Reports

Reports, Long Reads, Country Reports

Report

Shadow State: Surveillance, Law And Order In Colombia

For nearly two decades, the Colombian government has been expanding its capacity to spy on the private communications of its citizens. Privacy International's investigation reveals the state of Colombia's overlapping, unchecked systems of surveillance, including mass surveillance, that are

Report

Tipping the scales: Security and Surveillance in Pakistan

The Pakistani government has significantly expanded its communication interception activities. This Privacy International report covers the intelligence services plan to capture all IP-traffic in Pakistan and other initiatives, pointing to gaps in the laws governing surveillance.

Advocacy

The Right to Privacy in South Africa

This stakeholder report is a submission by Privacy International (PI) and the Right2Know Campaing. PI is a human rights organisation that works to advance and promote the right to privacy and fight surveillance around the world. PI wishes to bring concerns about the protection and promotion of the

Report

Securing Safe Spaces Online: Encryption, online anonymity and human rights

This report is the result of a collaboration between Privacy International, ARTICLE 19, and the International Human Rights Clinic (IHRC) at Harvard Law School. IHRC conducted desk research as well as interviews with individuals working in civil society organisations in the countries examined. It

Report

Two years after Snowden: Protecting human rights in an age of mass surveillance

This briefing, published on the two-year anniversary of the publication of the first Snowden revelations, warns that governments are looking to maintain and expand mass surveillance, despite the practice being condemned as a human rights violation by courts, parliaments and human rights bodies. It

Long Read

Five Eyes Integration and the Law

Few revelations have been been as troubling for the right to privacy as uncovering the scope of the Five Eyes alliance. The intelligence club made up of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States has integrated its collection efforts, staff, bases, and analysis programs

Report

Briefing For The Italian Government On Hacking Team's Surveillance Exports

Privacy International briefing for the Italian Government on Hacking Team's surveillance exports

Report

Their Eyes On Me: Stories of Surveillance in Morocco

In this report we present four stories of Moroccan citizens placed under surveillance and the effect it has had on their lives and the lives of their families. We feel that these stories say a lot about the current context of surveillance in Morocco. We hope they will serve as a medium to foster a

Long Read

The Snoopers’ Loophole: Why Winning Against GCHQ Is Bittersweet

As Privacy International celebrates Friday's victory against Britain’s security services - the first such victory this century - we cannot help but feel the success is bittersweet. After all, we may have convinced the Investigatory Powers Tribunal that GCHQ was acting unlawfully in accessing NSA

Long Read

It's Time for Our Governments to Stop Eavesdropping and Start Listening

Modern day government surveillance is based on the simple concept of “more is more” and “bigger is better”. More emails, more text messages, more phone calls, more screenshots from Skype calls. The bigger the haystack, the more needles we can find. Thanks to Edward Snowden, we know that this

Long Read

Snowden Vindicated: The Truth About Raw Intelligence Sharing

Many people imagine intelligence sharing to be a practice whereby men in trench coats silently slide manilla envelopes containing anonymous tip-offs or intelligence reports marked TOP SECRET across tables in smoke-filled rooms. While such practices certainly exist, they represent only a tiny slice

Report

Who's Watching The Watchers

In societies that are in the process of transition towards democracy, democratic control of intelligence organisations is both an indispensable requirement and a pressing need. In many cases, the most serious human rights violations committed by dictatorial governments were intrinsically linked to

Report

Private Interests: Monitoring Central Asia

“Private Interests: Monitoring Central Asia” is a 96-page report detailing its findings from an extensive investigation into electronic surveillance technologies in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The report brings together the findings of PI's team of investigative

Long Read

Criminal complaint to National Cyber Crime Unit on behalf of Bahraini activists

Privacy International in October 2014 made a criminal complaint to the National Cyber Crime Unit of the National Crime Agency, urging the immediate investigation of the unlawful surveillance of three Bahraini activists living in the UK by Bahraini authorities using the intrusive malware FinFisher

Long Read

The Trap of Simplicity: Why Analogies for Surveillance Fail Us

Bad analogies about surveillance technology pervade newspaper reports, politicians’ speeches, and legal arguments. While it’s natural to want simple explanations to understand complex technology, it does us a disservice when governments, the media, or the courts mislead us through analogies that are

Long Read

Explaining the Law behind Privacy International's Challenge to GCHQ's Hacking

Today, Privacy International lodged a legal challenge to GCHQ's extensive and intrusive hacking of personal computers and devices. Below, we answer a few questions about the law underlying our complaint, and why it matters. Is hacking legal? As a result of the Snowden revelations, we have learned