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Content type: News & Analysis
16th December 2019
In the run up to the UK General Election on 12 December 2019, Privacy International, joined by other organisations called on political parties to come clean about their use of data. The lack of response to these demands combined with other evidence gathered by groups during the run up to the election demonstrates that current regulations are not fit for the digital era.
This briefing to which Privacy International contributed together with Demos, the Computational Propaganda Project at the…
Content type: Advocacy
29th October 2019
In October 2019, PI responded to the UK Information Commissioner’s (ICO) consultation on a draft Code of Practice for the use of personal data in political campaigning.
This follows on from PI's submission in December 2018, to the ICO’s Call for Views.
PI welcomes the draft Code of Practice as a first step. However, much remains to be done to close the implementation and enforcement gap and strengthen existing regulatory frameworks.
In response to the ICO’s questions, PI’s submission calls…
Content type: Advocacy
30th September 2019
PI is increasingly concerned that democratic participation can be inhibited by novel and unhindered surveillance both by governments and companies. To safeguard our rights, earlier this year, we launched our work programme, Defending Democracy and Dissent, which aims to investigate the role technology plays in facilitating and/or hindering everyone's participation in civic society.
This submission to the House of Lords covers PI’s views on:
How digital tech has changed the way democracy works…
Content type: Advocacy
29th August 2019
On 28 August 2019 PI joined International Privacy Network partner Asociación por los Derechos Civiles and others in writing to the Directors of Public Policy for Latin America at Facebook, Google, and Twitter. The letters outline what steps are needed to make the social media giants' ad archives effective. Earlier this year organisations across Europe, led by the Mozilla, wrote to the companies with similar guidelines - the letters sent today say that equivalent steps should be taken for ad…
Content type: Explainer
5th August 2019
Recently the role of social media and search platforms in political campaigning and elections has come under scrutiny. Concerns range from the spread of disinformation, to profiling of users without their knowledge, to micro-targeting of users with tailored messages, to interference by foreign entities, and more. Significant attention has been paid to the transparency of political ads - what are companies doing to provide their users globally with meaningful transparency into how they're being…
Content type: Advocacy
2nd August 2019
Dear Chair and Committee colleagues,
Privacy International is an international NGO, based in London, which works with partners around the world to challenge state and corporate surveillance and data exploitation. As part of our work, we have a dedicated programme “Defending Democracy and Dissent” where we advocate for limits on data exploitation throughout the electoral cycle.
We have been closely following the important work of the Committee. Prompted by the additional evidence provided to…
Content type: Advocacy
30th July 2019
On 26 July 2019, Privacy International sent the attached written evidence submission to the UK All Parliamentary Party Group on Electoral Campaigning Transparency.
In the UK, All-Party Groups (APPGs) are informal groups of Members of both the House of Commons and House of Lords with a common interest in particular issues.
Content type: Advocacy
30th July 2019
As an organisation that has been fighting to protect people's data and privacy since the 1990s, we were left speechless by your redemption of Cambridge Analytica’s former staff ("What Cambridge Analytica’s ex-staff can teach us about data defence”, Gillan Tett, July 24, 2019).
How can we prevent a repeat of the Cambridge Analytica scandal?, Tett asks, yet fails to even mention the core solution that is universally proposed by privacy professionals around the world: comprehensive data…
Content type: Advocacy
17th July 2019
Democratic engagement is increasingly mediated by digital technology. Whether through the use of social media platforms for political campaigning, biometric registration of voters and e-voting, police monitoring of political rallies and demonstrations using facial recognition, and other surveillance methods, technology is now infused into the political process.
These technologies rely on collecting, storing, and analysing personal information to operate. Much recent debate around elections has…
Content type: Advocacy
14th June 2019
In considering the impact of online targeting, it is essential that the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation have due regard for privacy as a fundamental right (as enshrined in UK, European, and International Law).
Privacy is essential to the protection of autonomy and human dignity, serving as the foundation upon which other human rights are built. For people to fully participate in democratic society, developments in law and technologies must strengthen and not undermine peoples’ ability to…
Content type: Advocacy
14th June 2019
In early June 2019, PI engaged in the UK's Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation consultation regarding online targeting. PI focused its submission on the use of targeting in online political and issue-based advertising, and the collection and use of data to target people online.
In considering the impact of online targeting, it is essential that the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation have due regard for privacy as a fundamental right (as enshrined in UK, European, and International Law).…
Content type: Advocacy
30th April 2019
Consultation Submission
In March 2019, Privacy International submitted a response to a consultation on Disinformation in Electoral Contexts, led by the Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights together with the Department of Electoral Cooperation and Observation (DECO) and the Department of International Law (DIL) of the Organisation of American States (OAS).
In our submission we highlighted the importance of minmising data…
Content type: Advocacy
30th April 2019
In December 2018, PI responded to the UK Information Commissioner's (ICO) Call for Views on a Code of Practice for the use of personal information in political campaigns.
The consultation followed on from the ICO's policy report Democracy Disrupted?, published in July 2018, which recommended that the Government should legislate at the earliest opportunity to introduce a statutory Code of Practice under the Data Protection Act 2018 for the use of personal information in campaigns.
Although not…
Content type: Video
21st April 2019
In April 2019 Ukraine held presidential elections. We were in Kyiv to hear about people's experience monitoring online disinformation – a big issue in this election. Activists in Ukraine have long experience navigating the noisy and chaotic environment that disinformation creates – which comes not only from Russia, but also from domestic politicians and others with money and power.
At PI, we’re working to make sure that the way data is used by political actors and advertisers does…
Content type: Advocacy
11th February 2019
UPDATE 13 February: Facebook announced that it would open up its Ad Archive API next month. Read Mozilla's statement about the response here.
On 11 February 2019, Privacy International joined Mozilla and 36 organisations in an open letter to Facebook call on Facebook to make good on its commitments to provide more transparency around political advertising ahead of the 2019 EU Parliamentary Elections.
Specifically, our open letter urges Facebook to:
Roll out a functional, open Ad Archive API…