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Content type: Explainer
23rd February 2021
The UK Home Office provides basic subsistence support to people who are in the process of applying for asylum, as well as to those whose applications have been refused and are appealing their cases, in the form of an ‘Aspen Card’ - basically it’s a debit payment card, which can be used in any shop that accepts VISA debit payments. At the time of writing the programme is managed by corporate giant corporate giant Sodexo, but the administration of the payment system is soon going to go to a new…
Content type: Long Read
28th January 2021
Now more than ever with a global pandemic happening, our lives are being shaped by our interaction with the digital world. Work meetings on Zoom followed by Skype with family before a quick run with your favourite running app and a Google search for your next meal: technologies and services offer us a lot and greatly improve our daily lives. But what's the real cost of these tools we rely on so much?
A lot of these companies, especially those offering free services, collect data about you. It…
Content type: Report
26th January 2021
Privacy International has released a report summarising the result of its research into the databases and surveillance tools used by authorities across the UK’s borders, immigration, and citizenship system.
The report uses procurement, contractual, and other open-source data and aims to inform the work of civil society organisations and increase understanding of a vast yet highly opaque system upon which millions of people rely.
It also describes and maps how arms and tech companies, ranging…
Content type: Video
22nd January 2021
In recent years, the use of online political campaigning has gained significant traction, with regulatory bodies often struggling to catch up. The unregulated use of political ads can pose threats to transparency, and all the more so when online platforms fail to play their part.
We at PI, together with ELSAM, are investigating the reach, effectiveness and impact of regulation by social media platforms and electoral authorities on online political advertising. Our research has shown that…
Content type: Video
22nd January 2021
Nos últimos anos, o uso de campanhas políticas online ganhou força significativa, com os órgãos reguladores muitas vezes lutando para se atualizar. O uso não regulamentado da propaganda política pode representar ameaças à transparência, ainda mais quando as plataformas online deixam de cumprir a sua parte.
A PI, juntamente com o InternetLab, está investigando o alcance, a eficácia e o impacto da regulamentação por plataformas de mídia social e autoridades eleitorais na propaganda…
Content type: Video
20th January 2021
In recent years, the use of online political campaigning has gained significant traction, with regulatory bodies often struggling to catch up. The unregulated use of political ads can pose threats to transparency, and all the more so when online platforms fail to play their part.
We at PI, together with InternetLab, are investigating the reach, effectiveness and impact of regulation by social media platforms and electoral authorities on online political advertising. Our research has shown…
Content type: Report
14th January 2021
This paper examines the various legal frameworks governing micro-targeting in political campaigns in six states: Canada, Brazil, France, Italy, Spain and the UK. It aims to assess national practices as well as point out gaps in their respective frameworks. The paper commences by examining how micro-targeting is defined and thereafter examines the legal provisions applicable to micro-targeting activities.
To do this in an accessible way, the paper follows and analyses the series of activities…
Content type: Guide step
9th December 2020
Setup
On the Internet, requests to access websites are routed to IP addresses. Since IP addresses are hard to remember, we usually address hosts by their host-name (e.g privacyinternational.org). As such, and because IP addresses can change frequently, when your computer wants to access a server by its host-name, it asks a DNS server what the IP address for that host-name is, so that it can route the request. Typically, your operating systems first checks your system's hosts file for an address…
Content type: Guide step
9th December 2020
Opt out of targeted ads
We have written before about the risks that targeted advertisements pose in regards to your digital privacy. To opt out of targeted ads on Windows, open the Start menu, go to Settings > Privacy > General, and disable all options (Fig. 1).
Content type: Guide step
9th December 2020
Disclaimer: With macOS Big Sur, Apple enriched the support for browser add-ons, which are now available at the App Store. Although the ecosystem for privacy tools is still sparse, we might update this guide in the future.
To access the settings menu, open the Safari app and on the menubar click on Safari > Preferences... (Fig. 1).
Content type: Guide step
9th December 2020
Overview
Pi-hole is a general purpose network-wide ad-blocker that protects your network from ads and trackers without requiring any setup on individual devices. It is able to block ads on any network device (e.g. smart appliances), and, unlike browser add-ons, Pi-hole blocks ads on any type of software.
The general setup works as follows (Fig. 1). You install Pi-hole on your server (in this case, we're using a Raspberry Pi) and assign it a static IP address. On your router, you set the DNS…
Content type: Guide step
9th December 2020
Setup
On the Internet, requests to access websites are routed to IP addresses. Since IP addresses are hard to remember, we usually address hosts by their host-name (e.g privacyinternational.org). As such, and because IP addresses can change frequently, when your computer wants to access a server by its host-name, it asks a DNS server what the IP address for that host-name is, so that it can route the request. Typically, your operating system first checks your system's hosts file for an address…
Content type: Guide step
9th December 2020
Warning: If you are using iOS 14+, targeted advertisements are opt-in by default.
Opt out of targeted advertising
We have written before about the risks that targeted advertisements pose in regards to your digital privacy.
To opt out of targeted ads based on location, open the Settings app and go to Privacy > Location Services > System Services and turn off Location-Based Apple Ads (Fig. 1).
Content type: Guide step
9th December 2020
Blokada is an ad-blocker acting as a VPN to block unwanted traffic based on hostnames (urls). This prevents ads and malicious data from being loaded by any application running on your device.
Installation
To install Blokada, visit its Apple App Store page, click on Get (Fig. 1), and confirm by clicking Install when prompted (Fig. 2).
Content type: Guide step
9th December 2020
uBlock Origin (not to be confused with uBlock which is a different project) is an independent and open-source ad blocker relying on a curated list of servers. It prevents your browser from connecting to these servers to serve you ads.
Note: There are many ad blockers on the market and you can test alternatives. By using an independent, open-source and free ad blocker, you are more likely to avoid products with conflicts of interest, spywares or blockers with "acceptable ads" programs…
Content type: Guide step
8th December 2020
Setup
On the Internet, requests to access websites are routed to IP addresses. Since IP addresses are hard to remember, we usually address hosts by their host-name (e.g. privacyinternational.org). As such, and because IP addresses can change frequently, when your computer wants to access a server by its host-name, it asks a DNS server what the IP address for that host-name is, so that it can route the request. Typically, your operating system first checks your system's hosts file for an address…
Content type: Guide step
8th December 2020
The Advertising ID is a unique identifier offered by the MacOS Operating System that advertisers might use to uniquely identify you. It facilitates the creation of a profile by advertisers or data brokers that can later be used for advertisement targeting or other purposes.
Opt out of targeted advertising
We have written before about the risks that targeted advertisements pose with regards to your digital privacy. To opt out of targeted ads on macOS, open the System Preferences app, go to the…
Content type: Guide step
8th December 2020
uBlock Origin (not to be confused with uBlock which is a different project) is an independent and open-source ad blocker relying on a curated list of servers. It prevents your browser from connecting to these servers to serve you ads.
Note: There are many ad blockers on the market and you can test alternatives. By using an independent, open-source and free ad blocker, you are more likely to avoid products with conflicts of interest, spywares or blockers with "acceptable ads" programs…
Content type: Guide step
8th December 2020
To access the settings, click on the three-dot menu on the upper right and then press Settings > Privacy, search, and services (Fig. 1), or type edge://settings/privacy in the URL bar and press Enter.
Content type: Guide step
8th December 2020
Privacy Badger is a browser add-on to block ads and trackers preventing companies from tracking your online activities. It keeps an up-to-date list of known trackers that it finds through automated tests (not conducted from your computer but by dedicated servers), and regularly pushes the updated list to your browser. This means that as soon as new ad servers are detected (say a new tracking company launch its product or an existing company deploys a new domain) they are blocked for Privacy…
Content type: Guide step
8th December 2020
Changing settings in Firefox menu
To change basic privacy settings in Firefox, access the preferences menu by clicking on Edit > Preferences on the menu-bar, or by entering about:preferences in the URL bar, and then click on Privacy & Security (Fig. 1)
Content type: Guide step
8th December 2020
Browser cookies allow websites to preserve session data such as your login credentials or items in your shopping basket so that you don't lose information when you close the page. Unfortunately, they are often abused to track your online activity across the web. Using a dedicated add-on, you can clean your cookies regularily to ensure that no unwanted cookie is kept in your browser, limiting the efficienty of online trackers.
This guide explain how to install Cookie AutoDelete, a web-browser…
Content type: Guide step
8th December 2020
Privacy Badger is a browser add-on to block ads and trackers preventing companies from tracking your online activities. It keeps an up-to-date list of known trackers that it finds through automated tests (not conducted from your computer but by dedicated servers), and regularly pushes the updated list to your browser. This means that as soon as new ad servers are detected (say a new tracking company launch its product or an existing company deploys a new domain) they are blocked for Privacy…
Content type: Guide step
8th December 2020
Content delivery networks (CDNs) are geographically distributed networks of proxy servers that seek to provide features such as better availability and performances for websites. While the goal is commendable, it also means that these CDN providers receive metadata related to the websites you visit (where they are set up). With this is mind, you might want to sacrifice the added convenience and avoid large CDN providers (such as Google and Cloudfare) to prevent them from obtaining any data…
Content type: Guide step
8th December 2020
Installation
Like any other add-on, install Firefox Multi-Account Containers by visiting the Mozilla Firefox Add-ons page and clicking Add to Firefox (Fig. 1) and then clicking on Add when prompted (Fig. 2).
Content type: Guide step
8th December 2020
Browser cookies allow websites to preserve session data such as your login credentials or items in your shopping basket so that you don't lose information when you close the page. Unfortunately, they are often abused to track your online activity across the web. Using a dedicated addon, you can clean your cookies regularily to ensure that no unwanted cookie is kept in your browser, limiting the efficienty of online trackers.
This guide explains how to install Cookie AutoDelete, a web-browser…
Content type: Guide step
8th December 2020
Warning: Chrome is a Google product and as such embeds many mechanisms that might share data with Google. One such mechanism automatically links your browser to your Google account when you sign in on any Google service (e.g. Gmail). Consider using Firefox or a Chrome-based alternative (e.g. Vivaldi, Opera, Brave...) to avoid this. Alternatively you can disable some of these behaviours in the settings by following this guide.
Changing settings in Chrome menu
To access the settings, click on…
Content type: Guide step
8th December 2020
Privacy Badger is a browser add-on to block ads and trackers preventing companies from tracking your online activities. It keeps an up-to-date list of known trackers that it finds through automated tests (not conducted from your computer but by dedicated servers), and regularly pushes the updated list to your browser. This means that as soon as new ad servers are detected (say a new tracking company launch its product or an existing company deploys a new domain) they are blocked for Privacy…
Content type: Guide step
8th December 2020
When you access a website, your browser sends a string called the User Agent containing your browser's name, operating system, and other technical metadata of your device. Unfortunately, this metadata is often abused by trackers to build a fingerprint of your system and uniquely identify you throughout the web. To limit the efficiency of fingerprinting you can install a random agent switcher which periodically changes your browser's user agent, making it harder to uniquely identify you.…
Content type: Guide step
8th December 2020
Content delivery networks (CDNs) are geographically distributed network of proxy servers that seek to provide features such as better availability and performances for websites. While the goal is commendable, it also means that these CDN providers receive metadata related to the websites you visit (where they are setup). With this is mind, you might want to sacrifice the added convenience and avoid large CDN providers (such as Google and Cloudfare) to prevent them from obtaining any data…