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Content Type: Long Read
Introduction
In August 2019, when Facebook announced a few new features for advertisers such as ads in search, PI decided to take an in-depth look at what features the company offers its users when it comes to understanding its advertising practices. One of these features, which caught our attention is Facebook Ads Preference, a tool that among other things, lists businesses/advertisers that have uploaded your personal data to target you with (or exclude you from) ads on the platform.
Content Type: Report
Back in October 2019, PI started investigating advertisers who uploaded personal data to Facebook for targeted advertising purposes. We decided to take a look at "Advertisers Who Uploaded a Contact List With Your Information", a set of information that Facebook provides to users about advertisers who upload files containing their personal data (including unique identifier such as phone numbers, emails etc...). Looking at the limited and often inaccurate information provided by Facebook through…
Content Type: Advocacy
Dear Facebook,
We are writing to you today following Privacy International’s investigation into brands advertising on Facebook conducted over the past few months.
Privacy International (“PI”) is a UK-registered charity that promotes the right to privacy at an international level. It is solely responsible for the research and investigation underpinning its publications.
In an attempt to exercise our rights under GDPR (specifically the right to data access) as Facebook users and better…
Content Type: Examples
A mix of city data and reports from building superintendents and porters provides evidence on how New York City’s residents’ behaviour has changed during the lockdown. Among the findings so far: residents are recycling 27% more, particularly clear glass, and total garbage collected has dropped, especially in wealthy areas, where some residents left for country homes, but risen in the poorest areas. Scholars of consumption habits hope to learn more about how shutdowns affect people’s use of…
Content Type: Examples
The AI firm Faculty, which worked on the Vote Leave campaign, was given a £400,000 UK government contract to analyse social media data, utility bills, and credit ratings, as well as government data, to help in the fight against the coronavirus. This is at least the ninth contract awarded to Faculty since 2018, for a total of at least £1.6 million. No other firm was asked to bid on the contract, as normal public bodies’ requirements for competitive procurement have been waived in the interests…
Content Type: Examples
The Delaware County of New Castle is participating in a pro-bono programme run by the Cambridge, Massachusetts start-up Biobot Analytics, which analyses sewage for the coronavirus in order to estimate the number of people infected in a particular area, hoping to use the results to make better health decisions. Wastewater epidemiology has been used in the past to combat polio. Also joining the Biobot programme are wastewater treatment plants in or near Denver, Honolulu, Indianapolis, Florida’s…
Content Type: Examples
Between March 29 and May 28, residents of Nashville, Tennessee submitted 3,748 reports of potential violations of the Safe at Home order, including locations such as restaurants, parks, churches, and funeral homes, and violations such as promoting live music while it was prohibited, or failing to wear a mask correctly. By May 11, the Metro Public Health Department had yet to issue a single citation, instead viewing complaints as an opportunity to educate businesses and individuals about how to…
Content Type: Examples
Concerns that contact tracing could expand to purposes beyond public health gained some weight when the Minnesota Department of Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington told press that law enforcement was using “contact tracing” to investigate protesters arrested after the murder of George Floyd. Minnesota public health authorities found that Harrington actually meant they were engaging in the normal process of law enforcement investigations, and not, as he had implied, using data from Covid-…
Content Type: Examples
Immunity passports, under consideration in a number of countries, may violate US disability law, enable discrimination, and create a two-tiered exclusionary society. They are not really comparable to vaccination cards for diseases such as yellow fever or meningitis, which are required for entry into a number of countries or universities, because in those cases vaccines are available. Antibody testing for COVID-19, however, has many uncertainties, as the extent to which antibodies confer…
Content Type: Examples
After problems with its TraceTogether contact tracing app, Singapore is planning a comprehensive contact tracing system in which it will distribute to all its 5.7 million residents a wearable device that will identify people who have interacted with people carrying the coronavirus. The devices can be worn on a lanyard or carried in a handbag. Critics are concerned that it will be difficult to tell what the device is doing or what information it sends to back-end servers.
Source: https://mobile…
Content Type: Examples
The lack of data protection laws and the absence of a privacy commission are contributing factors to Pakistan’s failure to investigate or remedy security flaws in the country’s recently-launched COVID-19 tracking technology, which partially depends on a system originally developed to combat terrorism. While there are no reported cases of harassment or targeting based on the leak online of the personal details of thousands of COVID-19 volunteers, the lack of response fails to boost citizens’…
Content Type: Examples
While acknowledging the WHO’s advice that retaining antibodies to the coronavirus after recovering from COVID-19 is not yet scientifically confirmed to confer immunity, the International Air Transport Association believes that immunity passports could be important in helping air travel resume. Documented passengers could bypass many of the protective measures currently planned, which include temperature screening, physical distancing, modified boarding processes, and wearing masks.
…
Content Type: Examples
Italy has launched Immuni, one of the first contact tracing apps based on the Apple-Google API. The app is opt-in, and includes an explanation of the privacy and security measures in its setup. The app collects anonymously bluetooth tokens that are automatically randomised, but does not collect GPS or location data and performs all processing on the device.
Source: https://9to5mac.com/2020/06/01/italy-apple-exposure-notification-api-app/
Writer: Michael Potuck
Publication: 9 to 5 Mac
Content Type: News & Analysis
For the past few weeks, people across the world, starting in the US, have taken to the streets to protest the murder of George Floyd, a victim of police brutality. The protests, which are organised by and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have also become a platform to protest against state sponsored violence and systematic racism against black people.
The majority of articles and media focus have so far focused on what happens during the protest, namely an increasingly militarised…
Content Type: Long Read
In December 2019, the Information Rights Tribunal issued two disappointing decisions refusing appeals brought by Privacy International (PI) against the UK Information Commissioner.
The appeals related to decisions by the Information Commissioner (IC), who is responsible for the UK’s Freedom of Information regime, concerning responses by the Police and Crime Commissioner for Warwickshire and the Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis (The Metropolitan Police) to PI’s freedom of information…
Content Type: Examples
Serbian MPs voted 155-0, with one not voting and one abstention, to lift the state of emergency that was declared on March 15 and repeal 11 emergency ordinances covering work, tax, debt, and criminal justice on the basis that the conditions for lifting it have been met. The change lifts curfews and allows businesses to reopen, but sanitary and medical measures to control the coronavirus pandemic remain in force, such as the requirement to maintain social distancing in shopping malls, cafes, and…
Content Type: Examples
The Slovak Constitutional Court declared unconstitutional parts of the newly amended telecommunication law that permitted state authorities to access telcommunications data for the purposes of contact tracing. The parliament approved the legislation in March, but the court ruled that the need for speedy solutions during the pandemic should not unintentionally erode the rule of law. The court called the provisions it struck down insufficiently clear, and lacking in safeguards against misuse. The…
Content Type: Examples
As part of their preparations to ease the lockdown, French authorities have added AI tools into the CCTV cameras in the Paris Metro to detect the number of passengers who are wearing face masks. The system is also being used in outdoor markets and buses in Cannes. Although it is mandatory to wear a mask on public transport in France, the software won't be used to identify, rebuke, or fine people, and the system has not proved as contentious as contact tracing. The data protection regulator CNIL…
Content Type: Examples
Taking advantage of the pandemic to close US borders, the Trump administration is also spreading coronavirus infection by deporting detainees to receiving countries such as Guatemala, where 20% of infections are deportees. Guatemala has only two hospitals and a scattering of smaller regional medical facilities to serve its population of 18 million people. As of April 2020, 5,000 Guatemalans were being held in detention in the US, and every week the Department of Homeland Security was sending…
Content Type: Examples
The controversial Israeli spyware company NSO Group's US arm, Westbridge, has been trying to pitch its phone hacking software to US law enforcement agencies such as the San Diego Police Department, particularly a tool called "Phantom", which the complany claims can overcome encryption, track geolocation, withstand a factory reset, monitor apps and voice and VOIP calls, and collect passwords.
Writer: Joseph Cox
Publication: Vice
Content Type: Guide step
Fingerprint lock
If there are chances that your device might be accessed while unlocked you might want to add this second security layer. Enabling it means that to open Whatsapp you'll need to provide your fingerprint, the same way you might already unlock your phone. This isn't a perfect solution, as you might be compelled to unlock the app. If you think this may happen, you should consider clearing your history often to avoid giving access to personal and sensitive information.
To set a…
Content Type: Guide step
Ajustes> Cuenta > Privacidad
Bloqueo con huella dactilar
Tal vez quieras añadir este segundo nivel de seguridad si existe la posibilidad de que alguien acceda a tu dispositivo mientras está desbloqueado. Activarlo implica que tendrás que usar tu huella dactilar para abrir Whatsapp, como es posible que lo hagas cuando desbloquees tu teléfono. Sin embargo, no es una solución perfecta, podrían obligarte a desbloquear la aplicación. Si es posible que esto suceda, deberías considerar borrar…
Content Type: Examples
Cameras repurposed as "fever-detecting" aren't designed for and are not very good at detecting infections, but businesses, airlines, major employers, and public officials are nonetheless reacting to the coronavirus pandemic by spending large sums to buy them without understanding their limitations. The systems can detect elevated skin temperatures, but aren't precise enough to be able to identify the cause. In addition, many people who develop COVID-19 don't have fevers. The scanners have not…
Content Type: Examples
At a press conference, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested that microchipping everyone, beginning with children returning to school and kindergarten as the coronavirus lockdown ends; the chip would sound an alarm whenever anyone gets too close much as a car does. Security experts immediately objected on the grounds that microchipping kids was neither legal nor practical, that the children would be at risk from paedophiles if their data leaked to the internet; and that the real…
Content Type: Examples
Any user of India's Aaorgya Setu contact tracing app can now request deletion of the data they've entered according to the Aaorgya Seta Emergency Data Access and Knowledge Sharing Protocol, 2020, which specifies the definition, collection, processing, and storage of the data the app collects. The protocol will be applicable for the next six months, and also increases the amount of time the data will be retained from 60 days to 180. IT ministry officials said the protocol was needed after a…
Content Type: Examples
Many of the technologies used to combat the coronavirus pandemic, including monitoring and analysing social media posts, telecommunications location data, and the use of sensors, were first tested on refugees during the 2015 crisis and are now being repurposed in the name of public health. In 2019, the European border security agency Frontex published a €400,000 tender for social media analysis services hoping to better predict future migration patterns; the tender was withdrawn after an…
Content Type: Examples
Among the regulations governing restaurants as the US State of Maine's moves into a phased reopening is a requirement to maintain customer records for contact tracing purposes, including one customer's name and contact information per party and those of the table's server. The regulations also recommend promoting contactless payment options.
Writer: State of Maine
Publication: State of Maine
Content Type: Guide step
Chat backup
This is by far the most important setting in Whatsapp, if you must do one thing, do this. Because Whatsapp is end to end encrypted, your messages are not stored anywhere by default. This means that if you were to lose or change your device, all messages would be lost. Since this is not desirable for a lot of people, Whatsapp allows users to backup their chat history on the Cloud, either on iCloud for iPhone users or Google drive for Android users. These backups are potentially a…
Content Type: Guide step
Ajustes > Chats
Copia de seguridad de los chats
Sin lugar a dudas, este es el ajuste más importante en Whatsapp; si hay algo que no puedes dejar de hacer, esto es. Dado que Whatsapp aplica el cifrado de extremo a extremo, por defecto tus mensajes no son almacenados en ninguna parte. Esto significa que si pierdes o cambias tu dispositivo, se perderían todos los mensajes. Como muchas personas no quieren perder sus mensajes, por lo que Whatsapp permite que sus usuarios hagan copias de…