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Content type: News & Analysis
1st December 2017
13 June 2016
"State capacity to conduct surveillance may depend on the extent to which business enterprises cooperate with or resist such surveillance” notes the Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression in his report on the role of the private sector to respect human rights in the digital age. The Special Rapporteur will present its findings and recommendations to the Human Rights Council on Thursday.
It is no longer sufficient for companies to simply point the finger at intelligence and…
Content type: News & Analysis
21st April 2017
Dear Politicians,
With elections coming up and quite a few cringe-worthy comments that have come from many of you and from all sides of the political spectrum, we figured it was time to have a chat about encryption.
First, let’s say what you shouldn’t do:
call for boycotts of companies because they protect their users’ data even from the companies themselves.
say something like “we’ll develop a Manhattan-level project on this” (which, as we’ll remind you, ended up with the creation of a…
Content type: Long Read
30th October 2017
Government hacking is unlike any other form of existing surveillance technique. Hacking is an attempt to understand a system better than it understands itself, and then nudging it to do what the hacker wants. Fundamentally speaking, hacking is therefore about causing technologies to act in a manner the manufacturer, owner or user did not intend or did not foresee.
Governments can wield this power remotely, surreptitiously, across jurisdictions, and at scale. A single hack can affect many…
Content type: News & Analysis
12th October 2017
We found this image here.
On 11 October, the LIBE Committee of the European Parliament votes on the draft e-privacy regulation. As the landscape of generation, collection, and other processing of data in the digital sphere evolves, the proposal seeks to update the rules on confidentiality and security of electronic communications and online activities.
Unsurprisingly, companies whose business models rely on tracking individuals online have been busy lobbying against the new regulation. The…
Content type: News & Analysis
1st December 2017
14th August 2017
We found the image here.
We work to collect the minimum amount of data that we need from you to do our jobs within the resources we have, and to protect and use that data in an ethical manner. We are expanding the ways we engage with our supporters, by rebuilding our technical services to ensure that we continue to live up to that commitment.
Here we explain what data we have access to, what we collect, and how we work to protect your data. This piece is more explanatory…
Content type: News & Analysis
18th December 2017
We work to collect the minimum amount of data that we need from you to do our jobs within the resources we have, and to protect and use that data in an ethical manner. We are expanding the ways we engage with our supporters, by rebuilding our tech services to ensure that we continue to live up to that commitment.
Here we explain what data we have access to, what we collect, and how we work to protect your data. This piece is more explanatory than our policy statement which is available here.…
Content type: News & Analysis
1st December 2017
There are three good reasons why security is so hard for NGOs. First, we are afraid to speak about meaningful security. Second, we focus on the wrong areas of security and in turn spend money and prioritise the wrong things. Third, we struggle to separate the world we want from the worlds we build within our own organisations. At PI we have failed and struggled with each of these for over 20 years. Out of exhaustion, we decided to do something about it: we are building an open framework, a…
Content type: Long Read
9th February 2017
This piece was orignally published in Slate in February 2017
In 2015, the FBI obtained a warrant to hack the devices of every visitor to a child pornography website. On the basis of this single warrant, the FBI ultimately hacked more than 8,700 computers, resulting in a wave of federal prosecutions. The vast majority of these devices—over 83 percent—were located outside the United States, in more than 100 different countries. Now, we are in the midst of the first cases to work their way…
Content type: News & Analysis
6th April 2017
This week the United States Congress voted to strip away one of the country’s few safeguards of the right to privacy by repealing rules which would have limited internet service provider’s ability to use or share customers’ data without customers’ approval.
Meanwhile, last week, 6,500 kilometers away in Geneva, the United Nations Human Rights Council called on states to strengthen customers’ control over their data and develop legislation to address harm from the sale or corporate sharing of…
Content type: News & Analysis
2nd June 2017
Image source: AFP
Earlier this month, the Kenyan daily The Star reported that UK-based data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica had been quietly contracted by President Uhuru Kenyatta’s party in a bid to win himself a second term in office. State House officials were quick to deny the claims, while the company itself issued no comment.
Cambridge Analytica has exploded onto the scene following revelations that its psychometric profiling techniques were used and reportedly played a role in both…
Content type: News & Analysis
20th December 2017
This post was written by PI Technologist Ed Geraghty.
At the very heart of ThornSec’s design is that we assume our security will fail. There is nothing perfect on this earth (except kittens). The entire point is to fail well. For charities and NGOs that are fragile, poorly resourced, and often at risk, this is relatively novel thinking. We prepare for that with a strict adherence to good security practice.
It is exactly this element of novelty that makes us more open than your average Open…
Content type: News & Analysis
25th October 2017
The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has contracted one of the world’s largest arms companies to manage a huge expansion of its biometric surveillance programme.
According to a presentation seen by Privacy International, the new system, known as Homeland Advanced Recognition Technology (HART), will scoop up a whopping 180 million new biometric transactions per year by 2022.
It will replace the Automated Biometric Identification System (IDENT), which currently stores…
Content type: News & Analysis
1st December 2017
2nd March 2015
UPDATE: Since the original publication of this post in early February, over fifty additional national and international human rights organisations have joined us and called on all governments to support the creation of a UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Privacy.
This recent wave of support, bringing the total number up to 63, comes at a critical time. As the UN Human Rights Council begins its 28th session in Geneva today, the Council has perhaps the most significant…
Content type: News & Analysis
1st December 2017
Early on Wednesday morning the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill was approved by Pakistan’s National Assembly. The Bill, which is almost universally acknowledged as “controversial” had been criticised by opposition members, industry and civil society at numerous stages. Civil society organisations from around the world released two joint statements in April and December last year expressing their concerns. Despite the chorus of criticism, very little has changed in the Bill during its…
Content type: News & Analysis
30th June 2017
The Privacy International Network recently submitted joint stakeholder reports for seven partner countries - India, South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia, Brazil, the Philippines and Indonesia - as part of the 27th session of the Universal Periodic Review (1 to 12 May 2017).
Communications surveillance was a major area of concern, as we observed that these policies and practices remain largely opaque, complex and vague. In some countries, they fail to meet human rights standards and principles of…
Content type: News & Analysis
1st December 2017
31 October 2016
This piece originally appeared in The Guardian here.
This government’s “neither confirm nor deny” mantra over the extent of its surveillance powers has been replaced with a new one: “Never apologise, never explain.” On Monday, the tribunal tasked with hearing complaints against our intelligence agencies found that for more than a decade our intelligence agencies had been unlawfully amassing, in bulk, vast amounts of our personal data.
The official public response from the…
Content type: News & Analysis
1st December 2017
The following article written by Carly Nyst, Privacy International's Legal Director, originially appeared on the Future Tense blog on Slate:
The news that the CIA is no longer using vaccination programs as a front for spying operations may come as a relief to many humanitarian workers. Yet their fears should not be completely assuaged, because the CIA’s activities—which undoubtedly threatened the safety of humanitarian workers and those they seek to help—pale in comparison to the surveillance…
Content type: Long Read
11th July 2017
This piece was originally published in Lawfare in July 2017.
The United Kingdom has been a key partner in the United States’ efforts to reform the process that law enforcement officials use to make cross-border requests for data. These efforts address both foreign governments’ requests for data stored in the U.S. and reciprocal requests by the U.S. government for data stored abroad. As part of these efforts, the U.S. and the U.K. have negotiated a draft bilateral agreement (“U.S.-U.K.…
Content type: News & Analysis
1st December 2017
7 July 2017
War profiteers are finding the data business easy going. The have wielded their unwarranted influence and applied their business model of causing and then profiting from insecurity and applied it to the digital age; the results have been more profit for them and less liberty for you.
When a politician riles against an evil tech giant for providing ‘safe spaces’ online, it’s a political distraction. The real battle for your data is being fought between the emergent tech giants and…
Content type: News & Analysis
16th May 2017
This guest piece was written by Leandro Ucciferri of the Association for Civil Rights (Asociación por los Derechos Civiles). It does not necessarily reflect the views or position of Privacy International.
We look at our smartphone first thing in the morning to check the weather, and our to-do list for the day. During breakfast, we read the news and learn about what is going on in the rest of the world. In our commute to work or college, we scroll through our social media feeds to check on our…
Content type: Long Read
28th November 2017
This piece was originally published in Just Security in November 2017.
The upcoming expiration of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) has launched a fresh wave of debate on how the statute’s “backdoor search loophole” allows the U.S. government to access Americans’ communications by searching information gathered on foreign intelligence grounds without a warrant. But while discussion about domestic information sharing is important, a critical element of the debate…
Content type: News & Analysis
1st February 2017
In our latest report “Who’s that knocking at my door? Understanding surveillance in Thailand”, we highlighted various methods of surveillance that the Thai Government employs. Included in these methods was the finding that Microsoft was the only technology company which by default trusts the Thai Government’s root certificate. Root certificates ensure the validity of a website, and protect users from being tricked into visiting a fake, insecure website. Most technology companies including Apple…
Content type: News & Analysis
7th July 2017
Photo Credit: MoD UK
‘Security’ in the policy world has practically no currency without a specific prefix. For example, we could discuss 'national' security as distinct from 'consumer' security or 'energy' security. ‘Cyber’ security is the new prefix on the policy block, and it is gradually forcing a rethink on what it means to be secure in a modern society. In the course of Privacy International’s work globally, we have observed that many governments frame cyber security as national security…
Content type: News & Analysis
1st December 2017
The elections in our midst here, there, and everywhere are increasingly resulting in governments who introduce policies that result in leaps backwards for dignity, equality, civil liberties, and the rule of law. Whether it is Poland or the Philippines, governments are overriding essential safeguards.
This week Britain’s proposed surveillance legislation took another step toward normalising mass surveillance. The United States of America has long promoted mass surveillance and maintains its…
Content type: News & Analysis
24th April 2017
Creative Commons Photo Credit: Source
The financial services industry is eager to gather more and more data about our lives. Apart from mining the data they have historically collected such as credit history, they are looking to use our social media profiles to reach into our friendships and social interactions. They are using these data in new and unexpected ways, including personality profiling to determine the risk of lending to you, and thus the price you will pay.
Firstcarquote, a…
Content type: News & Analysis
31st October 2017
October 31st 2017 will mark the 3rd World Cities Day (we will forgive if you did not know that), with the general theme “Better City, Better Life.” On this date, PI will be launching its latest report “Smart Cities: Utopian Vision, Dystopian Reality”. This is an opportunity for us to ask: who exactly are our cities going to become better for?
Technology is often given as an answer when we are not sure what the question is. Cities are no exception to that. The current narrative advocated by…
Content type: News & Analysis
1st December 2017
Al Jazeera recently published an investigation into the shadowy trade of communications surveillance technologies. Their undercover reporter revealed four companies offering to illegally sell highly intrusive surveillance technologies to the governments of South Sudan and Iran, both of which are subject to extensive international sanctions. In the film, the four companies – two Italian, one Turkish and one Chinese – show themselves eager to employ workarounds, third parties, and shell companies…
Content type: News & Analysis
7th November 2017
For further information on timeline and case history, read this briefing.
Arguments
The argument were based on the written submissions of the parties. The oral statements summarised key points in these submissions.
The submissions can be found on PI’s website under Legal Action. In terms of today’s proceedings (these are now available through webcast)
Counsel for the UK Government, James Eadie QC started off proceedings, his opening arguments were: 1) The issues are of the utmost importance…
Content type: Long Read
10th February 2017
Introduction
A growing number of governments around the world are embracing hacking to facilitate their surveillance activities. Yet hacking presents unique and grave threats to our privacy and security. It is far more intrusive than any other surveillance technique, capable of accessing information sufficient to build a detailed profile of a person, as well as altering or deleting that information. At the same time, hacking not only undermines the security of targeted systems, but also has…
Content type: News & Analysis
24th October 2017
Privacy International’s Data Exploitation Programme Lead was invited to give evidence to the Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence at the U.K. House of Lords. The session sought to establish how personal data should be owned, managed, valued, and used for the benefit of society.
Link to the announcement of the session: https://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/lords-select/ai-committee/news-parliament-2017/data-evidence-session/
Full video recording of the session: …