United Kingdom

Report and Analysis

Long Read

Couple sitting in front of shops in the UK

Welfare policy in the UK today: the government's flawed approach to fraud

After a consultation held in 2021 to which Privacy International responded, the government has now decided not to expand the powers of its "National Fraud Initiative". However, recent changes in the UK welfare landscape point to troubling plans for the future.

Report

Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@delfidelarua7?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">delfi de la Rua</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/s/photos/map-pins?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Unsplash</a>

PI submission on the GPS Tracking of Migrants in the UK

Privacy International has made a submission to the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration inspection of the Home Office Satellite Tracking Service Programme. We highlighted some of our concerns about the intrusive nature of location data as well as systemic failures relating to the quality of tags and battery life of devices which have a significant impact on individuals, as battery depletion can result in criminal prosecution.

Long Read

The UK Human Rights Act and the right to privacy

The UK goverment’s Independent Human Rights Act Review has shone the spotlight on the relationship between domestic jurisprudence and the European Court of Human Rights. We look at this relationship from a privacy perspective.

News

13th June 2022

Shining a light on the hostile environment

1st April 2022

UK Government acknowledges past violations of individuals’ rights and the fight continues...

25th March 2022

Press Release: High Court rules seizing and retaining mobile phones from asylum seekers unlawful

23rd July 2021

UK Investigatory Powers Tribunal finds the regime for bulk communications data to be incompatible with EU law

6th July 2021

The Policing Bill: Immigration Officers to get phone data extraction powers

29th June 2021

Policing Bill: An unsatisfactory debut on the statute books for mobile phone extraction

Examples of Abuse

Want to know how this translate in the real world? Here is the latest example in the news.

ICO reprimands Scottish council over facial recognition

The UK Information Commissioner's Office has reprimanded North Ayrshire council for installing iPayimpact facial recognition technology in nine schools without obtaining adequate consent. The system was intended to speed cashless lunch payments. The council withdrew the system and deleted the data

See more examples of abuse

Our Advocacy

Privacy International’s response to the UK Parliament Joint Committee on Human Rights

In March 2019, Privacy International responded to a call for evidence for an inquiry by the UK Parliament's Joint Committee on Human Rights into "The Right to Privacy (Article 8) and the Digital Revolution".

Our suggestions included that, the human rights framework should support:

Increasing individuals’ control over their data to encourage the design of technologies that protect peoples’ autonomy and privacy.
Increasing security to result in more rights and protections for individuals and constraints applied to powerful entities.
Creating further restraints on potential abuses arising from the vast accumulation of data.
Further limiting how data is used to construct profiles and to make decisions about people, groups, and societies.
Redress mechanisms for individuals, groups and civil society representing their interests.
Joined up investigations and actions by National Human Rights Institutions together with other regulatory bodies, such as data protection and competition authorities.