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Content type: Advocacy
In parallel to the legislative process initiated by the Kenya Senate in July 2018, a Task Force constituted by the Ministry of Information, Communication and Telecommunication developed a draft Data Protection Bill which it published for consultation in May of this year.
Privacy International and its Kenya Partners, the National Coalition of Human Rights Defenders – Kenya (NCHRD-K), the Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Technology (CIPIT) are pleased to have had the…
Content type: Long Read
Photo credit: Pixabay
This piece was originally published in iNews
It seems that you can’t go anywhere online at the moment without being reassured that ‘we respect your privacy’ and being directed to a 2,000-word privacy policy. You probably just click ‘got it, thanks’ because who has the luxury to stop and think about what their ‘privacy’ actually means?
But privacy is something that starts becoming far less abstract when you can see how it is being threatened and undermined, every day and…
Content type: Long Read
This piece was originally published in Just Security.
Earlier this month, the European Court of Human Rights issued a major judgment in three consolidated cases challenging the U.K. government’s mass interception program, which was first revealed by Edward Snowden in 2013. That judgment finds notable deficiencies in the legal framework governing mass interception, rendering the program unlawful under Articles 8 and 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which protect the rights…
Content type: Long Read
Written jointly by Privacy International and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
In a landmark decision earlier this month, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that one of the mass surveillance programs revealed by Edward Snowden violates the rights to privacy and freedom of expression. While the case challenges the U.K. government’s mass interception of internet traffic transiting its borders, the court’s judgment has broader implications for mass spying programs in Europe and…
Content type: Long Read
Image attribution: By Legaleagle86 at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0.
In a long-anticipated judgment, the Indian Supreme Court has ruled that India's controversial identification system Aadhaar is Constitutional. They based their conclusion on notes that there are sufficient measures in place to protect data, and that it is difficult to undertake surveillance of citizens on the basis of Aadhaar.
But there is some good in this ruling. The court has demanded that the Government introduce…
Content type: Press release
Thames House, Offices of MI5. Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons
MI5 collected Privacy International’s private data and examined it
GCHQ, MI5, and MI6 unlawfully collected data relating to UK charity Privacy International
Privacy International has written to the UK's Home Secretary demanding action against spy agencies
Disclosures come less than a fortnight after UK laws on mass surveillance ruled unlawful at European Court of Human Rights
The UK's domestic-facing intelligence…
Content type: News & Analysis
“The gathering and holding of personal information on computers, data banks, and other devices, whether by public authorities or private individuals or bodies, must be regulated by law.”
- UN Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 16, 1988
Underpinning the obligations of those who process personal data, both public and private institutions, the grounds on which they may do so, and the rights of individuals, there are various data protection principles…
Content type: News & Analysis
This piece was originally published on Just Security.
Ten years ago, an FBI official impersonated an Associated Press reporter to lure and track a teenager suspected of sending in prank bomb threats to his school. To find him, the FBI agent, posing as a reporter, sent the teenager links to a supposed story he was working on, but the links were infested with malware that once clicked on quickly exposed the teen’s location. More recently, the FBI has seized and modified websites so…
Content type: Long Read
Who are you? The Challenges of Identity and Identification
“Identity” is a word that covers an incredible range of contested, deeply personal and highly politicised questions. These range from the political and the sociological, through to the psychological and philosophical. A question such as “who are you?” can elicit a multiplicity of responses, none of which are straightforward, are sometimes highly contextual, and are often deeply contested.
However, there is something of an attempt to…
Content type: Long Read
Yesterday, the European Court of Human Rights issued its judgement in Big Brother Watch & Others V. the UK. Below, we answer some of the main questions relating to the case.
What's the ruling all about?
In a nutshell, one of the world's most important courts, the European Court of Human Rights, yesterday found that certain UK laws about how intelligence agencies can spy on our internet communications breach our human rights. These surveillance laws have meant that the UK intelligence…
Content type: News & Analysis
Today was a big day for the privacy of millions of people. The European Court of Human Rights has today ruled that UK laws enabling mass interception of our communications violate the rights to privacy and freedom of expression. This finding is an important victory for human rights and the rule of law.
The judges found that:
The UK’s historical bulk interception regime violated the right to privacy protected by Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and to free…
Content type: Long Read
The European Court of Human Rights ruled today that the UK government's mass interception program violates the rights to privacy and freedom of expression. The Court held that the program "is incapable of keeping the 'interference' to what is 'necessary in a democratic society'". This finding is an important victory for human rights and the rule of law. Below, we break down the key parts of the decision.
The Court's ruling comes after a five-year battle against two UK mass surveillance…
Content type: Press release
The European Court of Human Rights has today ruled that UK laws enabling mass surveillance violate the rights to privacy and freedom of expression.
Judges found that:
The UK’s historical bulk interception regime violated the right to privacy protected by Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and to free expression, protected by Article 10.
The interception of communications data is as serious a breach of privacy as the interception of content, meaning the UK…
Content type: Long Read
National and International civil society organisations (CSOs) play vital roles in many aspects of our societies as watchdogs of state powers, as representatives of the voices of the people, as experts to inform and educate an array of stakeholders.
One of our key lessons learned from three decades of work, including 10 years with the Privacy International Networkto build a global privacy movement,promoting and advocating for the highest privacy and data protection safeguards has been…
Content type: News & Analysis
Creative Commons Photo Credit: Source
Just about everyone in Washington has found something to dislike about the tech industry: Democrats especially, are worried about foreign interference in the 2016 election — meanwhile some Republicans are more concerned about bias against conservatives of platforms and on top of it all President Trump has been tweeting about antitrust and competition.
Privacy International is a vocal critic of data exploitation more generally, and the systemic…
Content type: Long Read
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are the United Nations-led initiative to define the development agenda. Building on the eight Millennium Development Goals, the SDG’s 17 goals – and the 169 targets – serve as an opportunity to tackle many of the most pressing issues in the world today. The SDGs are also explicitly grounded in human rights. Goal 16 on “peace, justice, and sustainable institutions” aims to “Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide…
Content type: News & Analysis
This post was written by William Marks, a former volunteer at Privacy International.
The right to privacy is central to the protection of human dignity, and supports and reinforces other rights, such as the right to freedom of expression and association. Privacy International, supported by the International Human Rights Clinic at Harvard Law School, recently submitted a joint stakeholder report to the United Nations Human Rights Council regarding New Zealand’s protection of the right to…
Content type: News & Analysis
Around the world, from North America to Europe and Asia, governments are starting to roll out smart meters. While the technology promises increased energy efficiency through greater consumer control over energy consumption, smart meters also raise serious privacy concerns. Smart meters collect energy usage data at high frequencies - typically every five, fifteen or 30 minutes. That level of granularity reveals how much electricity is being used in a home and when, which in turn can paint an…
Content type: Long Read
Privacy International’s new report shows how countries with powerful security agencies are training, equipping, and directly financing foreign surveillance agencies. Driven by advances in technology, increased surveillance is both powered by and empowering rising authoritarianism globally, as well as attacks on democracy, peoples’ rights, and the rule of law.To ensure that surveillance powers used by governments are used to protect rather than endanger people, it is essential that the public,…
Content type: Advocacy
We welcome the effort by the Pakistani Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunications to regulate the processing of personal data in Pakistan, and take measures to guarantee the right to privacy as guaranteed under Article 14(1) of the Constitution: “[t]he dignity of man and, subject to law, the privacy of home, shall be inviolable.”
This legislative development is crucial and timely as Pakistan continues to embrace innovative governance initiatives and deploy data-intensive systems…
Content type: News & Analysis
By Digital Rights Foundation, Pakistan
What is a safe city?
The answer to this question is not uniform; in fact it varies according to who you ask.
In a focus group conducted by Digital Rights Foundation in May of last year, consisting of women rights activists from across Pakistan, the answer meant imagining a city that was not only safe for women, in terms of their physical safety, but also welcoming for women and non-binary individuals in its architecture and facilities. Women expressed…
Content type: Long Read
Creative Commons Photo Credit: Source
UPDATE: 30 July 2019
Privacy International has identified the following:
Two RAB officers received approval to travel to the USA in April 2019 for training on “Location Based Social Network Monitoring System Software for RAB Intelligence Wing”
Three RAB officers received approval to travel to Russia in August 2017 to participate in user training of “Backpack IMSI Catcher (2G, 3G, 4G)” paid for by Annex SW Engineering, a…
Content type: News & Analysis
This piece originally appeared here.
Creative Commons Photo Credit: Source
Tech competition is being used to push a dangerous corporate agenda.
High-tech industries have become the new battlefield as the United States and China clash over tariffs and trade deficits. It’s a new truism that the two countries are locked in a race for dominance in artificial intelligence and that data could drive the outcome.
In this purported race for technological high ground, the argument often goes, China…
Content type: Long Read
Creative Commons Photo Credit: Source
In the midst of continued widespread public outrage at the US government’s brutal ‘zero-tolerance’ policy around immigration – multiple data and analytics companies have quietly avoided answering questions about their role in feeding the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency’s data backbone. These companies are bidding to work with an agency that has time and time again shown itself to be a brutal and problematic.
Privacy International…
Content type: News & Analysis
Our intervention comes on the back of mounting evidence that the South African state’s surveillance powers have been abused, and so-called “checks & balances” in RICA have failed to protect citizens’ constitutional right to privacy.
Among our core arguments are:
That people have a right to be notified when their communications have been intercepted so that they can take action when they believe their privacy has been unlawfully breached. Currently RICA prevents such notification, unlike…
Content type: News & Analysis
Create Commons Photo Credit: Source
Privacy International has achieved an important victory for government transparency and information access rights. This victory stems from a long-running battle with the government to obtain information about the UK police’s purchase and use of IMSI catchers. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) recently issued a series of decisions, which agree with Privacy International that police forces cannot rely on a position of “neither confirm nor deny” (NCND…
Content type: Advocacy
This report is presented by Red en Defensa de los Derechos Digitales (R3D) and Privacy International (PI). La Red en Defensa de los Derechos Digitales (R3D) is a non-governmental, non-profit organisation located in Mexico, dedicated to the defence of human rights in the digital environment. Privacy International (PI) is a non-governmental, non-profit organisation located in London, focused on the defence, promotion and protection of the right to privacy around the world.
PI and R3D wish to…
Content type: Report
Privacy International welcomes the opportunity to file these comments in advance of the Federal Trade Commission’s public hearings on competition and consumer protection in the 21st century.
Content type: News & Analysis
Last year Privacy International conducted research into information left on rental cars after they are returned. Every car we rented contained readily apparent personal information about past drivers and other passengers, including information such as their past locations, smart phone identifier, and entered locations, including a school.
Off the back of the research, PI wrote to rental companies and car-share schemes in continental Europe, the UK, and the US to enquire about the companies’…
Content type: Press release
We found this image here.
The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) will no longer be able to operate in secret after human rights campaign organisations Liberty and Privacy International demanded it be subject to Freedom of Information laws.
The Government has now informed the organisations that it has started a process to designate the law enforcement policy-making body as a public authority subject to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) – meaning it will be open to public scrutiny.…