News and Analysis

N&A, Long Reads, Press Release

News & Analysis
Picture: Antti T. Nissinen, CC BY 2.0 In addition to the issues we highlighted in stage 1, where intrusive personal information is required in order to apply for social benefits, recipients who seek to maintain their social benefits are required to regularly disclose similar information and are also
News & Analysis
Picture: Christian Schnettelker 1. The process of applying for social benefits subjects people to humiliating and punishing scrutiny . It is gruelling and harmful in and of itself. It requires people to invest significant time and resources, and to disclose vast amounts of personal information. For
News & Analysis
On Tuesday, Twitter disclosed that it may have shared data on users with advertising partners, even if they have opted out from personalised ads, and shown people ads based on inferences made about the devices they use without permission. According to Twitter, the issue was fixed on Monday, even
Long Read
Image credit: Emil Sjöblom [ ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0)] Prepaid SIM card use and mandatory SIM card registration laws are especially widespread in countries in Africa: these two factors can allow for a more pervasive system of mass surveillance of people who can access prepaid SIM cards
News & Analysis
Image: The Great Hack publicity still, courtesy of Netflix. This is a review of the documentary 'The Great Hack' originally published on IMDb. This documentary is a fascinating account of The Facebook/Cambridge Analytica data scandal. In early 2018, Cambridge Analytica became a household name. The
News & Analysis
Privacy International has joined over 30 organisations working with migrants and refugees to write to the newly appointed British Home Secretary to raise a number of pressing issues, which require action if the immigration and asylum system is to regain the trust of the public. The letter below was
News & Analysis
Picture Credit: US AID US President Trump has been cutting aid to Central America, including a surprise cut of approximately $500m in aid to the “Northern Triangle” countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, apparently as punishment for “doing absolutely nothing” to prevent emigration to the
Long Read
image from portal gda (cc) Many people are still confused by what is 5G and what it means for them. With cities like London, New York or San Francisco now plastered with ads, talks about national security, and the deployment of 5G protocols being treated like an arms race, what happens to our
Long Read
Photo by David Werbrouck on Unsplash This is an ongoing series about the ways in which those searching for abortion information and procedures are being traced and tracked online. This work is part of a broader programme of work aimed at safeguarding the dignity of people by challenging current
News & Analysis
While people may think that providing their photos and data is a small price to pay for the entertainment FaceApp offers, the app raises concerns about privacy, manipulation, and data exploitation—although these concerns are not necessarily unique to FaceApp. According to FaceApp's terms of use and
Long Read
By Valentina Pavel, PI Mozilla-Ford Fellow, 2018-2019 Our digital environment is changing, fast. Nobody knows exactly what it’ll look like in five to ten years’ time, but we know that how we produce and share our data will change where we end up. We have to decide how to protect, enhance, and
News & Analysis
This blogpost is a preview of the full ' Our Data Future' story, produced by Valentina Pavel, PI Mozilla-Ford Fellow, 2018-2019. 2030. Four worlds. One choice. Which one is yours? All aboard! Time to step into the imaginarium. Explore four speculative future scenarios, examining how different ways
Long Read
Photo By: Cpl. Joel Abshier ‘Biometrics’ describes the physiological and behavioural characteristics of individuals. This could be fingerprints, voice, face, retina and iris patterns, hand geometry, gait or DNA profiles. Because biometric data is particularly sensitive and revealing of individual’s
Long Read
Whilst innovation in technology and data processing have provided individuals and communities with new opportunities to exercise their fundamental rights and freedoms, this has not come without risks, and these opportunities have not been enjoyed by all equally and freely. Our relationships and
News & Analysis
Increasingly every interaction migrants have within the immigration enforcement framework requires the processing of their personal data. The use of this data and new technologies are today driving a revolution in immigration enforcement which risks undermining people's rights and requires urgent
News & Analysis
In July 2019, the UK House of Commons' Science and Technology Committee published a report on Digital Government. Lying not so subtlely amongst it's recommendations is this: " The Government should facilitate a national debate on single unique identifiers for citizens to use for accessing public