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Content Type: Long Read
IMAGE SOURCE: "My Phone Bought This" by oliver t is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
LAST UPDATE: 16th May 2022.
Mandatory SIM card registration laws require people to provide personal information, including a valid ID or even their biometrics, as a condition for purchasing or activating a SIM card. Such a requirement allows the state to identify the owner of a SIM card and infer who is most likely making a call or sending a message at any given time.
SIM card…
Content Type: Long Read
When you go abroad, you expect to show your passport right? But what if immigration authorities wanted access to your Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts before they let you enter a country? What if they wanted to vet you based on your updates, photos, likes, retweets and even your DMs?
We think social media companies, who make literally billions of dollars out of you, and wield massive power and influence, should challenge governments on YOUR behalf. They should be protecting their users…
Content Type: Case Study
In 2030 Amtis finds a future where property rights for data were adopted. Here’s how this future plays out:
My data, my turf. This was the first graffiti I saw as I was walking down the street and I said to myself, “Yeah, big corp, we’re going to get you good!”. I am fed up with companies making insane amounts of money from my data. If this is the game we’re playing, I want my fair share.
I was not the only one thinking like this. A few years back there was a strong push towards adopting…
Content Type: Advocacy
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Philip Alston, is preparing a thematic report to the UN General Assembly on the human rights impacts, especially on those living in poverty, of the introduction of digital technologies in the implementation of national social protection systems. The report will be presented to the General Assembly in New York in October 2019.
As part of this process, the Special Rapporteur invited all interested governments, civil…
Content Type: Advocacy
Refugees are among the most vulnerable people in the world. From the moment they flee their homes, as they pass through 'temporary' places such as refugee camps and detention centres to their 'final' destinations, they are continuously exposed to threats. In the digital age, these threats are increasingly being driven by the processing of vast amounts of highly sensitive personal data: from enrollment and registration processes needed for them to access services, to their identification and…
Content Type: Video
Watch our video primer (1m54s) on how political advertisers use highly detailed data about you to target political adverts at you.
Read about some simple steps you can take to minimise the amount of political ads you see online and questions you can be asking of those that profit from your data.
Content Type: News & Analysis
Planning and participating in peaceful protests against governments or non-state actors’ policies and practices requires the capacity of individuals to communicate confidentially without unlawful interference. From protests in support of LGBTI rights to protests against specific projects that undermine local communities’ wellbeing, these movements would not have been possible without the ability to exchange ideas and develop plans in private spaces.
Unlawful interference with…
Content Type: Explainer graphic
You can also read a more detailed explainer about social media intelligence (SOCMINT) here.
Content Type: Video
Video courtesy of CPDP (https://www.cpdpconferences.org/)
What is the impact of online gender-based violence on survivors? What should be the role of companies in fighting this phenomenon? What is the link between the right to privacy? In this panel, which took place at CPDP in February 2019, academics, civil society and government representatives discuss the issue of online gender based violence with a privacy lens.
Chair: Gloria González Fuster, VUB -LSTS (BE)
Moderator: Valerie…
Content Type: News & Analysis
In December 2018, we revealed how some of the most widely used apps in the Google Play Store automatically send personal data to Facebook the moment they are launched. That happens even if you don't have a Facebook account or are logged out of the Facebook platform (watch our talk at the Chaos Communication Congress (CCC) in Leipzig or read our full legal analysis here).
Today, we have some good news for you: we retested all the apps from our report and it seems as if we…
Content Type: Explainer graphic
You can also read a more detailed explainer about facial recognition cameras here.
Content Type: Explainer graphic
You can also read a more detailed explainer about IMSI catchers here.
Content Type: Explainer graphic
You can also read a more detailed explainer about mobile phone extraction here.
Content Type: News & Analysis
Palantir and the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) are partnering for a reported $45 million. Palantir, a US-based company that sells data software and has been the centre of numerous scandals.
The World Food Programme provides assistance in food and nutrition to around 92 million people each year. Systems that are produced in agreements such as the one between WFP and Palantir increase risks to the people the they are attempting to help. There are risks to both individuals and whole populations…
Content Type: Impact Case Study
What Happened
On 5 June 2013, The Guardian published the first in a series of documents disclosed by Edward Snowden, a whistleblower who had worked with the NSA. The documents revealed wide-ranging mass surveillance programs conducted by the USA’s National Security Agency (NSA) and the UK’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), which capture the communications and data of hundreds of millions of people around the world. In addition to revealing the mass surveillance programs of the…
Content Type: Press release
Consumer groups, NGOs and industry call jointly for the Council of the EU to advance ePrivacy reform
On Monday 3 December, a coalition of more than 30 consumer groups, NGOs and industry representatives sent a letter to EU Ministers and the Council of the EU calling for the conclusion of the negotiations on the reform of the ePrivacy legislation.
The letter was sent prior to yesterday's (4 December) meeting in the TTE Council, with signatories sharing concerns over the slow progress of the negotiations in the Council of the EU despite the repeated scandals that demonstrate the clear and…
Content Type: Advocacy
In response to the consultation on ‘Gender perspectives on Privacy’ by the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy, Privacy International presented a submission with its observations.
Content Type: Advocacy
Privacy International welcomes the effort by the Government of India to reaffirm its commitment to upholding and respecting the right to privacy, and for noting the need to regulate the processing of personal data as essential for the protection of privacy through the adoption of a data protection law.
The urgent need for this legislation has been validated in the Supreme Court decision regarding the Aadhaar Act, which stipulates the need for a robust data protection regime. …
Content Type: News & Analysis
This month Brazil adopted a new data protection law, joining the ranks of more than 120 countries which have adopted such legislation, providing individuals with rights against the exploitation of their personal data. But after a veto from the Brazilian president, the law lacks an independent authority in charge of its application, which can severely undermine its impact.
When drafting data protection bills, one of the most important and often politically contentious issue tends to be their…
Content Type: Advocacy
We welcome the effort by the Pakistani Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunications to regulate the processing of personal data in Pakistan, and take measures to guarantee the right to privacy as guaranteed under Article 14(1) of the Constitution: “[t]he dignity of man and, subject to law, the privacy of home, shall be inviolable.”
This legislative development is crucial and timely as Pakistan continues to embrace innovative governance initiatives and deploy data-intensive systems…
Content Type: Press release
On the day that GDPR comes into force, PI has launched a campaign investigating a range of data companies that make up a largely hidden data ecosystem. This hidden data ecosystem is comprised of thousands of non-consumer facing data companies - such as Acxiom, Criteo, Quantcast - that amass and exploit large amounts of personal data. Using the rights and obligations provided for within the new data privacy law, PI's campaign involves investigating a selection of these companies whose business…
Content Type: Impact Case Study
PI and our global partners have been at the forefront of challenging communications data retention for over a decade.
What is the problem
Communications data, also known as metadata, tells a story about your digital activity and answers the who, when, what, and how of a specific communication. While communications data doesn't include the contents of a message, all of the other information about the message can be very revealing about people, their habits, thoughts, health and personal…
Content Type: Impact Case Study
What happened
The Clinton Administration kicked off the cypto-wars in 1993 with the Clipper Chip. The continued application of export controls restrained the deployment of strong cryptography in products at a key moment of internet history: as it began to be embedded in software and networking.
What we did
In the early phases of the crypto-wars we placed pressure on global industry to implement encryption in their products. We ran campaigns and events across the world on the need for…
Content Type: Impact Case Study
What is the problem
Business models of lots of companies is based on data exploitation. Big Tech companies such Google, Amazon, Facebook; data brokers; online services; apps and many others collect, use and share huge amounts of data about us, frequently without our explicit consent of knowledge. Using implicit attributes of low-cost devices, their ‘free’ services or apps and other sources, they create unmatched tracking and targeting capabilities which are being used against us.
Why it is…
Content Type: Impact Case Study
What happened
In the aftermath of 9/11, Governments across the world rushed to legislate to expand surveillance. Governments
Moved to limit debate and reduce consultations as they legislated with speed.
Created new systems to collect data on all travellers, for the purpose of profiling and risk scoring.
Expanded identity schemes, and began demanding biometrics, particularly at borders.
Developed financial surveillance mechanisms on an unprecedented scale.
What we did
Few non-…
Content Type: Impact Case Study
What happened
Governments continuously seek to expand their communications surveillance powers. In the 1990s it was in the context of applying telephone surveillance laws to the internet. In the 2000s a spate of new laws arrived in response to 9/11. Expansions were then sought to monitor over-the-top services within the framing of Web 2.0. Then in the post-Snowden environment Governments rushed to legislate their previously secret powers.
What we did
We…
Content Type: Impact Case Study
What is the problem
In the 1990s privacy was often maligned as a ‘rich Westerner’s right’. We were told often that non-Westerners didn’t need privacy and had different cultural attitudes and would greet surveillance policies and technologies — often exported from the West.
Global civil society was composed mostly of a few individuals with no resources but great passion. The larger and more established NGOs, such as consumer and human rights organisations were less interested in ‘digital’ and ‘…
Content Type: Impact Case Study
What happened
Since the late 1980s governments across the world have been trying to build identity registries. By the early 1990s, there were similar policies being pursued by a number of governments across the Pacific region, with similar technologies from the same companies. In the mid-90s ID cards became a ‘modern’ policy, implementing smart cards. By 9/11 biometric IDs became the preferred solution to undefinable problems. Then came vast databases of biometrics to identify people — with…