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Content type: Long Read
18th November 2021
In a previous article, we mapped the influence of the Chinese company Huawei across the world and how their sales of smart city infrastructures are contributing to the reshaping of our public space.
We should be alarmed by some of their product deployments – such as the installation of facial recognition technologies in countries with concerning human rights records. But also the deployments of facial recognition technology in countries without strong data protection laws are as such…
Content type: Long Read
17th November 2021
The smart city market is booming. And with a booming market comes companies that are profiting and reshaping our public space, like the Chinese tech company Huawei.
While the term ‘Smart City’ is a broad one that encompasses many different initiatives, some with little to no impact on our privacy and other rights. Certain issues are nevertheless recurrent: the lack of transparency around public-private partnerships, the absence of consultation, and the appetite for a “tech quick fix” –…
Content type: Examples
17th November 2021
As a result of the challenges emerging from Covid-19 to disburse financial assistance, the government of Paraguay decided to change its food security programme, Ñangareko, from an in-kind benefit to a bank transfer consisting of a one-off payment of PYG 500,000 (= +/-73USD).
The Ñangareko Programme is aimed at those affected by Covid-19 which are stated to include the most vulnerable, informal workers, persons without a RUC (the unique taxpayer registry number) or social security, and who don’…
Content type: Examples
17th November 2021
A new COVID-19 Cash Transfer Programme for ID Poor Households was launched in June 2020 to respond to the needs of the most vulnerable groups of the population, including the needs of children aged 0-5 years old, persons with disabilities, the elderly, persons living with HIV/AIDS, and those identified as poor (ID Poor 1 and ID Poor 2) through the existing national ID Poor programme.
Those households identified as eligible beneficiaries need to register with an administrator at commune level,…
Content type: Examples
11th November 2021
The Jordanian government implemented at least 8 different social protection measures in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The successful implementation of rapid response projects across social insurance, social assistance and refugee protection was an incredibly important means of protecting low-wage workers and communities facing vulnerable and precarious situations. Within 6 months of the first Covid-19 cases in Jordan, social security measures were put in place to support an estimated 960,…
Content type: Examples
11th November 2021
In January 2021, the World Bank agreed to loan the Lebanese government $246,000,000 to finance an "emergency social safety net" project in response to Covid-19 and Lebanon's ongoing economic crisis.
As part of the project, the Lebanese Government must provide cash-transfers to approximately 147,000 Lebanese households. To be eligible to receive cash transfers, households must be
* Lebanese,
* assessed as living below the World Bank's "extreme poverty line", and
* belong to "pre-defined…
Content type: Examples
10th November 2021
A welfare benefit being rolled out in Nigerian in response to Covid-19 reportedly relies on highly data-intensive techniques.
The Rapid Response Registration Cash Transfer Project was set up by the Nigerian government to provide support to poor Nigerians located in urban and semi-urban areas that were not receiving any other form of welfare support.
According to statements by the Nigerian vice-president, the Rapid Response Register uses "scientifically validated methods of satellite remote…
Content type: Examples
10th November 2021
A third-party, privately-owned electronic wallet platform is being used to disburse welfare benefits in Honduras.
The Single Voucher is a one-time subsidy delivered through an electronic voucher that can be exchanged for food, medicine and /or medical supplies.
The benefit is disbursed in the form of a voucher that can be used in authorised establishments, namely supermarkets, pharmacies, grocery stores throughout the country. According to a Powerpoint presentation by the WHO and Honduran…
Content type: Examples
10th November 2021
A welfare benefit introduced by the Peruvian government not only relies on unclear eligibility criteria, but has been shown to exclude many.
Peru's Stay at Home bonus targets 2.7 million poor and non-extreme poor households. Those eligible are identified through the National Household Register, which categorises households into different bands. Among other factors, households categorised by the Register as being in poverty are deemed eligible to the benefit. However, the criteria used to…
Content type: Examples
10th November 2021
In 2020, after the COVID-19 pandemic hit Mozambique, the government started implementing the National Response Plan of Social Protection which aims to provide cash transfers to 1,582,179 beneficiaries.
The selection of priority areas to enroll people was based on a multimethodological approach using the MultiDimensional Poverty Index mapping that combines social and economic indicators. The index relied on the data gathered in the recent census, as well as high resolution satellite imaginary…
Content type: Examples
10th November 2021
Kwenda is a social protection program started in Angola in May 2020 to support people affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and it is expected to last for 3 years. The program counts with 420 million USD funding from the World Bank and has 4 distinct components.
Besides aiding with the effects of the pandemic, the Angolan government additionally sees KWENDA as a way to increase banking and digital inclusion for populations. This digitisation includes the creation of a centralised database under…
Content type: Examples
4th November 2021
As part of a collaboration with Unicef and the World Bank, the Malagasy government launched Tosika Fameno. Tosika Fameno is an unconditional cash transfer programme aiming to support 189,400 households affected by the pandemic. The benefit aims to address the needs of citizens in vulnerable situations from the town of Antananarivo, Moramanga, Toamasina and Fianarantsoa, where lockdown measures were put in place.
However, the way beneficiaries were chosen could raise questions when it comes to…
Content type: Examples
29th October 2021
The South African government urged social media platforms to trace and remove posts that incite violence, share false information, and call for civil disobedience after a July 2021 series of spiralling protests sparked by the jailing of former president Jacob Zuka. A number of other African countries such as eSwatini, Senegal, Nigeria, Uganda, Niger, and the DRC have also been increasingly using tracking software, internet shutdowns, and social media monitoring during protests and elections.…
Content type: Examples
29th October 2021
Following the largest protests seen on the island in decades, Cuba’s government introduced new social media regulations that make inciting acts that alter public order a crime, and ordered ISPs to shut off access for those who “spread fake news or hurt the image of the state”. Critics believe the new rules are intended to curb dissent, as the protests spread across the island from a small town, where the first protest was convened in an online forum and spread via a Facebook livestream. Deputy…
Content type: Examples
29th October 2021
The global internet monitoring firm NetBlocks finds that Cuba has restricted access to social media and messaging platforms including Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, as well as some Telegram servers, on the govt-owned telecom provider ETECSA during the largest protests the country has seen in decades. Access to the streaming services YouTube and Google Video was also limited. The protests focused on rising prices, curbs on civil liberties, and the government’s handling of the pandemic.…
Content type: Video
28th October 2021
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Links
Find out more about PI's work with and on humanitarian organisations uses of data here: https://privacyinternational.org/learn/humanitarian-sector
Read more about the Humanitarian Metadata Problem in our report on doing no harm in the digital age co-authored with the ICRC here: https://privacyinternational.org/report/2509/humanitarian-metadata-problem-doing-no-harm-digital-era
And you can learn more about the history of development and…
Content type: Examples
29th September 2021
Vaccinating a large portion of the population against COVID-19 is a critical step toward curbing the pandemic – within China and around the world. But setting population percentage targets without clear protections for people’s rights opens up the possibility of authorities abusing the quota to force jabs. And this is exactly what has played out in recent months across the country.
The Chinese government’s forced vaccination tactics, which go far beyond “mandates” being debated and discussed…
Content type: Long Read
15th September 2021
Image found here.
Founded in 1959, Bounty UK Limited markets itself as an information service for pregnant women and new mothers. Prior to the pandemic, it was best known for distributing “Bounty packs” of free samples of baby products to pregnant women at midwife appointments, to new mothers on maternity wards in the UK and through its digital presence via its website and app. Bounty representatives also sold new born photography packages to new mothers at the hospital bedside. Bounty entered…
Content type: Examples
7th September 2021
The provincial government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa announced that it would block the mobile phone SIM cards of people in five districts of Peshawar division which were not vaccinated by the deadline set of 31 August 2021.
Officials justified this decision following the low numbers of people coming to the 800 vaccination centres in the province despite many initiatives led by the district administrations and health department to improve Covid-19 vaccination rates.
Source: https://www.dawn.com/…
Content type: Long Read
10th August 2021
When you buy a brand-new low-cost phone, it’s likely to come pre-installed with insecure apps and an outdated operating system. What this means is that you or your loved ones could be left vulnerable to security risks or to having their data exploited. Privacy shouldn’t be a luxury. That’s why we advocate for companies to provide the latest security features and privacy protections for both low- and high-cost phones.
Content type: Long Read
4th August 2021
For many, browsing the internet or checking social media comes with its fair share of being targeted with ads selling “fad diet” subscription-based programmes, magic weight-loss powders, or promising a secret trick to lose weight quickly. Some of the products and programmes sold have been described as scams, with a very real impact for those suffering from eating disorders and those who fall prey to these ads. This is even more problematic due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which has seen the…
Content type: Examples
26th July 2021
In January 2021, the Indian Health Ministry officially allowed Aadhaar-based authentication when creating a UHID for identification and authentication of beneficiaries for various health IT applications promoted by the Ministry. This enabled the Co-Win portal, which is used to book COVID-19 vaccination appointments, to accept Aadhaar for authentication. As per Clause 2a of Co-Win’s privacy policy, “If you choose to use Aadhaar for vaccination, you may also choose to get a Unique Health ID (UHID…
Content type: Examples
29th June 2021
It is said, better late than never. Some activists and academics, hesitantly, thought the old maxim could be applied to the Centre's micro-credit facility for street vendors – which was indisputably behindhand, in the wake of the coronavirus-triggered lockdown, announced on March 24.
But, more than a month down the line since its launch, the programme is not proving to be any beneficial either.
The majority of the eligible vendors are not able to avail the Rs. 10,000 loan, under the Pradhan…
Content type: Examples
17th June 2021
After developing software that automatically recognises cookie banners that do not comply with the GDPR (usually because they do not provide a clear one-click option to reject all non-essential cookies), noyb has sent over 500 complaints to companies they consider non-compliant and given them a one-month grace period to change their practices. Along with the complaints, noyb provides a step-by-step guide on how to comply. They intend on generating over 10,000 complaints in this way in the…
Content type: Examples
17th June 2021
The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) has filed a lawsuit in Hamburg against three AdTech industry trade bodies including the Interactive Avertising Bureau (IAB). Members of the IAB include big tech companies (Google, Facebook, Amazon, Twitter...), data brokers (Equifax, Experian, Acxiom...) and advertising agencies (Groupm, Publicis, IPG...).
The lawsuit follows the filing in 2018 of complaints with the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) and UK Information Commissioner (ICO), which…
Content type: Examples
17th June 2021
While traditional media sought to criminalize the widespread November 2020 protests in Peru following the Congressional ouster of President Vizcarra, witnesses disseminated videos and photographs of police abuse on social networks. In the fear and uncertainty, many myths also circulated. In Peru, citizens have the right to refuse to allow police to check their cellphones unless they have a court order; slowed or absent wireless connections may simply be due to overload; as public officials,…
Content type: Examples
17th June 2021
In December 2020 Myanmar authorities began rolling out its $1.2 million "Safe City" system of 335 Huawei AI-equipped surveillance cameras in eight townships in the capital, Naypyidaw. The system, whose purpose was originally presented by the Myanmar government as fighting crime, automatically scans faces and vehicle licence plates in public places and alerts authorities to the presence of those on a wanted list. The Safe City plan calls for installing similar systems in Mandalay by mid-2021 and…
Content type: Examples
17th June 2021
Hundreds of pages of Myanmar government budgets for the last two fiscal years obtained by the New York Times show that the Myanmar military who staged a coup in February 2021 had new and sophisticated tools at their disposal: Israeli-made, military-grade surveillance drones, European iPhone cracking devices, and US software that can hack into computers and extract their contents. Purchases of sensitive dual-use cybersecurity and defence technology continued during the five years in which the…
Content type: Examples
17th June 2021
The internet, mobile, and social media shutdown in Myanmar left protesters vulnerable to rumours and at a disadvantage in organising opposition to the 2021 military coup. Coordination was done via phone, word of mouth, and the Bluetooth-based messaging app Bridgefy, which was downloaded more than 1 million times in Myanmar in the days after the coup. All plans include both online and offline contingency arrangements; a second disruptive possibility is intermittent interruptions and throttling…
Content type: Examples
17th June 2021
The Belarusian government is using the "Kipod" facial recognition software developed by the local software company LLCC Synesis to track and identify dissidents. Synesis was previously sanctioned by the EU for providing authorities with an AI surveillance platform capable of tracking individuals. Kipod uses biometrics machine learning algorithms to analyse material. Synesis has denied that the technology could be used to identify protesters, but the Belarusian government decreed the…