back to the full report pageWocute is a Singapore-based period tracking app with over 5 million global downloads. To get started on the app, a user first needs to complete a short onboarding questionnaire about their goal for using the app ('track my cycle'); their year of birth (which we skipped), followed by the length of their period cycle and start date of their last period (for which we selected 'I'm not sure'). These responses were all communicated to the API:
Content Type: Long Read
Go back to the full report pageThe WomanLog app, developed by Pro Active App SIA, is a Latvia-based period tracking app with over 10 million downloads that features an 'Intelligent Assistant' chatbot (more on this below). To get started on the app, we completed a short onboarding questionnaire about which app mode we intended to use (e.g., standard) and the length of our cycle and period. Our answers to these questions were sent across the web traffic to the app developer's API:
Content Type: Long Read
Go back to the full report pageStardust is a New York-based astrology-themed period tracking app that has recently risen in popularity, having received a spike in downloads in the U.S. following the overturning of Roe v. Wade. According to its website, the app takes a de-identification approach to users' privacy by utilising a third party 'security system' operated by Rownd, “an authentification platform that stores your contact information for us [Stardust] so that we cannot associate your…
Content Type: Long Read
Go back to the full report pageThe last app we looked at was Euki, which has been recognised among privacy advocates. The app is a U.S. non-profit privacy-by-default period tracker app founded by a group of social tech and sexual and reproductive health organisations like Digital Defense Fund and Ibis Reproductive Health. The app has recently become open-source. We ran the Euki app through the DIAAS environment to observe its web traffic as for the above apps. There were no onboarding…
Content Type: Long Read
Go back to the full report pageLimitationsBefore our analysis, we note the technical limitations (and the scope of our research) meant we did not test certain features mentioned, such as Google Fit integrations offered by some apps. We also mention the limitations of our DIAS environment, which only allows us to see web (client-side) interactions, rather than server-side interactions, the latter of which are increasingly common among more advanced platforms that utilise cloud computing (e.…
Content Type: Long Read
Our research has introduced questions about the right to privacy when apps have the potential to share a range of user-related data. This is a particular concern for people using apps in countries where there are restrictions on access to abortion. In the US, after the overturning of Roe v Wade, concerns around the privacy practices of period-tracking apps have been raised in states that have introduced restrictions and bans on access to abortion. It could be very possible for some period…
Content Type: Long Read
The security of our devices, applications and infrastructure is paramount to the safe functioning of our digital lives. Good security enables trust in our systems, it is fundamental to protecting the critical information we store and exchange through networks and devices. Similar to how we physically secure our homes, offices and schools, securing devices and software allows us to operate in safe and trusted environments where our security is guaranteed and protected.Security for information…
Content Type: News & Analysis
Our partner Transparencia Electoral has created an extensive and interactive index on data protection during elections in Latin America.The index evaluates laws and regulations around data protection during the election cycle in 16 countries in the region: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay.Organising elections is a huge government data-gathering exercise. The…
Content Type: Video
Links2G phone networks are being shutdownRead the Rest of World storyPI's Low Cost Tech researchListen to our podcast on connectivity and vertical mergersGoogle anti-trust case and potential break up; Read the Washington Post storyGoogle buy WizImpact of USAID cutsRead the NY Times articleUK cutsPI's work on aid funding surveillance: US Surveillance exportsEU Surveillance AidUm-ing and Ah-ingRead the Knowable articleIsrael, data and AIRead the 972 article Cellphone data for targetingLLM…