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Content Type: Explainer
Imagine this: a power that secretly orders someone anywhere in the world to abide and the receiver can’t tell anyone, can’t even publicly say if they disagree, and can’t really question the power in open court because the secret order is, well, secret. Oh and that power affects billions of people’s security and their data. And despite being affected, we too can’t question the secret order.In this piece we will outline what’s ridiculous, the absurd, and the downright disturbing about what’s…
Content Type: News & Analysis
On February 21st, Apple disabled their ‘advanced data protection’ service for UK customers. That means no-one in Great Britain can now enable a powerful security safeguard that people who use Apple devices everywhere else on the planet can: user controlled end-to-end encryption of stored data.This is likely in response to a disturbing secret government power. Well, that’s what we think happened. We can’t know for sure.The UK Government has given themselves the power to serve companies anywhere…
Content Type: News & Analysis
Together 12 organisations, including trade unions and NGOs across the EU and the UK, are asking Deliveroo, Uber, and Just Eat Takeaway to take serious steps to significantly improve the transparency and explainability around the algorithms they use to manage their workforce.These platforms rely heavily on the use of algorithms to manage many aspect of their workers employment, from account creation, to account suspension to how much workers get paid. Yet, it’s almost impossible for workers to…
Content Type: Long Read
Intrusive surveillance technology is increasingly used during protests around the world, and we’ve been tracking its use around the world for years.This technology is often being deployed in secret, without a clear legal basis and without the safeguards and oversight applied to other surveillance technologies under international human rights law.We’ve increasingly observed the use of unlawfully generated and collected data from these technologies being used in court against people exercising…
Content Type: News & Analysis
The UK government has published a £20 million procurement for tech companies to provide live facial recognition technology (FRT) to police forces across the UK.Through BlueLight Commercial, a non-profit commercial consortium representing police and other emergency services, the government has issued a tender notice to establish a national multi-supplier framework for the provision of live FRT. The Scope of the framework is for “real-time deployment of facial recognition technology, which…
Content Type: Long Read
IntroductionIn early October this year, Google announced its AI Overviews would now have ads. AI companies have been exploring ways to monetise their AI tools to compensate for their eye watering costs, and advertising seems to be a part of many of these plans. Microsoft have even rolled out an entire Advertising API for its AI chat tools.As AI becomes a focal point of consumer tech, the next host of the AdTech expansion regime could well be the most popular of these AI tools: AI chatbots.…
Content Type: Long Read
Increasingly, EdTech systems are less about teaching than about monitoring, security and ‘safety’ – although those aims are often mixed with wider educational claims.For instance, one company offering “high quality surveillance systems and CCTV for schools including sophisticated infra-red cameras which record in the darkest areas” claimed that these both deter “bad or antisocial behaviour from pupils, parents and visitors” and improve the concentration, productivity and attainment of the…
Content Type: News & Analysis
Also available in English.A Relatora Especial da ONU sobre o Direito à Educação publicou seu relatório sobre liberdade acadêmica - que, entre outras coisas, recomenda que os Estados banam as tecnologias de reconhecimento facial das instituições educacionais.O sistema educacional do Brasil, que se baseia no valor fundamental “o melhor interesse da criança” é um dos piores infratores do mundo. Até o momento, 1.667 escolas só no estado do Paraná adotaram uma tecnologia que, segundo o principal…
Content Type: News & Analysis
Também disponível em portuguêsThe UN Special Rapporteur on the right to education published her report on academic freedom, which recommends that states ban facial recognition technologies from educational institutions.Brazil’s educational system - which is built on the fundamental value: the best interest of the child, is one of the world’s worst offenders. So far 1,667 schools in the state of Paraná alone have adopted a technology that the UN’s leading expert believes threatens student’s…
Content Type: News & Analysis
Artificial intelligence decision making systems have in recent years become a fixture of immigration enforcement and border control. This is despite the clear and proven harmful impacts they often have on individuals going through the immigration system. More widely, the harms of automated decision making have been increasingly there for all to see: from systems that encode bias and discrimination, as happened in the case of an algorithm used to detect benefit fraud in the Netherlands, to…
Content Type: News & Analysis
We’ve published a new tech explainer on election technologies in Kenya. The explainer takes a deep dive into the technologies employed to manage and administer the election process in Kenya, such as biometric voter registration (BVR), voter identification, results transmission, and candidate management systems.Electoral processes - along with elections themselves - are one of the largest government data-gathering exercises undertaken, making them susceptible to data exploitation and privacy…
Content Type: Long Read
INTRODUCTION
In recent years, major tech platforms have been rapidly evolving their business models. Despite their dominance in various markets, tech giants like Google and Meta are venturing into new territories to expand their user base. One of the most striking ventures has been their foray into the "connectivity market" through substantial, and occasionally unsuccessful, investments in network infrastructure.
Many tech companies are investing resources into network infrastructure, either…
Content Type: Long Read
Social media is now undeniably a significant part of many of our lives, in the UK and around the world. We use it to connect with others and share information in public and private ways. Governments and companies have, of course, taken note and built fortunes or extended their power by exploiting the digital information we generate. But should the power to use the information we share online be unlimited, especially for governments who increasingly use that information to make material…
Content Type: News & Analysis
Is the AI hype fading? Consumer products with AI assistant are disappointing across the board, Tech CEOs are struggling to give examples of use cases to justify spending billions into Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) and models training. Meanwhile, data protection concerns are still a far cry from having been addressed.
Yet, the believers remain. OpenAI's presentation of ChatGPT was reminiscent of the movie Her (with Scarlett Johannsen's voice even being replicated a la the movie), Google…
Content Type: Long Read
Sports are a huge part of daily life for billions around the world, a fundamental aspect of the rich tapestry of the human experience.Attending a major sporting event can be a formative experience in someone’s life, as a place to share in a communal culture.Increasingly we have seen surveillance, and especially mass surveillance measures, being introduced at sports events impeding the enjoyment particularly of the right to privacy and right to participate in sporting life.When we saw that the…
Content Type: News & Analysis
On 15 May 2024, a London Administrative Court handed down its judgment in the case of ADL & Ors v Secretary of State for the Home Department, just two months after another court judgment and a ruling of the UK's data protection authority (ICO). The four Claimants in this latest case (including asylum seekers and survivors of trafficking) were challenging the UK Home Office's policy of placing people released from immigration detention under 24/7 GPS surveillance - either by shackling them…
Content Type: Long Read
IntroductionFor years PI has been exposing and advocating against the use of facial recognition technology (FRT) and the grave threats it poses to our rights. This highly invasive technology is paving the way to a dystopian, biometric surveillance state, where everyone is identified and tracked everywhere they go, in real time, as they move through public spaces during their everyday lives. Furthermore, this is taking place within a democratic vacuum, without any specific legislation pertaining…
Content Type: Long Read
In 2023, Privacy International continued to produce real change in the world. We kept challenging governments and corporations that use data and technology to exploit us; pushed for new legislative standards; educated and campaigned with others.
And, we produced HUGE impact that directly affects each of us.
Here's a selection of our biggest achievements from last year.
French Data Protection regulator (CNIL) fined Doctissimo and Criteo
Following PI’s complaint, in May 2023, CNIL fined French…
Content Type: News & Analysis
In a significant and forceful decision, on 1 March 2024 the UK's Data Protection Authority found that the UK Government's GPS tagging of migrants arriving to the UK by small boats and other "irregular" routes was unlawful.
The decision comes as a result of Privacy International's complaint filed in August 2022 against the GPS tagging policy, which alleged widespread and significant breaches of privacy and data protection law. Our complaint relied extensively on anonymous testimonies of…
Content Type: Press release
9 November 2023 - Privacy International (PI) has just published new research into UK Members of Parliament’s (startling lack of) knowledge on the use of Facial Recognition Technology (FRT) in public spaces, even within their own constituencies. Read the research published here in full: "MPs Asleep at the Wheel as Facial Recognition Technology Spells The End of Privacy in Public".PI has recently conducted a survey of 114 UK MPs through YouGov. Published this morning, the results are seriously…
Content Type: Long Read
TAKE ACTION TO STOP THE END OF PRIVACY IN PUBLIC1. IntroductionThe use of facial recognition technology (FRT) by law enforcement and private companies in public spaces throughout the UK is on the rise. In August 2023, the government announced that it is looking to expand its use of FRT, which it considers “an increasingly important capability for law enforcement and the Home Office”. The indiscriminate use of this dystopian biometric technology to identify individuals in public spaces is a form…
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: 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: Press release
La CNIL a aujourd'hui prononcé une sévère sanction contre Criteo, une des plus grandes sociétés françaises de pistage et publicité en ligne. Le montant de l'amende a été réduit de 60 à 40 millions d'euros depuis l'audience qui s'est tenue à la CNIL en Mars 2023, durant laquelle Criteo avait mis en avant son bénéfice net de 10 millions d'euros en 2022 pour plaider en faveur d'une réduction de sa peine. La CNIL semble avoir entendu ces arguments, mais a heureusement maintenu une amende…
Content Type: Press release
French data regulator CNIL announced today a strong sanction against Criteo, one of the world's largest AdTech companies. Although close to the maximum GDPR fine, the amount of the fine was reduced from 60 to 40 million following a hearing at CNIL's offices in March 2023, during which Criteo pleaded for a reduced fine in light of its 10 million euros profit in 2022. CNIL seems to have acknowledged this argument but maintained a significant fine. This sanction follows a Privacy International…
Content Type: Long Read
In 2022, Privacy International continued to produce real change by challenging governments and corporations that use data and technology to exploit us. And, we produced substantial impact that directly affects each of us.
Here are a handful of our biggest achievements in 2022.
WE CHALLENGED COMPANIES TO CHANGE THEIR BUSINESS MODELS AND PRACTICES
Regulators in UK, France, Greece, and Italy fined and restricted Clearview AI’s activity
Clearview AI built a massive database of our biometrics, by…
Content Type: News & Analysis
Our mobile phones contain all kinds of data that ranges from photos, videos and emails to information about our health, the places we visit and our leisure time. This data is often relied upon by law enforcement authorities in criminal investigations.
Mobile phone extraction (MPE) tools are used for this purpose as they enable police and other authorities to download content and associated data from people’s phones. These tools are supplied by private companies to security forces and…
Content Type: Long Read
On 18th January, it was announced that end-to-end encrypted iCloud services, Advanced Data Protection, would be offered to Apple users globally.
The offer of such level of security globally, while overdue, is a key step to ensuring trust and confidence in today’s world. There are too many threats to our data and our rights. Twelve years ago, we called on Apple to encrypt iCloud storage for users all around the world.
Why this is important
While privacy and security is often portrayed as…
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: Long Read
The UK’s security services have the power to collect, analyse, and store huge amounts of personal data. They can target specific individuals, hack their computers, and intercept their data or communications, but they can also obtain personal datasets in bulk, intercept overseas communications in bulk, and collect huge swathes of communications data from telecomms providers.[1]
The public rightly expects that the vast amounts of personal data which agencies like MI5 collect and store will be…