Advanced Search
Content Type: Examples
Under a new contract, Planet Labs PBC will provide the NATO Communications and Information Agency's Alliance Persistent Surveillance from Space programme (APSS) with satellite data to aid in detailed tracking and analysis of foreign military activities and fill intelligence gaps. APSS is a multi-year, multinational project to use space to collect data on any location at any time and enhance NATO's engagement with future technologies, for example Artificial Intelligence (AI) and cloud…
Content Type: Examples
The US Department of Defense has awarded a contract worth almost $250 million to Anduril Industries for more than 500 Roadrunner-Ms as well as Pulsar electronic warfare capabilities, with AI-enabled systems, to counter the threat of attacks using unmanned aerial systems in “priority regions”. Anduril has won nearly $350 million in contracts since these technologies were publicly launched.https://www.designdevelopmenttoday.com/industries/military/news/22922589/anduril-awarded-250-million-air-…
Content Type: Examples
Under a new contract effective from October 2024 to December 2025, PureTech Systems, which specialises in geospatial AI-boosted video analytics, will deploy its command-and-control software in 22,600 square kilometers of the US border. The software will integrate the sensors attached to existing surveillance towers while retaining the interface already familiar to border agents.https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/puretech-systems-inc-awarded-major-command-and-control-contract-by-us-…
Content Type: Long Read
1. What is the issue?Governments and international organisations are developing and accessing databases to pursue a range of vague and ever-expanding aims, from countering terrorism and investigating crimes to border management and migration control.These databases hold personal, including biometric, data of millions if not billions of people, and such data is processed by technologies, including Artificial Intelligence (AI), to surveil, profile, predict future behaviour, and ultimately make…
Content Type: Examples
L3Harris is contracted by the U.S. Space Force to develop space surveillance information though a programme known as MOSSAIC (the Maintenance Of Space Situational Awareness Integrated Capabilities). The program is said to provide space surveillance information for military, civil and commercial users.https://www.satellitetoday.com/government-military/2024/04/19/us-space-force-awards-l3harris-contract-option-for-space-surveillance-program/Publication: ViaSatelliteWriter: Rachel Jewett
Content Type: Examples
Israel based company, High Lander, is providing demos of its system, called Orion, to U.S. police departments, suggesting the drones can help in law enforcement, including by performing video surveillance, searching for people or vehicles using AI and thermal sensors. https://theintercept.com/2024/05/17/israel-orione-drone-us-police-louisiana/Publication: The InterceptWriter: Delaney Nolan
Content Type: Examples
Microsoft pitched the use of OpenAI's DALL-E software to support battlefield operations of the US Department of Defense, in seeming contravention of OpenAI's ban against working in the military field. One of the potential use cases proposed by Microsoft is to use DALL-E, OpenAI's image generation model, to train battle management systems. The efficacy, reliability and ethics of such a use of private AI are questioned by various experts. https://theintercept.com/2024/04/10/microsoft-openai-…
Content Type: Examples
Fusion Technology will earn $159.8 million over 5 years to work with the US FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS). It will support the FBI in developing the National Data Exchange ("an investigative tool for agencies to search, analyze, and share criminal justice information"), the Law Enforcement Online System (for information sharing between local, state, tribal, federal, and international criminal justice agencies) and "Crime Data apps".https://www.biometricupdate.com/202404/…
Content Type: Examples
US data analytics firm Palantir, known for its numerous contracts with intelligence agencies, military forces, or law enforcement and immigration authorities, has been awarded a £330m contract to run a new mass database for the UK's health service (NHS). The deal comes four years after Palantir was awarded a £1 contract during the Covid-19 pandemic to build an analytics platform for the NHS. People and organisations across the political spectrum have voiced significant privacy and data…
Content Type: Examples
Over 60 US cities and counties use Fusus, a "police technology platform that merges public and private cameras with predictive policing and other surveillance tools". Private surveillance camera owners are encouraged to enroll in a police-led program that enables the police to control these cameras. The result is an expanstion of policed spaces and integration of all private and public surveillance systems in one comprehensive dragnet. And Fusus' platform does not stop at integrating CCTV…
Content Type: Examples
Notorious military tech company Anduril is pushing its technology to the border surveillance market. Along the US-Mexico border, its surveillance towers "use an artificial intelligence system called Lattice to autonomously identify, detect and track “objects of interest”, such as humans or vehicles. The cameras pan 360 degrees and can detect a human from 2.8km away." But border surveillance technology has been shown to lead people to lengthier and more dangerous routes as they seek to avoid…
Content Type: Report
This policy paper seeks to determine the potential for the existing international private military and security companies (PMSC) regulatory framework to support more effective regulation of surveillance services provided by the private sector.In order to achieve this, and given that this paper addresses an issue that is at the intersection of two domains, it seeks to establish a common language and terminology between security sector governance and surveillance practitioners.In…
Content Type: Examples
When the Los Angeles Police Department opted to monitor the messages posted in forums on Neighbors, a companion app to Amazon's Ring doorbell cameras, the system forwarded over 13,000 messages in just over two years. Research shows, however, that this type of surveillance does a poor job of deterring property crime. A study of Neighbors posts in LA also shows that posters typically live in whiter, more affluent districts, and about 30% of posts did not describe criminal activity, just behaviour…
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: Long Read
The rise of racist and xenophobic narratives around the world has led to a ramping up of brutal migration control policies. Indefinite detention, pushbacks of boats at sea, or deportation for offshore processing of asylum claims all now form part of the arsenal deployed by some governments to “appear tough” on and provide "solutions" to immigration. A stark example is the UK’s “hostile environment” policy, announced 10 years ago by then Home Secretary Theresa May and designed to deter migrants…
Content Type: Advocacy
Privacy International welcomes the aim of the Cyber Resilience Act to bolster cybersecurity rules to ensure more secure hardware and software products. Nevertheless, we note that the proposal put forward by the European Commission contains certain shortcomings which could both hamper innovation and harm consumers who are increasingly relying on digital products and services.It is essential these shortcomings, detailed below, are effectively addressed by the EU co-legislators through the…
Content Type: Advocacy
We, the undersigned organisations, seek to draw your attention to aspects of the draft Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (the Directive), and its application to the use of technology and the technology sector, which require strengthening if the Directive is to realise its full potential in respect of this critical global sector that is today responsible for some of the most egregious human rights harms.
The technology and surveillance industries have ushered in an entirely new…
Content Type: Examples
The energy company Cuadrilla used Facebook to surveil anti-fracking protesters in Blackpool and forwarded the gathered intelligence to Lancashire Police, which arrested more than 450 protesters at Cuadrilla's Preston New Road site over a period of three years in a policing operation that cost more than £12 million. Legal experts have called the relationship between fracking companies and the police "increasingly unhealthy" and called on the ICO and the Independent Office for Police Conduct to…
Content Type: Examples
Emails obtained by EFF show that the Los Angeles Police Department contacted Amazon Ring owners specifically asking for footage of protests against racist police violence that took place across the US in the summer of 2020. LAPD signed a formal partnership with Ring and its associated "Neighbors" app in May 2019. Requests for Ring footage typically include the name of the detective, a description of the incident under investigation, and a time period. If enough people in a neighbourhood…
Content Type: Explainer
Introduction/Background
Electronic tags have been a key part of criminal justice offender management for over 20 years, being used in the United States since the mid 1980’s and in the UK and some other commonwealth countries since 2003. In 2021 the UK introduced GPS tagging for immigration bail.
The tag is predominantly used to curtail the liberties of individuals. For those on criminal bail its intended use includes managing return into communities while deterring reoffending.
As we explore…
Content Type: Long Read
This piece is a part of a collection of research that demonstrates how data-intensive systems that are built to deliver reproductive and maternal healthcare are not adequately prioritising equality and privacy.
What are they?
Short Message Services (SMS) are being used in mobile health (MHealth) initiatives which aim to deliver crucial information to expecting and new mothers. These initiatives are being implemented in developing countries experiencing a large percentage of maternal and…
Content Type: Advocacy
Our environment is increasingly populated by devices connected to the Internet, from computers and mobile phones to sound systems and TVs to fridges, kettles, toys, or domestic alarms. There has been research into the negative safety and privacy impacts of inadequate security provided by the software in such devices (such as the creation of large scale botnets). This is also the case with outdated security, a risk enabled by software support periods that are shorter than a product’s usable life…
Content Type: News & Analysis
Samsung has announced that the company will commit to providing major software updates for three generations of the Android operating system, but only for its flagship models: the S10, S20, Note 10 and Note 20.
From our reading of the available information, this means that these models will be getting support, including the latest operating system, features and security updates, for three years (as new Android operating systems are released every year).
While this is welcome news, it only…
Content Type: Examples
Academics have disclosed today a new vulnerability in the Bluetooth wireless protocol, broadly used to interconnect modern devices, such as smartphones, tablets, laptops, and smart IoT devices.
The vulnerability, codenamed BIAS (Bluetooth Impersonation AttackS), impacts the classic version of the Bluetooth protocol, also known as Basic Rate / Enhanced Data Rate, Bluetooth BR/EDR, or just Bluetooth Classic.
The BIAS attack
The BIAS security flaw resides in how devices handle the link key,…
Content Type: News & Analysis
A few weeks ago, its name would probably have been unknown to you. Amidst the covid-19 crisis and the lockdown it caused, Zoom has suddenly become the go-to tool for video chat and conference calling, whether it’s a business meeting, a drink with friends, or a much needed moment with your family. This intense rise in use has been financially good to the company, but it also came with a hefty toll on its image and serious scrutiny on its privacy and security practices.
While Zoom already had a…
Content Type: Examples
An engineering and computer science professor and his team from The Ohio State University discovered a design flaw in low-powered Bluetooth devices that leaves them susceptible to hacking.
Zhiqiang Lin, associate professor of computer science and engineering at the university, found the commonly used Bluetooth Low Energy devices, such as fitness trackers and smart speakers, are vulnerable when they communicate with their associated apps on the owner’s mobile phone.
"There is a fundamental…
Content Type: Explainer
In a scramble to track, and thereby stem the flow of, new cases of Covid-19, Governments around the world are rushing to track the locations of their populace. One way to do this is to write a smartphone app which uses Bluetooth technology, and encourage (or mandate) that individuals download and use the app. We have seen such examples in Singapore and emerging plans in the UK.
Apps that use Bluetooth are just one way to track location. There are several different technologies in a smartphone…
Content Type: Long Read
The pressing need to fix our cybersecurity (mis)understandings
Despite all the efforts made so far by different, cybersecurity remains a disputed concept. Some states are still approving cybersecurity laws as an excuse to increase their surveillance powers. Despite cybersecurity and cybercrime being different concepts, the confusion between them and the broad application of criminal statutes is still leading to the criminalise legitimate behaviour.
All of this represents a sizable challenge…