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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: Report
This report investigates the probable effect of the proposed UK national Identity Card system on people who are marginalised, who suffer social disadvantage or exclusion, and those who are disabled. The work focuses on the biometrics element of the government’s proposals (specifically facial recognition, ngerprinting and iris scanning).
The Report provides a specific assessment of the recently published biometrics trial conducted by the UK Passport Service (UKPS), and compares these…
Content type: Report
This report investigates the probable effect of the proposed UK national Identity Card system on people who are marginalised, who suffer social disadvantage or exclusion, and those who are disabled. The work focuses on the biometrics element of the government’s proposals (specifically facial recognition, fingerprinting and iris scanning).
Content type: News & Analysis
The Government Accounting Office of the US government reports that creating a new system to keep track of the locations of aliens or visitors to the US is of 'questionable' value. This report, required by the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Reform Act of 2002, reflects the challenges faced by INS when they were asked to identify the location of over 4000 individuals in the days after 11th September 2001.
Most of the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents who were consulted in the…
Content type: News & Analysis
In a move that mimics the U.S. fingerprinting policy under the VISIT programme, the European Commission has adopted a proposal for a regulation that would create a central database for all visa applicants fingerprints and photos. Regulation available on the Europa website.
In a somewhat positive turn, it is important to note that the retention period of this data is only five years, compared to 100 years in the U.S. Relevant excerpts include:
To ensure exact verification and…
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
In a number of reports released today, the UK government acknowledged that there has been an increase in stop and searches in the past year. According to the Home Office Stop and Search Team's Strategy Report, "Stop and search is a police power which, if used fairly and effectively, can play an important role in detecting and preventing crime and the fight against terrorism."
But they admit that the power is used increasingly in unfair ways:
This is under Section 95 of the Criminal…
Content type: Press release
The global watchdog Privacy International has today simultaneously filed complaints against Google's controversial Gmail service with privacy regulators in sixteen countries.
The move creates Google's biggest challenge yet in the short but turbulent public debate over its new email service.
Complaints have been filed with the privacy and data protection regulators of France, Germany, the Netherlands, Greece, Italy, Spain, Czech Republic, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Ireland, Portugal, Poland,…
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
A conference held today at the London School of Economics will hear new statistics showing that UK law enforcement and investigation agencies are demanding an unprecedented quantity of customer records from communications providers.
Privacy International has compiled figures based on estimates supplied by the Home Office, Ministerial statements, legal experts, the communications industry and the All Party Internet Group of MPs. The figures being released today indicate that police 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
1. What is CCTV?
CCTV (Closed Circuit Television) is a visual surveillance technology designed for monitoring a variety of environments and activities. CCTV systems typically involve a fixed (or "dedicated") communications link between cameras and monitors.
In the past decade, the use of CCTV has grown to unprecedented levels. In Britain between £150 and £300 million ($225 - $450 million) per year is now spent on a surveillance industry involving an estimated 300,000 cameras. Most…
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…
Content type: Report
The evolution of information technology is likely to result in intimate interdependence between humans and technology. This fusion has been characterized in popular science fiction as chip implantation. It is, however, more likely to take the form of biometric identification using such technologies as fingerprints, hand geometry and retina scanning.
Some applications of biometric identification technology are now cost-effective, reliable, and highly accurate. As a result, biometric systems…
Content type: Report
The evolution of information technology is likely to result in intimate interdependence between humans and technology. This fusion has been characterized in popular science fiction as chip implantation. It is, however, more likely to take the form of biometric identification using such technologies as fingerprints, hand geometry and retina scanning.
Some applications of biometric identification technology are now cost-effective, reliable, and highly accurate. As a result, biometric systems are…
Content type: News & Analysis
The French Socialist Party suffered a resounding defeat in parlimentary elections on March 21st and 28th, in part due to a wiretapping scandal that broke a week before the elections. Results showed that they lost over 200 seats in the Parliment and became the minority party. Socialist President Francois Mitterrand will remain in office but is expected to face a tough election in 1994.
The scandal emerged after reports and transcripts were leaked to Paris Daily Liberation, showing that a…
Content type: Report
Proposals for identity (ID) cards have provoked public outrage and political division in several countries. In this paper Simon Davies analyses the key elements of public opposition to ID Card schemes, and profiles the massive 1987 Australian campaign against a national ID card.
Content type: Report
Proposals for identity (ID) cards have provoked public outrage and political division in several countries. In this paper Simon Davies analyses the key elements of public opposition to ID Card schemes, and profiles the massive 1987 Australian campaign against a national ID card.
Content type: Report
This report presents a detailed analysis of the international trade in surveillance technology. Its’ primary concern is the ow of sophisticated computer-based technology from developed countries to developing countries – and particularly to non-democratic regimes. It is in this environment where surveillance technologies become technologies of political control.
Surveillance technologies can be de ned as technologies which can monitor, track and assess the movements, activities and…
Content type: Report
The explosion of telecommunications services has improved the ability for human rights groups to disseminate information worldwide. New telephone, facsimile and computer communications have created opportunities for human rights groups to improve organizing and to promote human rights faster and at a lower cost than ever before. However, these new technologies can be monitored by governments and other groups seeking to monitor the activities of human rights advocates. For this reason, human…
Content type: Report
The explosion of telecommunications services has improved the ability for human rights groups to disseminate information worldwide. New telephone, facsimile and computer communications have created opportunities for human rights groups to improve organizing and to promote human rights faster and at a lower cost than ever before. However, these new technologies can be monitored by governments and other groups seeking to monitor the activities of human rights advocates. For this reason, human…
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