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Content type: News & Analysis
Privacy International's recent complaint to the UK Information Commissioner has threatened to bring to a halt an imminent plan to fingerprint all domestic and international passengers departing from Heathrow's Terminal 1 and Terminal 5, due to begin on March 27th. The British media is reporting that in response to PI's complaint, the Information Commissioner has advised that passengers should only accept fingerprinting "under protest" until our complaint is resolved.
The prospect of…
Content type: News & Analysis
The European Commission is about to announce the compulsory fingerprinting of all visitors to the EU, both visa holders and non-visa holders, along with automated border checks of EU nationals through the analysis of fingerprints and facial scans.
The Communication from December 2007, available here on the PI site, outlines the plans. Below we summarise the plans. Also see PI's commentary in the Guardian CommentisFree section from February 11, 2008.
Critical Analysis
The Communication does…
Content type: News & Analysis
Together with a coalition with 18 Japanese rights groups, Privacy International today delivered a letter to the Japanese Minister of Justice to protest against the implementation of a fingerprinting system and face-scanning system at its borders. All visitors and many foreign residents to Japan will be fingerprinted under this plan. Our letter to the Minister is endorsed by 68 organisations from 30 countries. In our letter, we show that there are numerous problems with the government's plans.…
Content type: News & Analysis
Privacy International and the American Civil Liberties Union have appealed to the Council of the European Union, the European Commission, the European Parliament, and privacy commissioners in 31 countries across Europe to repeal the agreement between the EU and the US on passenger data transfers. We argue that, with the recent disclosure of the 'Automated Targeting System' being used by the US Department of Homeland Security, the US has violated both American law and the agreement with the EU…
Content type: News & Analysis
At its last session on November 21st and 22nd 2006, the Article 29 Working Party has again been dealing with the SWIFT case and has unanimously adopted Opinion 128 on its findings in this case.
In this Opinion, the Article 29 Working Party emphasizes that even in the fight against terrorism and crime fundamental rights must remain guaranteed. The Article 29 Working Party insists therefore on the respect of global data protection principles.
SWIFT is a worldwide financial messaging service…
Content type: Press release
Privacy International (PI) today filed additional complaints with authorities in Japan, Israel, Korea, Taiwan, Province of China, Thailand and Argentina. On June 27th PI filed simultaneous complaints with Data Protection and Privacy regulators in 32 countries concerning recent revelations of secret disclosures of records from SWIFT to US intelligence agencies.(1)
The disclosures involve the mass transfer of data from SWIFT in Europe to the United States, and possibly direct access by US…
Content type: News & Analysis
Booz Allen Hamilton, Inc., a prominent defence and intelligence consulting and engineering firm, has been hired as an outside "independent" auditor of the CIA and Treasury Department's Terrorist Finance Tracking Program ("TFTP"), which monitors banking transactions made through the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT). Though Booz Allen's role is to verify that the access to the SWIFT data is not abused, its relationship with the U.S. Government calls its…
Content type: News & Analysis
Dear Mr Schrank,
I am writing with regard to the current controversy over the private arrangement between SWIFT and the U.S. Government that facilitates the extradition of confidential financial transaction data from SWIFT to U.S. authorities. You will be aware that Privacy International contends that this arrangement breaches privacy and data protection law, and we have lodged complaints with regulatory authorities in 38 countries.
In my many discussions with SWIFT officials over the past…
Content type: Press release
Following a series of formal complaints to regulators, the privacy watchdog organisation Privacy International has released its estimate of the volume of confidential UK financial data covertly transmitted to the US government.
Last week PI filed simultaneous complaints with Data Protection and Privacy regulators in 32 countries concerning recent revelations of secret disclosures of records from the banking giant SWIFT to US intelligence agencies (1).
This disclosure of data has been…
Content type: Long Read
On June 22-23 2006 the New York Times ran a story uncovering an international financial surveillance programme run by the Bush Administration. In essence the Bush Administration is getting access to international transfer data and storing this in databases at the Treasury Department and/or CIA for access to investigate terrorist activity.
There are a number of inconsistencies in the accounts so far:
The U.S. claims that this is a narrowly focused programme that is compliant with the law,…
Content type: News & Analysis
The Supreme Court of Canada has upheld the legality of the DNA database, including the retroactive collection of profiles. This decision supports the DNA Identification Act of 1998 and sees the taking of DNA from those who are convicted of serious offences not so much as a search but more as an act that enables identification.
In the case R v Rodgers (2006), decided 4-3, the Court was asked to consider, amongst numerous other issues:
Whether collection of DNA samples for data bank…
Content type: News & Analysis
The UK currently maintains the largest DNA Database in the world and is encouraging other governments to implement similar systems in their respective countries. Using international organisations such as Interpol, participant governments will be able to share and exchange the DNA profiles of their citizens subject to vague legislative provisions, such as 'the interests of crime detection and prevention'.
Background
The successful prosecution of a serial sex offender in 2004 led to…
Content type: News & Analysis
The European Parliament voted today to adopt a new directive allowing for the retention of data "generated by telephony, SMS and internet, but not the content of the information communicated". This data includes email addresses and location data from cell phones. The directive is highly controversial due to the impact it will have on the privacy of European Union citizens.
Also of concern is the broad discretion that is left to EU member states. For example, data may be accessed for the…
Content type: News & Analysis
Privacy International has joined forces with dozens of other human rights and civil liberties organizations around the world to ask the European Parliament to reject a Directive that would seriously compromise personal freedom in the EU. Below is the text of the letter to Members of the European Parliament, and the pdf is also available.
To all Members of the European Parliament
We the undersigned are calling on you to reject the 'Directive of the European Parliament and the Council…
Content type: Report
Race relations across European states are usually far from ideal. However in law, European countries appear to grant Europeans ideal protections against discrimination. There are mounting tensions with ethnic and minority communities in countless European countries, with particular suspicion and aggression pointed towards the Roma people, Travellers, Northern Africans, Turks, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and people of Islamic and other faiths. Increasingly these groups are finding safe havens behind…
Content type: Report
Race relations across European states are usually far from ideal. However in law, European countries appear to grant Europeans ideal protections against discrimination. There are mounting tensions with ethnic and minority communities in countless European countries, with particular suspicion and aggression pointed towards the Roma people, Travellers, Northern Africans, Turks, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and people of Islamic and other faiths. Increasingly these groups are finding safe havens behind…
Content type: News & Analysis
The French government is considering the implementation of a new project, Project INES (Identite National Electronique Securisee), which will involve a system very similar to the one proposed in the UK. The French are even using similar statements, such as 'international obligations', 'terrorism', and concern regarding 'identity theft'. The Forum for Civil Liberties on the Internet ("Le Forum des droits sur l'internet) was asked by then Minister of the Interior Dominique de Villepin to conduct…
Content type: News & Analysis
In a tipping of the hat to the Americans, the UK is set to establish the largest border surveillance programme to date. The new programme will involve the collection of biometrics on visitors to the UK, the generation of vast information stores on all Britons and visitors, and a profiling system to identify those worthy of further scrutiny.
This programme does not merely apply to combatting terrorism however; it is for use for general policing matters.
We have archived the 'partial'…
Content type: News & Analysis
We the undersigned are calling on you to reject the 'Draft Council Regulation on standards for security features and biometrics in passports and travel documents issued by Member States'. This is an unnecessary and rushed policy that will have hazardous effects on Europeans' right to privacy. This policy process requires additional oversight, and the eventual systems established will require significant controls and a strong legal framework to ensure that this is a proportionate response to the…
Content type: Press release
The London-based human rights watchdog Privacy International today attacked Justice Minister Donner's campaign on 'Wet op de uitgebreide identificatieplicht' as an "underhanded" attempt to convince innocent citizens to forego their legal rights.
Last year the organisation advised that the identity legislation would violate both the European Convention on Human Rights and the UN Declaration on the Rights of the Child.
Privacy International today warned that the identity campaign indicated that…
Content type: Press release
The London-based human rights watchdog Privacy International today warned that Justice Minister Donner's proposed 'Wet op de uitgebreide identificatieplicht' will violate the European Convention on Human Rights. The organisation has vowed to take legal action in the courts if the Parliament approves the proposals.
The proposed law will give a wide range of government and law enforcement officials the power to demand identification in the course of their duties. A penalty of €2,250 (US$2,…
Content type: News & Analysis
For the attention of Members and staff of the European Parliament,
I am writing to you on behalf of Privacy International, a London-based human rights group, to call on you to stop the implementation of biometric travel documents.
We at PI have been monitoring the biometric passport developments for three years. Most recently we organized an open letter to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) calling for clarification and modification to the plans for the biometric passport…
Content type: News & Analysis
The Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia made a call for submissions on whether the USA PATRIOT Act could allow the U.S. authorities to gain access to Canadians' personal information, enabled through the outsourcing of Canadian public services to the United States. The Commission also called for comments on the implications for compliance with Canadian provincial privacy laws, and to see if anything could be done to eliminate or mitigate the risks.
In this submission to the BC…
Content type: News & Analysis
The Electronic Privacy Information Center has obtained documents showing that the U.S. Census Bureau provided the Department of Homeland Security statistical data on people who identified themselves on the 2000 census as being of Arab ancestry. All relevant information is on the EPIC website. The New York Times covered the story, and quoted the Census Bureau as saying that such 'cooperation' was standard practice. The deputy director of the Census Bureau is quoted as saying: "We do worry…
Content type: News & Analysis
To the participants of the International Civil Aviation Organization 12th Session of the Facilitation Division,
We are writing to you on behalf of a wide range of human rights and civil liberties organizations to express our concerns regarding a number of decisions emerging from your conferences and their likely effects on privacy and civil liberties. We are particularly worried about your plans requiring passports and other travel documents to contain biometrics and remotely readable ‘contact…
Content type: News & Analysis
Privacy International is writing this Open Letter to Members of both Chambers of the Netherlands Parliament to express our deep concern over Justice Minister Donner's proposed 'Wet op de uitgebreide identificatieplicht'. We believe these requirements will violate the European Convention on Human Rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
By way of introduction, Privacy International (PI) is a human rights group formed in 1990 as a watchdog on surveillance by governments and…
Content type: Press release
The global human rights watchdog Privacy International (PI) has warned that tens of thousands of UK school children are being finger printed by schools, often without the knowledge or consent of their parents.
The electronic finger printing is being conducted as part of a cost cutting "automation" of school libraries. Privacy International has condemned the procedure, branding it "dangerous, illegal and unnecessary", and has called for a prohibition of the technology in schools.
As many as…
Content type: News & Analysis
On July 3rd 2002, the UK Government published a consultation paper on a national identity card. Privacy International has investigated such proposals across the world for more than a decade. Here, we answer all the questions the government has failed to answer.
What sort of ID card does the government have in mind?
What is the difference between an "entitlement" card, and an identity card?
Will an identity card will help eliminate benefit fraud?
Will an identity card help prevent terrorism?
Is…
Content type: News & Analysis
In recent years, the use of Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) in the UK has grown to unprecedented levels. Between £150 and £300 million per year is now spent on a system that involves an estimated 200,000 cameras. According to the British Security Industry Association, more than three quarters of these systems have been professionally installed. Most towns and cities are moving to CCTV surveillance of public areas, housing estates, car parks and public facilities. Growth in the market is…
Content type: News & Analysis
In 1994, in an attempt to discover the problems caused by ID cards, Privacy International compiled a survey containing reports from correspondents in forty countries. Amongst the gravest of problems reported to Privacy International was the over zealous use or misuse of ID cards by police - even where the cards were supposed to be voluntary. One respondent wrote:
On one occasion I was stopped in Switzerland when walking at night near Lake Geneva. I was living in Switzerland at the time and had…