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Content type: Advocacy
Privacy International welcomed the opportunity to provide input to the study of the UN Human Rights Council Advisory Committee on the human rights implications of new and emerging technologies in the military domain (NTMD) to be presented to the Human Rights Council at its sixtieth session.In the course of our work, we observe that the line between military and civilian technologies is blurring. Governments are increasingly relying on the very same technologies for military and civilian uses.…
Content type: Advocacy
We submitted a report to the Commission of Jurists on the Brazilian Artificial Intelligence Bill focussed on highlighting the potential harms associated with the use of AI within schools and the additional safeguards and precautions that should be taken when implementing AI in educational technology.
The use of AI in education technology and schools has the potential to interfere with the child’s right to education and the right to privacy which are upheld by international human rights…
Content type: Advocacy
The proposal seeks to impose mandatory environmental and human rights due diligence on companies of a certain size that operate in certain sectors.
Our submissions address the very limited personal and material scope of the current draft of the Directive, which is unlikely to subject the most problematic technology and surveillance companies to the new due diligence obligations.
Content type: News & Analysis
Introduction
The European Parliament has adopted a nonbinding resolution against the use of artificial intelligence (AI) by law enforcement in public spaces and a ban on facial recognition databases, such as the ones used by Clearview AI.
It is a significant and hugely welcome step in an ongoing campaign to ensure the EU leads the world in protecting against dangerous applications of AI within its borders.
The Resolution recognises the need to safeguard against application of AI and mass…
Content type: News & Analysis
As Amnesty International and Forbidden Stories continue to publish crucial information about the potential targets of NSO Group’s spyware, we know this much already: something needs to be done.
But what exactly needs to be done is less obvious. Even though this is not the first time that the world has learned about major abuses by the surveillance industry (indeed, it’s not even the first time this month), it’s difficult to know what needs to change.
So how can the proliferation and use of…
Content type: Examples
According to records obtained under a freedom of information request, the San Francisco Police Department used the camera network belonging to downtown Union Square Improvement District to spy on protesters during the end of May and early June 2020. The high-definition cameras, manufactured by Motorola brand Avigilon, can zoom in on a person's face and are linked to a software analysis system. Motorola is expanding its tool lineup to make it easier for police to gain access to private cameras…
Content type: Examples
Over 2020, EFF supported the right to protest without being surveilled by bringing lawsuits, offering protesters legal support, teaching protesters surveillance self-defence, and providing tools for people on the ground to use to determine what equipment their local police departments are using to spy on activists. Via public records requests, EFF discovered that the San Francisco Police Department gained access to over 400 cameras belonging to the Union Square Business Improvement District to…
Content type: Advocacy
Privacy International has written to the Southern Co-operative supermarket chain to express serious concerns and ask for assurances following a report that it "completed a successful trial using Facewatch [facial recognition] in a select number of stores".
Facewatch describes itself as a “cloud-based facial recognition security system [which] safeguards businesses against crime.” Premises using the system are alerted when Subjects of Interest (SOI) enter their premises through the…
Content type: Case Study
The Peruvian government has a history of collaboration with the private sector in developing technology with the alleged purpose of providing greater security to citizens. The most recent example, the smartphone application "Peru En Tus Manos" launched in the context of the Covid-19 crisis, has been developed in a similar fashion and currently collects geolocation data on more than a million users. Although Peru has a proper legal framework for public private partnerships, developments are…
Content type: Case Study
Como is one of the most advanced cities in Italy in the use of facial recognition technology (FRT). An investigation for the Italian Wired magazine published in June 2020 exposed how the system had been bought, installed and tested for months with little transparency and despite the lack of a clear legal framework.
The investigation was entirely based on tools available to everyone, such as Freedom of Information requests (FOI requests. Similar to PI’s campaign 'Unmasking policing, inc', it…
Content type: Examples
The UK Government outsourced some of the testing centre work to Deloitte. The contract states that Deloit does not have to share data of positive cases with the UK health authority Public Health England nor to local government authorities. This prevented data sharing that was arguably essential to public health surveillance.
https://twitter.com/johnharris1969/status/1278259630628618241
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/01/why-is-there-a-delay-in-sharing-covid-19-test-data-…
Content type: Case Study
Facial recognition technology (FRT) is fairly present in our daily lives, as an authentication method to unlock phones for example. Despite having useful applications, FRT can also be just another technology used by those in power to undermine our democracies and carry out mass surveillance. The biometric data collected by FRT can be as uniquely identifying as a fingerprint or DNA. The use of this technology by third parties, specially without your consent, violates your right to privacy.
The…
Content type: Case Study
The Ugandan government has a running contract with the Chinese tech giant, Huawei, to supply and install CCTV cameras along major highways within the capital, Kampala, and other cities.
While details of the contract remain concealed from the public, the Uganda Police Force (UPF) released a statement, simply confirming its existing business partnership for telecommunication and surveillance hardware, and software between the security force and Huawei. However, it is not clear whether the…
Content type: Case Study
Well into the 21st century, Serbia still does not have a strong privacy culture, which has been left in the shadows of past regimes and widespread surveillance. Even today, direct police and security agencies’ access to communications metadata stored by mobile and internet operators makes mass surveillance possible.
However, a new threat to human rights and freedoms in Serbia has emerged. In early 2019, the Minister of Interior and the Police Director announced that Belgrade will receive “a…
Content type: Long Read
On 12 April 2020, citing confidential documents, the Guardian reported Palantir would be involved in a Covid-19 data project which "includes large volumes of data pertaining to individuals, including protected health information, Covid-19 test results, the contents of people’s calls to the NHS health advice line 111 and clinical information about those in intensive care".
It cited a Whitehall source "alarmed at the “unprecedented” amounts of confidential health information being swept up in the…