News and Analysis

N&A, Long Reads, Press Release

Key Resources

Data Exploitation in the Italian Elections

Political campaigns, debate and engagement has become increasingly digitalised in Italy. Here are some examples of concerns this has raised.

Long Read

Tech companies are trying to redefine privacy - what's missing is real competition on privacy

CEOs of the big tech companies have all recently discovered the value of privacy . On Tuesday, 30 April 2019, Mark Zuckerberg, announced his future plans to make Facebook a "privacy-focused social platform" . This was followed by Google's Sundar Pichai demand that “ privacy must be equally available

News & Analysis

Push this button for evidence

We look at the recently published report on forensic science in the UK , highlight concerns about police not understanding new tech used to extract data from mobile phones; the risk of making incorrect inferences and the general lack of understanding about the capabilities of these tools. The

News & Analysis

Cloud Storage App ‘Ever’ Has Been Weaponising Peoples’ Photos

Photo by Mike MacKenzie (via www.vpnsrus.com) Ever, a cloud storage app, is an example of how facial recognition technology can be developed in ways people do not expect and can risk amplifying discrimination. Ever is a cloud storage app that brands itself as “helping you capture and rediscover your

Long Read

FAQ: Privacy International UK Supreme Court Judgment

Details of case: R (on the application of Privacy International) (Appellant) v Investigatory Powers Tribunal and others (Respondents) [2019] UKSC 22 15 May 2019 The judgment What two questions was the Supreme Court asked to answer? Whether section 67(8) of RIPA 2000 “ousts” the supervisory

Press release

Privacy International Wins Historic Victory at UK Supreme Court

Today, after a five year battle with the UK government, Privacy International has won at the UK Supreme Court. The UK Supreme Court has ruled that the Investigatory Powers Tribunal’s (IPT) decisions are subject to judicial review in the High Court. The Supreme Court's judgment is a major endorsement

News & Analysis

WhatsApp and NSO: it's time for the British Government to act

Privacy International welcomes WhatsApp's immediate reaction after the revelation that Israeli cyber intelligence company NSO group had exploited a vulnerability in their software. We encourage all WhatsApp users to update their app as soon as possible. However, we believe WhatsApp needs to be much

Press release

BREAKING: following PI investigation into exploitation of data, Quantcast is under investigation by Irish Data Protection Commission

The Irish Data Protection Commission has today launched an inquiry into the data practices of ad-tech company Quantcast, a major player in the online tracking industry. PI's 2018 investigation and subsequent submission to the Irish DPC showed how the company is systematically collecting and

Long Read

Data Exploitation and Democratic Societies

Image Source: "Voting Key" by CreditDebitPro is licensed under CC BY 2.0 Democratic society is under threat from a range of players exploiting our data in ways which are often hidden and unaccountable. These actors are manifold: traditional political parties (from the whole political spectrum)

Long Read

two women looking at surveillance camera art installation

Protecting Civic Spaces

Civic spaces where we are free to develop, protest and preserve our intergrity and autonomy are increasingly under threat as new surveillance technologies are radically transforming the ability of authorities to monitor them.

News & Analysis

Cambridge Analytica, GDPR - 1 year on - a lot of words and some action

The first half of 2018 saw two major privacy moments: in March, the Facebook/ Cambridge Analytica scandal broke, followed in May by the EU General Data Protection Regulation (" GDPR") taking effect. The Cambridge Analytica scandal, as it has become known, grabbed the attention and outrage of the

News & Analysis

What types of data can law enforcement extract from my phone?

A mobile device is a huge repository of sensitive data, which could provide a wealth of information about its owner and many others with whom the user interacts. Companies like Cellebrite, MSAB and Oxygen Forensics sell software and hardware to law enforcement. Once your phone is connected to one of

News & Analysis

GDPR loopholes facilitate data exploitation by political parties

This piece was first published in GDPR today in March 2019. Elections, referendums and political campaigns around the world are becoming ever more sophisticated data operations. This raises questions about the political use and abuse of personal data. With the European Union elections fast

News & Analysis

European Parliament elections – protecting our data to protect us against manipulation

Photo by DAVID ILIFF. License: CC-BY-SA 3.0 Between 23 and 26 May 2019 Europeans will be voting to elect members of the European Parliament. Since the last elections in 2014, much has changed within and without the European Union: the rise of nationalism and Euroscepticism, the protracted armed

Long Read

“Truth exists but you have to find it”: Fighting disinformation on Facebook in Ukraine

“ Truth exists, but you have to find it”, Oleksandra Matviychuk of Ukraine’s Center for Civil Liberties told me as I interviewed her in central Kyiv one week before the 2019 Ukrainian run-off election, “ and in order to do so you have to make some effort”. We’re talking about her experience working

Long Read

Spanish elections under the new data protection law: use of personal data by political parties?

This image was found here. Spain is holding a national general election on April 28 (its third in four years). Four weeks later Spaniards will again go to the polls to vote in the European Parliament elections. At Privacy International we are working to investigate and challenge the exploitation of