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We filed an expert witness statement in a case challenging the double registration of refugees.

Privacy International intervened in a landmark case brought in the UK courts by asylum seekers against mobile phone seizures and data extraction. Judgment was handed down on 25 March 2022. The High Court found that the secret and blanket policy of the UK Home Office to seize and search migrants' phones breached Article 8 ECHR and data protection laws.

There are few places in the world where an individual is as vulnerable as at the border of a foreign country.

UK local authorities (Councils) are looking at people’s social media accounts, such as Facebook, as part of their intelligence gathering and investigation tactics in areas such as council tax payments, children’s services, benefits and monitoring protests and demonstrations.

In some cases, local authorities will go so far as to use such information to make accusations of fraud and withhold urgently needed support from families who are living in extreme poverty.

In the rush to respond to Covid-19 and its aftermath, government and companies are exploiting data with few safeguards. PI is acting to ensure that this crisis isn't abused.

Migrants are bearing the burden and losing agency in their migration experience: their fate is being put in the hands of systems that are feeding the surveillance and data exploitation ecosystem.

Accessing public services should not mean signing up to systems of surveillance.

Accessing social protection programmes should not mean signing up to systems of surveillance.

The use of data and new technologies are driving a revolution in immigration enforcement, and affected people are going to be at greater risk.

There is a growing push towards identity systems around the world - leading to some of the world's largest biometric databases, as well as other technologies that can be used to track and profile individuals and communities.