Explainers

Long Read
(In order to click the hyperlinks in the explainer below, please download the pdf version at the bottom of the page).
Long Read
UPDATED 11TH JUNE 2019: We've just launched our campaign, and you can now write to your local PCC easily using the online portal we have created with Liberty. (In order to click the hyperlinks in the explainer below, please download the pdf version at the bottom of the page).
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You can also read a more detailed explainer about IMSI catchers here.
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You can also read a more detailed explainer about predictive policing here.
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You can also read a more detailed explainer about mobile phone extraction here.
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This is the third part of Understanding Identity Systems. Read Part 1: Why ID?, and Part 2: Discrimination and Identity. Biometrics Biometrics are the physiological and behavioural characteristics of individuals. This could be fingerprints, voice, face, retina and iris patterns, hand geometry, gait
Explainer
This is the second part of Understanding Identity Systems. Read Part 1: Why ID?, and Part 3: The Risks of ID. The existing identity landscape Every country has an existing landscape of ways in which people can identify themselves. This can include an existing ID card system, but also a range from
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Introduction Of all the data-intensive initiatives that a government can introduce, some of the largest are ID systems. They have implications across a broad range of human and civil rights. How do we begin to critique an ID system, to begin to understand its strengths and weaknesses? There are a
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SIM card registration allows the state to know the identity of the owner of a SIM card, and thus who is most likely making a call or sending a message. As a condition for the purchase or activation of a SIM card, the user is asked to provide personal data as well as a valid ID.

 

Explainer
In the digital economy there is a trend towards corporate concentration. This is true for social media platforms, search engines, smart phone operating systems, digital entertainment, or online retailers. Meanwhile, the way in which market dominance is measured traditionally does not always capture
Long Read
Yesterday, the European Court of Human Rights issued its judgement in Big Brother Watch & Others V. the UK. Below, we answer some of the main questions relating to the case. What's the ruling all about? In a nutshell, one of the world's most important courts, the European Court of Human Rights
Long Read
Privacy International’s new report shows how countries with powerful security agencies are training, equipping, and directly financing foreign surveillance agencies. Driven by advances in technology, increased surveillance is both powered by and empowering rising authoritarianism globally, as well
Explainer
What is an IMSI catcher? An IMSI catcher is an intrusive piece of technology that can be used to locate and track all mobile phones that are switched on in a certain area. An IMSI catcher does this by ‘pretending’ to be a mobile phone tower - tricking your phone into connecting to the IMSI-catcher
Video

A short video explaining how governments compromise the security of our devices and infrastructure to feed their surveillance objectives.

Explainer
Phone networks are divided between two networks: the physical and the mobile. The physical runs on the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) that serves your home phone. Mobile networks are dominant in the age of communication and are used to relay mobile communications to the PSTN. The most