Reports

Reports, Long Reads, Country Reports

Report

We analyse how the intrusive and unregulated use of IMSI catchers infringes on our right to privacy, freedom of expression, and freedom of assembly and association.

Long Read

Join us on a journey to try to solve the mystery behind the advertisers who have uploaded our personal data to Facebook but with whom we've never interacted with before.

Report

A PI investigation into advertisers we had never heard of who upload our personal data on Facebook to target us.

Long Read

This country case-study was informed by research carried out by Coding Rights (Laura Alonso and Joana Varon).

Long Read

UK Local Authorities are looking at people’s social media accounts as part of their intelligence gathering and investigation tactics.

Long Read

In October 2019 Privacy International sent Freedom of Information Act requests to every Local Authority in Great Britain in relation to their use of social media monitoring. This is a full copy of that request. You can read our report here

Report

The UK Chief Surveillance Commissioners have repeatedly raised concerns about local authorities using the internet as a surveillance tool and suggested they conduct an internal audit of the use of social media sites. 

Privacy International sent Freedom of Information requests to local authorities in the UK to dig deeper into what's going on.

Long Read

In October 2019 Privacy International sent Freedom of Information Act requests to every Local Authority in Great Britain in relation to their use of social media monitoring. You can find our report here

A number of policies and guidance documents developed by Local Authorities which have been disclosed to Privacy International in response to the Freedom of Information Act requests relating to social media monitoring, cite the Home Office Covert Surveillance and Property Interference Code of Practice, August 2018. 

Below are the relevant extracts from the Home Office Covert Surveillance and Property Interference Code of Practice, August 2018 which relate to social media monitoring conducted by Local Authorities. 

Long Read

In October 2019 Privacy International sent Freedom of Information Act requests to every Local Authority in Great Britain in relation to their use of social media monitoring. You can find our report here

Below are extracts from the annual reports of the The Office of Surveillance Commissioners (OSC) and Investigatory Powers Commissioner (IPC) which relate to Local Authorities use of social media monitoring. 

The Office of Surveillance Commissioners (OSC) and subsequently the Investigatory Powers Commissioner (IPC) regulate and oversee how public authorities use the investigatory powers available to them under existing law.

 

Report

Concerned about the increasing use of social media monitoring by Government authorities and in particular use by local government authorities, on 7 October 2019, we sent a Freedom of Information Request to 251 local authorities in Great Britain using the platform What Do They Know.

This methodology outlines what we did and the results we found, which informed our report

Long Read

As Governments, Apple and Google compete in proximity tracing, here’s our take on building tech in times of crisis. 

Long Read

Our partner organisation InternetLab has been researching the Bolsa Familia Program and its consequences for gender and privacy, here are the first results.

Long Read

As the UK is about to launch its app to trace potential Coronavirus patients; as it launches its 'pilot' we look at its technical functionalities.

Press release

The organised opposition to sexual and reproductive rights has gone digital. Data exploitative tech is being developed that is capable of obtaining vast amounts of intimate information about people’s reproductive health, and delaying or curtailing access to reproductive healthcare.

Long Read

Increased trust makes every response to COVID-19 stronger. Lack of trust and confidence can undermine everything. Should we trust governments and industry with their app solutions at this moment of global crisis?