News and Analysis

N&A, Long Reads, Press Release

Case Study

How facial recognition is spreading in Italy: the case of Como

The municipality of Como, Italy, purchased a facial recognition system, which was bought, installed, and tested for months with little transparency and despite the lack of a clear legal framework. To do so it embraced a narrative of technological innovation pushed by Huawei but was forced, after the intervention of the Italian Data Protection Authority, to suspend the system.

News & Analysis

West Midlands Police - Mobile Fingerprint Scanners

Challenging over-policing: our response to the public consultation on the Law Enforcement Data Service (LEDS)

PI submitted a response to the the UK College of Policing public consultation on the Law Enforcement Data Service (LEDS), a new, UK-wide police "mega-database". The consultation is open until 9th September 2020.

News & Analysis

UN experts report highlights role of private military and security companies in immigration management

A new UN experts report shines light on the role of private military and security services in immigration and border management and their impact to the rights of all migrants.

News & Analysis

The cost of privacy: 3 years support for high-end Samsung phones, but what about the rest?

Samsung now offers 3 years of support for their most expensive models, but cheaper phones are still left out of the equation.

News & Analysis

Dear Home Secretary: Channel crossings are already inviable for asylum-seekers and human rights

PI responds to the plans announced by UK Home Office to make Channel crossings "inviable" for asylum seekers and joins efforts by migrant organisations to call for the UK government to introduce safe and legal routes to the UK.

News & Analysis

Google/Fitbit merger: more scrutiny from the EU Commission

No doubt this is turning out to be a summer full of news about internet companies' digital dominance. In June, Google notified the European Commission of its plan to

News & Analysis

Banning TikTok? It's time to fix the out-of-control data exploitation industry - not a symptom of it

Following India's ban of 59 Chinese apps, the USA is talking about banning TikTok as a threat to national security. But are Chinese apps, and TikTok in particular, more dangerous than your average social media app?

Video

reproductive rights and privacy project image

Podcast: How misleading health info can spread from online discussions to policy and legislative debates

PI's Reproductive Rights and Privacy Project speaks with Dr. Subasri Narasimhan and Dr. Dabney Evans from the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University in the US about their paper which documents how misleading health information about reproductive health can flow into policy and legislative debates.

Press release

Press release: MI6 apologise for asking court staff to withhold evidence from Judges in case about crimes by covert agents

MI6 has been forced to apologise to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal after two of its officers asked court staff to return documents relating to MI6’s use of agents and not show them to judges. The Tribunal suggested MI6’s actions were “inappropriate interference”. The revelation emerged in an

Video

Why immunity passports aren't the key to lockdown

Podcast: Immunity Passports

This week we talk to a whole host of guests, including María Paz Canales - Executive Director of Derechos Digitales, about the issues with coronavirus immunity passports and whether the digital ID industry is capable of rising to the moment.

News & Analysis

New Report on “The Use of Biometric Data to Identify Terrorists: Best Practice or Risky Business?"

Key findings of the report by the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, Prof. Fionnuala Ní Aoláin and Dr. Krisztina Huszti-Orbán on the Use of Biometric Data to Identify Terrorists

Long Read

The looming disaster of immunity passports and digital identity

A digital ID that proves immunity will raise serious human rights issues. And the failure of the digital ID industry to deal with the issues of exclusion, exploitation and discrimination puts the entire industry under question.

Explainer

Crowd of people in red with one in green

Immunity passports and Covid-19: an explainer

Everything you wanted to know about immunity passports for Covid-19.

Key Resources

Covid-19 response: immunity passports

Immunity passports could involve the restricting peoples' liberties of individuals on the basis of their' immunity status, or lack of it.

News & Analysis

Universal credit ruling: a victory for welfare in Britain

A recent ruling by the British Court of Appeal sided with welfare claimants after a flaw in the income calculating system was revealed.

News & Analysis

New UN High Commissioner report highlights the impact new technologies have on the right to protest

At a time where the mass surveillance of protests has been at the forefront, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights released a timely report on the impact of new technologies on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of assemblies, including peaceful protests. The new report