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Content Type: Advocacy
Em Junho de 2023, fizemos uma submissão para a 138ª Sessão do Comitê de Direitos Humanos, que ocorreu entre 26 de Junho de 2023 e 28 de Julho de 2023, em relação à conformidade do Brasil com o Pacto Internacional sobre Direitos Civis e Políticos (ICCPR) antes da adoção da Lista de Questões Prévias ao Relatório (LoIPR).Entre outras coisas, recomendamos que o Comitê de Direitos Humanos da ONU solicite ao governo Brasileiro que:Adira aos seus padrões internacionais e nacionais de direitos humanos…
Content Type: Advocacy
In June 2023, we made a submission for the 138th Session of the Human Rights Committee that took place between 26 June 2023 and 28 July 2023 in relation to Brazil’s compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) before the adoption of the List of issues prior to reporting (LoIPR).Amongst others, we recommended the UN Human Rights Committee call on Brazil to:Adhere to its international and national human rights standards to uphold the right to privacy and the…
Content Type: Video
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Content Type: Advocacy
Our submission focussed on the evolving impacts of (i) automated decision-making, (ii) the digitisation of social protection programmes, (iii) sensitive data-processing and (iv) assistive technologies in the experiences and rights of people with disabilities.We called on the OHCHR to:Examine the impact that growing digitisation and the use of new and emerging technologies across sectors has upon the rights of persons with disabilities;Urge states to ensure that the deployment of digital…
Content Type: Examples
Facial recognition technology using chips from the US companies Nvidia and Intel and deployed in the Moscow underground has helped police detain and question thousands of people on the way to and returning from protests against the Russia-Ukraine war. Nvidia and Intel are not thought to have breached sanctions. However, the Russian and Belarusian companies that provide the algorithms to perform face matching participated, and in some cases won prizes, in US facial recognition test programmes…
Content Type: Examples
Internal emails obtained under an FOI request show that between April and June 2022 the US Marshals Service received regular alerts from Dataminr, a company that monitors social media on behalf of corporate and government clients and an official partner of Twitter, advising them of the times and locations of ongoing and planned abortion rights protests. There is no oversight for this type of warning system, even though it can chill free speech. The pattern of alerts suggests that Dataminr is…
Content Type: Long Read
In June 2023, the UK government announced its proposal to expand its surveillance powers by, among others, forcing communications operators to undermine encryption or abstain from providing security software updates globally. Building on our response to the government’s plans, this piece explains why what they want to do puts every one of us at risk.
Why your trust (to technologies you use) matters
Surveillance and privacy are complex concepts to grasp – it’s part of the appeal to us at PI.…
Content Type: Examples
A heavily redacted report from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court shows that the FBI turned a tool intended for foreign surveillance under a law known as Section 702 on 278,000 US citizens between 2020 and 2021, including suspects in the January 6 insurrection and Black Lives Matter protesters. The FBI brought in corrective measures in 2021 that caused the use of the database to drop dramatically. The Biden administration is seeking to renew Section 702 before it lapses at the end of…
Content Type: Examples
Thousands of dissidents in 40 countries were imprisoned for posting or reposting social, political, or religious content on social media between June 2021 and May 2022, according to the Freedom on the Net 2022 report. The report calls China, the most repressive of the 40, "the world's worst environment for internet freedom"; the country has detained journalists, human rights activists, members of religious and ethnic minority groups, and ordinary users. It is highlighted that protesters…
Content Type: Examples
A former executive at Bytedance, the owner of TikTok, has said in a filing relating to a wrongful dismissal lawsuit that the members of Chinese Communist Party maintained a backdoor channel to access TikTok user data belonging to Hong Kong protesters and civil rights activists in order to try to identify the individuals and their locations. The data included the users' network information, SIM card identifications, and IP addresses. Bytedance pulled the app out of Hong Kong in 2020 when a new…
Content Type: Examples
Hong Kong authorities seeking to ensure the complete removal of the popular pro-democracy protest song "Glory to Hong Kong" from search results got an injunction against Google after the technology giant refused to remove it without a court order. The authorities say in the writ that they are seeking to stop anyone with seditious intent from publishing or distributing the song in any media. After a hearing, the court denied the authorities' request.
https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics…
Content Type: Examples
Police have closely monitored the first protest in Hong Kong since 2020, limiting attendees to 100 and requiring them to wear number tags and submit their banners for prior inspection. Police also set up a cordon to keep protesters separated from the media. The protest opposed a land reclamation plan on the city's east side.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-65080083
Publication: BBC
Writer: BBC
Publication date: 2023-03-26
Content Type: Examples
Video footage shows that security agents linked to London mayor Sadiq Khan spied on the environmental activist group Green New Deal Rising and blocked members from participating in a public debate. Information about the campaigners and their plans appears to have been shared in advance between the Greater London Authority, the O2 venue, and ISG Commercial, which provides security services to the O2. The environmental group has been opposing the tunnel in progress linking the boroughs of…
Content Type: Examples
London's Metropolitan Police announced it would use facial recognition to scan the crowds attending the May 2023 coronation of King Charles III. The hundreds of thousands of people expected to line the streets was an entirely new scale of use for the technology in Britain. Critics such as Liberty and Big Brother Watch opposed the usage, fearing the police would use it to chill protest, already under threat from recent UK legislation granting police new powers.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-…
Content Type: Examples
Human rights lawyers allege that during protests in March 2023 police arbitrarily arrested numerous protesters with the goal of chilling protests. In similar cases during the 2018 "yellow vest" protests, only 5,000 of 11,000 people arrested were eventually prosecuted, according to the government's own figures. The arrests are supported by laws including a prohibition on participating in crowds preparing acts of violence or that have the potential to trouble public order. During visits by…
Content Type: Examples
In a case brought by NGOs before the 2023 May Day marches, administrative courts ruled that police may use drones to patrol the crowds and rejected the argument that the drones pose a serious attack to fundamental freedoms. However, a court in Rouen suspended parts of a decree that would have allowed police to use drones at a protest in Le Havre even though the judge agreed the drones would probably improve security.
https://www.rfi.fr/en/france/20230501-french-courts-uphold-use-of-police-…
Content Type: News & Analysis
Privacy International (PI) is concerned by developments in Pakistan regarding the enactment of the Draft Personal Data Protection Bill, 2023 and the opaque process which will see the bill become law.
The Bill was published on 19 May 2023 by the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication ('MITT'). However no open and inclusive consultation was open for comments to be submitted to the MITT. In a concerning development it was reported that the Bill was approved by the Federal…
Content Type: Advocacy
We are responding to the UK Government's consultation to expand its powers around Technical Capabilities Notices and National Security Notices.
Background
Following Edward Snowden's revelations about the illegal and expansive secret powers of the US and UK intelligence agencies, the UK Government took the opportunity to, rather than reflect on what powers are proportionate in the modern era, to expand its arsenal of surveillance powers.
One of the powers it added was the ability to issue…
Content Type: Video
Additional audio from The Guardian and from Channel 4 News via the Guardian
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What is Tempora?
Taking angle grinders to the Guardian's hard drives
PI's legal cases
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Hear from Ed Snowden directly
Content Type: Advocacy
Our submission focused on (1) the ways in which states are adopting data-intensive ID systems; (2) the adoption by national immigration enforcement agencies of other privacy-intrusive modes of surveillance and control, including tracking by way of 24/7 Global Positioning System (GPS) technology and mobile device data extraction; (3) how the intensification of border surveillance technologies facilitates further human rights violations; (4) the impact of border externalisation and transfer of…
Content Type: Advocacy
On the 17 January 2023, the UK Home Secretary appointed Lord David Anderson KBE KC to carry out an independent review of the Investigatory Powers Act 2016.The Investigatory Powers Act 2016 provides a legal framework for the use of investigatory powers by the UK security and intelligence agencies, law enforcement and other relevant public bodies. These powers include the interception of communications; the retention and acquisition of communications data and; equipment interference for obtaining…
Content Type: People
Karla currently leads Privacy International's Protecting People's Dignity strategic area, which is dedicated to strengthening frameworks and mechanisms that ensure individuals affected by exclusion, discrimination, and unlawful surveillance can safely and equitably access and enjoy their fundamental rights. Karla has extensive experience in the regulatory sector, having served as a Senior Legal Advisor at the Federal Telecommunications Institute of Mexico and as Head of the Office of…
Content Type: Advocacy
This was submitted by PI and EFF for the sixth session of the Ad Hoc Committee, which is due to consider the text in August 2023.
Our submission covers provisions in the chapters related to procedural measures and law enforcement, as well as international cooperation of the proposed UN Cybercrime treaty (full title: Comprehensive international convention on countering the use of information and communications technologies for criminal purposes). We also provide general comments on Article 54…
Content Type: Advocacy
In June 2023, we made a submission to the Human Rights Committee ahead of its 138th Session in relation to Colombia’s compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
We called on the UN Human Rights Committee to make the following recommendations to Colombia:
The Electoral Law should ensure that the electoral register does not include personal data other than what is required to establish eligibility to vote. The law should define the minimum…
Content Type: People
Julie is responsible for coordinating Privacy International’s global network of partner organisations. Privacy International works with civil society organisations from around the world to generate strategies to develop and sustain a global movement. Julie coordinates the joint research, advocacy, communication, campaigning and learning tactics with Privacy International’s partners in order to formulate new ways to demand change globally.
Before joining Privacy International, Julie worked at…
Content Type: Long Read
Why does this decision matter?
Our complaint against Criteo formed part of a larger set of coordinated complaints we filed in 2018 against 7 data brokers (Acxiom, Oracle), AdTech companies (Criteo, Quantcast, Tapad), and credit referencing agencies (Equifax, Experian) with data protection authorities in France (CNIL), Ireland, (DPC) and the UK (ICO). The EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) had recently come into force, and the AdTech industry was (and still is) a prime affront to the…
Content Type: Video
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