Privacy International

UK High Court rules blanket seizure of asylum seekers' phones breached Article 8 ECHR

On 25 March 2022, the UK High Court ruled that the Home Office acted unlawfully and breached human rights and data protection laws by operating a secret, blanket policy of seizing, retaining and extracting data from the mobile phones of asylum seekers arriving by small boat to UK shores between April and November 2020.

How digital health apps can exploit users’ data

Digital health apps of all kinds are being used by people to better understand their bodies, their fertility, and to access health information. But there are concerns that the information people both knowingly and unknowing provide to the app, which can be very personal health information, can be exploited in unexpected ways.

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The Clearview/Ukraine partnership - How surveillance companies exploit war

Clearview announced it will offer its surveillance tech to Ukraine. It seems no human tragedy is off-limits to surveillance companies looking to sanitise their image.

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How digital health apps can exploit users’ data

Advocacy

The UK Home Office finally responds to our questions about surveillance of Aspen Card users

A mere eight months after we wrote to the Home Office seeking clarification on their initial response to our correspondence regarding the Aspen Card, they have replied. This accompanied their response to our Freedom of Information Request.

News & Analysis

PI intervenes in judicial review to support asylum seekers against the UK Home Secretary’s seizure and extraction of their mobile phones

The Home Office has been seizing mobile phones from migrants arriving in the UK by small boats. Last week, PI intervened in a judicial review at the High Court challenging the lawfulness of this highly intrusive practice.

News & Analysis

Why Forensics Matter: Immigration officers and the quality of evidence in the UK

2022 will see a raft of high tech surveillance tools emerging in the UK government’s arsenal, which will further entrench a ‘hostile environment’ for migrants. We have written to the UK Forensic Science Regulator, urging him to conduct a review into use of digital forensic activities by immigration officers.

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Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash

The use of SMS in the delivery of reproductive and maternal healthcare

Short Message Services (SMS) are being used in MHealth initiatives which aim to deliver crucial information to expecting and new mothers. But there are concerns that there is limited transparency about numerous aspects of SMS health services, and how the data is being processed, by whom and in accordance to what safeguards.

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PI together with Worker Info Exchange (WIE) and the App Drivers and Couriers Union (ADCU) are

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UK High Court rules blanket seizure of asylum seekers' phones breached Article 8 ECHR

The Clearview/Ukraine partnership - How surveillance companies exploit war

How digital health apps can exploit users’ data

For a world where technology will empower and enable us, not exploit our data for profit and power.

Featured Content

The Clearview/Ukraine partnership - How surveillance companies exploit war

How digital health apps can exploit users’ data

The UK Home Office finally responds to our questions about surveillance of Aspen Card users

PI intervenes in judicial review to support asylum seekers against the UK Home Secretary’s seizure and extraction of their mobile phones

Why Forensics Matter: Immigration officers and the quality of evidence in the UK

The use of SMS in the delivery of reproductive and maternal healthcare

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