Long Reads

1984: A broad law, a broad power and a whole lot of secrecy In the wake of litigation brought by Privacy International (‘PI’) and as the Government prepared to introduce the Draft Investigatory Powers Bill (‘IP Bill’) in November 2015, there was a cascade of ‘avowals’- admissions that the

Written by: Maria del Pilar Saenz With a raft of recent scandals involving proven and possible abuses of surveillance systems by state institutions, there is a clear need to generate policy and practice in Colombia that promotes respect for human rights. It is necessary to keep this in mind as an

This guest piece was written by Jessamine Pacis of the Foundation for Media Alternatives. It does not necessarily reflect the views or position of Privacy International. Introduction With a history immersed in years of colonialism and tainted by martial law, Philippine society is no stranger to

Written by: Centre for Internet and Society This guest piece was written by representatives of the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS). It does not necessarily reflect the views or position of Privacy International. Introduction As part of the State of the Surveillance project, CIS conducted a

“This is my personal opinion,” concedes Branko, a taxi driver in Skopje, the Republic of Macedonia's capital. “It was done by America to stop Putin building his gas pipe line through Macedonia.” “This is just politics,” he advises, skeptically. It's a common reaction to the wiretapping scandal in

The recent back and forth between Apple and the FBI over security measures in place to prevent unauthorised access to data has highlighted the gulf in understanding of security between technologists and law enforcement. Modern debates around security do not just involve the state and the individual

Today, Privacy International is publishing the result of a global effort to benchmark surveillance policies and practices in the countries that are part of the Privacy International Network. We’re calling it the ‘State of Surveillance’. We designed a survey of questions based on some key issues

It was summer 2014 when we first came across the acronym TRD while sifting through documents from the company Nokia Siemens Networks (Nokia) that had been leaked to Privacy International. The acronym was explained in the documents: it stood for Technical Research Department. What we learned from the

The Investigatory Powers Tribunal (“IPT”) today held that GCHQ hacking of computers, mobile devices and networks is lawful, wherever it occurs around the world. We are disappointed that the IPT has not upheld our complaint and we will be challenging its findings. Our complaint is the first UK legal

Written by Eva Blum-Dumontet A recent case of lèse-majesté in Thailand (speaking ill of the monarchy) is a worrying example of how Western companies do not just work with governments that fall short of international human rights standards, but can actually facilitate abuses of human rights. Our