Long Reads
Expanding beyond GPS ankle tags, the Home Office has since Autumn 2022 been issuing so-called non-fitted devices (NFDs) to migrants who are on immigration bail and who are subject to electronic monitoring conditions. We undertook some technical research into NFDs to investigate the intrusiveness of this surveillance technology.
Introduction With the ongoing expansion of GPS tagging under the UK Home Office's electronic monitoring programme, it has increasingly deployed non-fitted devices (NFDs) that track a person's GPS location and request frequent biometric verification in the form of fingerprint scans. The NFDs deployed
This piece highlights concerns over the increasing use of data-intensive technologies in educational spaces (EdTech) and examines - among other things - how their unchecked implementation can jeopardize students' rights and education through potential privacy violations, discrimination, and the lack of student input in the adoption of these technologies.
Education is a fundamental human right outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 26), which states that everyone has the right to education. Schools play a core role in the education of children, but it’s also in schools that children are encouraged to learn to work with others
Surveillance databases are on the rise all around us and with them comes a wider array of issues. Here we begin to unpack these concerns and discuss some of the prominent global drivers of this trend.
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
PI's analysis of the Council of Europe's Guidelines on processing of personal data for voter registration and authentication, which complement a previous set of recommendations outlining the safeguards for the Processing of Personal Data by and for Political Campaigns.
Elections and political campaigns are increasingly mediated by digital technologies. These technologies rely on collecting, storing, and analysing personal information to operate. They have enabled the proliferation of tailor-made political advertising. The recent proliferation of AI technologies is
From the Amazon rainforests to subsaharan Africa, tech companies seek to expand their dominance by investing in connectivity infrastructure. While this has certainly brought some benefits, it also raises concerns about big tech's expansion into new territories.
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
Our exploration into the role of the EU-funded INTERPOL programme, the West African Police Information System, in externalising EU borders.
Our briefing, “ When Spiders Share Webs: The creeping expansion of INTERPOL’s interoperable policing and biometrics entrench externalised EU borders in West Africa”, explores the concerning human rights implications of the use of interoperable data-driven policing capabilities and biometric
A glimpse into what you can find in the new version of PI’s Guide to International Law and Surveillance. From surveillance of public spaces to spyware and encryption, it’s got everything!
The fourth edition of PI’s Guide to International Law and Surveillance provides the most hard-hitting past and recent results on international human rights law that reinforce the core human rights principles and standards on surveillance. We hope that it will continue helping researchers, activists
The European Union’s ‘Digital Markets Act’ came into force on the 7 March 2024. The law aims to make the EU’s markets in the digital sector fairer and more contestable by imposing restrictions on designated ‘gatekeepers’ in an attempt to empower competitors and reinstate the rights of users.
Introduction For years PI has been documenting the market dominance and associated power of Big Tech over the digital economy, and the threats this poses to our privacy and wider rights. The digital economy is characterised by a handful of Big Tech companies that have established and maintained
Privacy International presents how the use of social media monitoring by governments and companies is an increasingly prevalent one, and as this article explores, largely unregulated.
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
Governments have been digitising their health systems and, more broadly, healthcare. We dive into the right to health situated in the digital context, exploring the digital health initiatives that put patients' data and freedoms at risk.
Table of contents Introduction Weighing the (potential) benefits with the risks Privacy rights and the right to health The right to health Privacy, data-protection and health data The right to health in the digital context Why the drive for digital Improved access to healthcare Patient empowerment