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Content type: News & Analysis
13th November 2019
Yesterday, we found out that Google has been reported to collect health data records as part of a project it has named “Project Nightingale”. In a partnership with Ascension, Google has purportedly been amassing data for about a year on patients in 21 US states in the form of lab results, doctor diagnoses and hospitalization records, among other categories, which amount to a complete health history, including patient names and dates of birth.
This comes just days after the news of Google's…
Content type: News & Analysis
1st August 2019
Image: The Great Hack publicity still, courtesy of Netflix.
This is a review of the documentary 'The Great Hack' originally published on IMDb.
This documentary is a fascinating account of The Facebook/Cambridge Analytica data scandal.
In early 2018, Cambridge Analytica became a household name. The company had exploited the personal data of millions of Facebook users, without their knowledge or consent, and used it for political propaganda.
At a running time of almost two hours, The Great Hack…
Content type: Long Read
17th July 2019
By Valentina Pavel, PI Mozilla-Ford Fellow, 2018-2019
Our digital environment is changing, fast. Nobody knows exactly what it’ll look like in five to ten years’ time, but we know that how we produce and share our data will change where we end up. We have to decide how to protect, enhance, and preserve our rights in a world where technology is everywhere and data is generated by every action. Key battles will be fought over who can access our data and how they may use it. It’s time to take…
Content type: Advocacy
9th July 2019
In March 2019, Privacy International responded to a call for evidence for an inquiry by the UK Parliament's Joint Committee on Human Rights into "The Right to Privacy (Article 8) and the Digital Revolution".
Our suggestions included that, the human rights framework should support:
Increasing individuals’ control over their data to encourage the design of technologies that protect peoples’ autonomy and privacy.
Increasing security to result in more rights and protections for…
Content type: Advocacy
14th June 2019
In early June 2019, PI engaged in the UK's Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation consultation regarding online targeting. PI focused its submission on the use of targeting in online political and issue-based advertising, and the collection and use of data to target people online.
In considering the impact of online targeting, it is essential that the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation have due regard for privacy as a fundamental right (as enshrined in UK, European, and International Law).…
Content type: Press release
2nd May 2019
The Irish Data Protection Commission has today launched an inquiry into the data practices of ad-tech company Quantcast, a major player in the online tracking industry. PI's 2018 investigation and subsequent submission to the Irish DPC showed how the company is systematically collecting and exploiting people's data in ways people are unaware of. PI also investigated and complained about Acxiom, Criteo, Experian, Equifax, Oracle, and Tapad.
PI welcomes this announcement and its focus on…
Content type: Long Read
1st May 2019
Image Source: "Voting Key" by CreditDebitPro is licensed under CC BY 2.0
Democratic society is under threat from a range of players exploiting our data in ways which are often hidden and unaccountable. These actors are manifold: traditional political parties (from the whole political spectrum), organisations or individuals pushing particular political agendas, foreign actors aiming at interfering with national democratic processes, and the industries that provide products that facilitate …
Content type: News & Analysis
30th April 2019
The first half of 2018 saw two major privacy moments: in March, the Facebook/ Cambridge Analytica scandal broke, followed in May by the EU General Data Protection Regulation ("GDPR") taking effect. The Cambridge Analytica scandal, as it has become known, grabbed the attention and outrage of the media, the public, parliamentarians and regulators around the world - demonstrating that yes, people do care about violations of their privacy and abuse of power. This scandal has been one of many that…
Content type: News & Analysis
1st April 2019
This past weekend, in an Op-Ed in the Washington Post, Mark Zuckerberg called for new regulations to address harmful content, electoral integrity, privacy and data portability.
Nine years since he proclaimed that privacy is no longer a social norm, four years since Facebook noticed broadscale harvesting and exploitation of their users' data by third party companies and chose not to tell us about it, two years since he denied there were any abuses of data in political campaigns, and over a…
Content type: News & Analysis
13th March 2019
We found this image here.
Today, a panel of competition experts, headed by Professor Jason Furman, the former chief economic adviser of in the Obama administration, confirmed that tech giants, like Facebook, Amazon, Google, Apple and Microsoft, do not face enough competition.
Significantly, the report finds that control over personal data by tech giants is one of the main causes preventing competition and ultimately innovation.
Privacy International's research has shown clear examples of…
Content type: News & Analysis
18th February 2019
Privacy International welcomes the focus on data and privacy contained in the final report by the UK House of Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee (DCMS) on Disinformation and ‘fake news’. Beyond our control, companies and political parties have banded together to exploit our data. This report establishes essential steps to remedying this downward spiral. An important part of the democratic process is freedom of expression and right to political participation, including the right…
Content type: News & Analysis
6th February 2019
Dear will.i.am,
We saw your piece in the Economist and were very excited to learn that you care about privacy as much as we do. At PI we expose government and corporate bad behaviours, we disrupt their plans, and identify a hopeful path forward.
That’s why we very much agree with you that people need much more protection, transparency and control over their personal data. Cheers for: “I want to have it clearly explained in plain language who has access to my camera, to my photos, who’s…