News and Analysis

N&A, Long Reads, Press Release

Long Read

Association Confraternelle de la Presse Judiciare and 11 Other Applications v. France

European Court of Human Rights Intervention On 15 September 2017, Privacy International filed an intervention to the European Court of Human Rights in Association Confraternelle de la Presse Judiciare and 11 Other Applications v. France. This case challenges various surveillance powers authorised

Long Read

Privacy International v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs et al. (Bulk Personal Datasets & Bulk Communications Data challenge) - Disclosure

Press release

Press Release: New Privacy International Report Shows That 21 European Countries Are Unlawfully Retaining Personal Data

Key points Privacy International surveyed 21 EU member states' legislation on data retention and examined their compliance with fundamental human rights standards 0 out of the 21 States examined by PI are currently in compliance with these standards (as interpreted in two landmark judgements by the

News & Analysis

Macedonia: Time To Act On Government Surveillance

Privacy International and Metamorphosis have today written to authorities in Macedonia to provide information and call for assurances regarding government surveillance in Macedonia. For over two years, Macedonia has endured a prolonged and severe political crisis - including wide scale protests and

Long Read

In the U.S.-U.K. Deal, Both Sides Deserve Scrutiny

This piece was originally published in Just Security in August 2017 We recently published an analysis in Lawfare of the United Kingdom’s surveillance framework as it relates to the proposed U.S.-U.K. agreement for cross-border law enforcement data requests. Implementing the U.S.-U.K. agreement is

News & Analysis

Clear And Universal – The Right to Privacy at the 120th Session of the Human Rights Committee

What do Honduras, Pakistan, and Switzerland have in common? They are all bound to respect and protect the right to privacy under Article 17 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. And in July 2017, they all also happened to be under the scrutiny of the UN Human Rights Committee

News & Analysis

Danish Foreign Ministry Must Act On Internet Surveillance Exports

Privacy International (PI) has today written to the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs following further concerning reports about the export of internet surveillance equipment from the country. We are calling for the government to carry out a full re-assessment of the human rights risks associated

Long Read

The Weak Link in a Double Act: U.K. Law is Inadequate for Proposed Cross-Border Data Request Deal

This piece was originally published in Lawfare in July 2017. The United Kingdom has been a key partner in the United States’ efforts to reform the process that law enforcement officials use to make cross-border requests for data. These efforts address both foreign governments’ requests for data

News & Analysis

Surveillance Does Not Equal Security: Analysing Kenya’s Approach To Cyber Security

Photo Credit: MoD UK ‘Security’ in the policy world has practically no currency without a specific prefix. For example, we could discuss 'national' security as distinct from 'consumer' security or 'energy' security. ‘Cyber’ security is the new prefix on the policy block, and it is gradually forcing

Long Read

Briefing: UK-US Intelligence Sharing Arrangements

6 July 2017 Full briefing: UK-US Intelligence Sharing Arrangements Urgent transparency is needed regarding the UK’s intelligence sharing arrangements with the United States, which allows UK and US agencies to share, by default, any raw intelligence and methods and techniques related to the

Long Read

New Documents Reveal Kenya's Worrying Attempts to Monitor the Internet

In January 2017, Kenya’s information and communication technology regulator, the Communications Authority of Kenya, announced that it was spending over 2 billion shillings (around 14 million USD) on new initiatives to monitor Kenyans’ communications and regulate their communications devices. The

News & Analysis

Truly universal: concerns raised on unlawful surveillance around the world

The Privacy International Network recently submitted joint stakeholder reports for seven partner countries - India, South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia, Brazil, the Philippines and Indonesia - as part of the 27th session of the Universal Periodic Review (1 to 12 May 2017). Communications surveillance was

Press release

Privacy International Sends Warning Briefing and Anti-Surveillance Phone Pouch to Brexit Negotiators to Help Them Stay Secure

Please find attached a copy of the briefing along with promotional photographs with the briefing. Privacy International has today sent top EU and UK Brexit negotiators* a briefing on their vulnerability to potential surveillance by each other, and others. Brexit negotiations are to begin today. The

News & Analysis

Everything's on fire. Here's how we're trying put it out.

The past few years have seen a huge rise in the number of attacks both active and passive, against organisations big and small. Attacks against organisations happen for a multitude of reasons: extortion via "ransomware", exfiltration of commercial secrets, or just "the lulz". While this can be

News & Analysis

Voter Profiling in the 2017 Kenyan Election

Image source: AFP Earlier this month, the Kenyan daily The Star reported that UK-based data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica had been quietly contracted by President Uhuru Kenyatta’s party in a bid to win himself a second term in office. State House officials were quick to deny the claims, while

News & Analysis

Open Letter: Refrain From Introducing Measures To Legalise State Hacking In The Austrian “Security Package”

Dear Minister Dr. Wolfgang Brandstetter, Minister Mag. Wolfgang Sobotka, Minister Dr.in Pamela Rendi-Wagner, MSs, Minister Mag. Hans Peter Doskozil, Privacy International is a United Kingdom-based non-governmental organization, which is dedicated to protecting the right to privacy around the world