Search
Content type: Long Read
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 investigation on the trial of Katha Pachachirayapong — accused of spreading rumours on the ill-health of the King Bhumibol Adulyadej, thereby causing sharp falls in the Thai stock market — reveal the…
Content type: Report
In response to the Government publishing proposed new surveillance powers in November 2015, Privacy International submitted this highly detailed analysis to the Science and Technology Committee on the Draft Investigatory Powers Bill in November 2015. Our report proposes significant changes across the Bill to ensure better privacy protection while still enabling public bodies to have the powers they need.
Content type: Report
Privacy International's new report, For God and My President: State Surveillance in Uganda, exposes the secret surveillance operation and the government's attempts to buy further powerful surveillance tools, including a national communications monitoring centre and intrusion malware, in the absence of a rigorous legal framework governing communications surveillance
Content type: Long Read
We hate to say we told you so.
Privacy International has for years warned that powerful surveillance technologies are used to facilitate serious human rights abuses with insufficient technological and legal safeguards against abuse.
We now have the most solid evidence to date that we were right. Our latest investigation uncovers disturbing evidence that substantiates our long held concerns.
Today Privacy International publishes an investigation (PDF) into communications surveillance in…
Content type: Report
Over a dozen international companies are supplying powerful communications surveillance technology in Colombia. Privacy International examines the actors across the world involved in facilitating state surveillance.
The report is available in English and Spanish.
Content type: Report
For nearly two decades, the Colombian government has been expanding its capacity to spy on the private communications of its citizens. Privacy International's investigation reveals the state of Colombia's overlapping, unchecked systems of surveillance, including mass surveillance, that are vulnerable to abuse.
See the report in English and Spanish.
Content type: Report
The Pakistani government has significantly expanded its communication interception activities. This Privacy International report covers the intelligence services plan to capture all IP-traffic in Pakistan and other initiatives, pointing to gaps in the laws governing surveillance.
Content type: Advocacy
This stakeholder report is a submission by Privacy International (PI) and the Right2Know Campaing. PI is a human rights organisation that works to advance and promote the right to privacy and fight surveillance around the world. PI wishes to bring concerns about the protection and promotion of the right to privacy in South Africa before the Human Rights Committee for consideration in South Africa's upcoming review.
Content type: Report
This report is the result of a collaboration between Privacy International, ARTICLE 19, and the International Human Rights Clinic (IHRC) at Harvard Law School. IHRC conducted desk research as well as interviews with individuals working in civil society organisations in the countries examined. It explores the impact of measures to restrict online encryption and anonymity in four particular countries – the United Kingdom, Morocco, Pakistan and South Korea.
Content type: Report
This briefing, published on the two-year anniversary of the publication of the first Snowden revelations, warns that governments are looking to maintain and expand mass surveillance, despite the practice being condemned as a human rights violation by courts, parliaments and human rights bodies. It comes on the heels of the adoption of the USA Freedom Act by the US Congress, a solitary and limited example of legislative rollback of surveillance powers since Edward Snowden's revelations began. In…
Content type: Long Read
Few revelations have been been as troubling for the right to privacy as uncovering the scope of the Five Eyes alliance. The intelligence club made up of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States has integrated its collection efforts, staff, bases, and analysis programs. Yet the legal rulebook governing how the agencies ensure the most comprehensive joint surveillance effort in the history of mankind remains secret.
The little that is known suggests a…
Content type: Report
Privacy International briefing for the Italian Government on Hacking Team's surveillance exports
Content type: Report
In this report we present four stories of Moroccan citizens placed under surveillance and the effect it has had on their lives and the lives of their families.
We feel that these stories say a lot about the current context of surveillance in Morocco. We hope they will serve as a medium to foster a much-needed public debate. We also hope that this debate will extend beyond Morocco as we all consider the dangers of unregulated surveillance and surveillance technology around the world.
Content type: Long Read
As Privacy International celebrates Friday's victory against Britain’s security services - the first such victory this century - we cannot help but feel the success is bittersweet.
After all, we may have convinced the Investigatory Powers Tribunal that GCHQ was acting unlawfully in accessing NSA databases filled with billions of emails and messages, but with a few technical adjustments the intelligence services have managed to insure themselves against any further challenge, at least in…
Content type: Long Read
Modern day government surveillance is based on the simple concept of “more is more” and “bigger is better”. More emails, more text messages, more phone calls, more screenshots from Skype calls. The bigger the haystack, the more needles we can find.
Thanks to Edward Snowden, we know that this fundamental idea drives intelligence agencies like the NSA and GCHQ - the desire to collect it all, to generate gigantic haystacks through which to trawl. In the almost two years since the first of Snowden…