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Content type: News & Analysis
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In September 2018, a month after Argentina lawmakers voted against the legalisation of abortion, we spoke to Eduardo Ferreyra from the Buenos Aires-based Asociacion por los Derechos Civiles about the role of privacy in the abortion debate. Also joining us in this second episode of the Gender and Privacy Series is Ambika Tandon from the Centre for Internet and Society in India to discuss the intersection between privacy and bodily autonomy.…
Content type: News & Analysis
Image attribution: By Blue Diamond Gallery CC BY-SA 3.0.
In March 2017, when the UN Human Rights Council requested the High Commissioner for Human Rights to prepare a report on the right to privacy in the digital age, including the responsibility of business enterprises, Cambridge Analytica was an obscure company among others. A year later the data exploitation scandal erupted, leading to plenty of soul searching by politicians in US, UK, Europe and elsewhere, pledges of…
Content type: News & Analysis
Actualmente, las empresas tecnológicas se encuentran inmersas en constante cambio. Uno de ellos es la creciente importancia que ha cobrado la seguridad digital, convirtiéndose en una prioridad. Que un emprendimiento resguarde su seguridad digital significa que puede gestionar los riesgos asociados a mantener la confidencialidad, integridad y disponibilidad de su información.
En este contexto, resulta de gran relevancia que las personas responsables del emprendimiento digital y el…
Content type: News & Analysis
El objetivo es facilitar a la sociedad civil una guía para la navegación de este organismo, efectuar un diagnóstico que permita situar cualquier persona interesada sobre la actualidad de la temática a nivel regional y descubrir la agenda de seguridad digital que sostiene la OEA en el continente.
Finalmente, concluimos con una serie de breves recomendaciones dirigidas a los organismos de la OEA. Con ello, esperamos que este órgano reconozca el papel que puede jugar como catalizador en el…
Content type: Long Read
To celebrate Data Privacy Week, we spent the week discussing privacy and issues related to control, data protection, surveillance, and identity. Join the conversation on Twitter using #dataprivacyweek.
Do you live in a “smart city”? Chances are, you probably do (or at least your city claims to be). But do you know what exactly makes your city “smart”, beyond the marketing term? And what does this have to do with privacy?
Companies and governments will tell you that the more cameras, sensors…
Content type: Long Read
To celebrate International Data Privacy Day (28 January), PI and its International Network have shared a full week of stories and research, exploring how countries are addressing data governance in light of innovations in technology and policy, and implications for the security and privacy of individuals.
According to the World Bank, identity “provides a foundation for other rights and gives a voice to the voiceless”. The UN Deputy Secretary-General has called it a tool for “advancing…
Content type: News & Analysis
This piece was co-written with Valeria Milanes of the Asociación por los Derechos Civiles (ADC). A Spanish version is available here.
In January 2015, the intelligence regime in Argentina was put in the limelight following the death of Prosecutor Alberto Nisman. It was alleged that the intelligence services were involved in his death. This scandal prompted reform of the country’s intelligence system.
In February of the same year, the Intelligence Act (N° 25…
Content type: News & Analysis
This guest piece was written by Leandro Ucciferri of the Association for Civil Rights (Asociación por los Derechos Civiles). It does not necessarily reflect the views or position of Privacy International.
We look at our smartphone first thing in the morning to check the weather, and our to-do list for the day. During breakfast, we read the news and learn about what is going on in the rest of the world. In our commute to work or college, we scroll through our social media feeds…
Content type: Long Read
The use of IMSI catchers[1] to arrest individuals is rarely documented — as IMSI catchers are used secretively in most countries. The arrest of Colombian drug lord Henry López Londoño in Argentina is therefore a rare opportunity to understand both how IMSI catchers are used, and also the complexity of their extraterritorial use.
In October 2012, Londoño — also known as Mi Sangre (“My Blood”) — was arrested in Argentina. His arrest was the result of cooperation between the Dirección de…
Content type: News & Analysis
Este artículo fue co-escrita con Valeria Milanes de la Asociación por los Derechos Civiles (ADC). Una versión en ingles está disponible aquí.
En Enero de 2015, el sistema de inteligencia de Argentina fue objeto de atención pública luego de la muerte del fiscal Alberto Nisman, debido a la presunta participación de los servicios de inteligencia en dicho suceso. Este escándalo impulsó la reforma del sistema de inteligencia del país.
En Febrero del mismo…
Content type: Press release
This week in Geneva, the UN Human Rights Committee will examine the Argentina’s compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), an international treaty which places obligations on signatories to guarantee human rights such as the right to privacy.
This review, by a body of independent experts charged with monitoring compliance with the ICCPR, comes at a critical time for Argentina laws and policies on privacy and surveillance.
Recent years have seen…
Content type: Press release
Esta semana en Ginebra, el Comité de Derechos Humanos de la ONU examinará el cumplimiento de la Argentina con el Pacto Internacional de Derechos Civiles y Políticos (PIDCP), un tratado internacional que establece obligaciones a los firmantes para garantizar los derechos humanos, como el derecho a la privacidad.
Este examen, por un grupo de expertos independientes encargados de vigilar el cumplimiento del PIDCP, llega en un momento crítico para las leyes y políticas de la Argentina sobre la…
Content type: News & Analysis
Hacking Team, an Italian surveillance company selling intrusive spyware to government authorities around the world, has had its global export license revoked by the Italian export authorities, according to a report in Il Fatto Quotidiano.
The move comes after intensive media scrutiny spurred by the hack of their internal systems last summer and revelations that they had sold surveillance technology to some of the world’s most authoritarian states.
One of the countries to which Hacking…
Content type: News & Analysis
Following the launch of our report "The President’s Men?" shedding light on the existence of the Technical Research Department, a secret unit within the Egyptian intelligence infrastructure we publish here an open letter we have sent to President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi demanding that he responds to the extremely worrying situation we describe in the report.
Your Excellency President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi,
On Wednesday 24th February we released a new investigation about the Technical…
Content type: Long Read
It was summer 2014 when we first came across the acronym TRD while sifting through documents from the company Nokia Siemens Networks (Nokia) that had been leaked to Privacy International. The acronym was explained in the documents: it stood for Technical Research Department.
What we learned from the leak is the TRD had been purchasing an interception management system, a monitoring centre and an X25 network, a legacy technology allowing dial-up internet access. The first two technologies gave…
Content type: Press release
Privacy International today publishes a new investigation, based on exclusive documents, exposing the sale of European surveillance technologies to a secret unit of Egypt's intelligence infrastructure.
The Technical Research Department (TRD) is an independent unit within the General Intelligence Service (GIS), accountable only to the President. According to sources, the TRD has the biggest budget for surveillance technologies of any Egyptian government body. Such large public expenditure…
Content type: News & Analysis
UPDATE: Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has announced plans to disband Argentina's intelligence agency. Go here for more, and keep reading below.
This post was originally published on 20 January 2015 by Privacy International's partner in Argentina, the Asociación por los Derechos Civiles (ADC). To read the original post, please go here.
In view of the serious incidents that took place on 18 January 2015, the Asociación por los Derechos Civiles (ADC)…
Content type: News & Analysis
In Egypt, the internet, social media and online engagement have provided a critical platform in recent years for Egyptians to express their frustration and demand change after years of social, economic and political repression. The use of social media during protests, and the government's recent attempts to crack down on the use of services like Twitter and Facebook, have been widely reported.
So it was with shock and disappointment that Privacy International looked on earlier this month…
Content type: News & Analysis
What do Egypt, Kenya, Turkey, Guinea, and Sweden have in common? Despite having a Constitutional right to privacy, they are adopting and enforcing policies that directly challenge this human right.
These states are also up for a Universal Periodic Review this year before the United Nations Human Rights Council. UPRs are a mechanism within the Council aimed at improving the human rights situation in all countries and address human rights violations wherever they occur.
Despite having…
Content type: News & Analysis
Earlier this month, only a few days before the new president of Egypt was sworn in, leaked documents from the Ministry of Interior revealed that the government is trying to acquire mass surveillance equipment capable of monitoring social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
While being billed as a way to monitor social media in order to “monitor security hazards in social networks” and “identify persons representing a danger on society” (sic), past and recent actions by…
Content type: Press release
High Court slams HMRC for unlawful concealing of information surrounding export of spyware FinFisher
In a damning judgment today the Administrative Court declared that Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) acted unlawfully and “irrationally” in issuing blanket refusals into the status of any investigation into the potentially illegal export of the spyware FinFisher to repressive regimes by UK-based Gamma International.
The case arises from Privacy International’s long-running campaign to bring transparency and accountability to the secretive surveillance technology industry. As…
Content type: News & Analysis
Just a few weeks ago, thousands of Argentinians had their privacy rights violated when the country’s electoral registration roll, which had been made available online, experienced a major leak of personal data following the presidential election.
Despite some early warnings on the weaknesses of the system, the government did nothing to fix the situation, allowing serious technical flaws in an online system to persist and refusing to respond to the crisis, further…
Content type: Press release
Privacy International have filed an application for judicial review of HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) refusal to release information about the potentially unlawful export of Gamma International's FinFisher surveillance technology.
HMRC has categorically refused to provide any details regarding any investigation into Gamma’s export practices, arguing it is statutorily barred from releasing information to victims or complainants. The law enforcement agency denies that it has any obligation to…
Content type: News & Analysis
In September last year, David Cameron told the UN general assembly: "As people in north Africa and the Middle East stand up and give voice to their hopes for more open and democratic societies, we have an opportunity – and I would say a responsibility – to help them." The Arab Spring uprisings had provided a chink of light for those living under repressive regimes, and it was now up to western democracies to help them throw open the door to a bright new future.
Yet over the past six…
Content type: Press release
In collaboration with the Wall Street Journal and the Guardian, Privacy International today published a database of all attendees at six ISS World surveillance trade shows, held in Washington DC, Dubai and Prague between 2006 and 2009. ISS World is the biggest of the surveillance industry conferences, and attendance costs up to $1,295 per guest. Hundreds of attendees are listed, ranging from the Tucson Police Department, to the government of Pakistan, to the International…
Content type: News & Analysis
Last year, Index on Censorship published an interview with Google’s chief legal officer and senior vice president David Drummond. The company was still reeling from the aftermath of the news that an attack had been launched on Gmail from China. Drummond proposed that free speech needed to be part of the international agenda at multilateral and bilateral trade discussions, just like piracy. 'Western governments whose economies certainly benefit from the internet sector should make this happen,'…
Content type: Press release
Privacy International (PI) today filed additional complaints with authorities in Japan, Israel, Korea, Taiwan, Province of China, Thailand and Argentina. On June 27th PI filed simultaneous complaints with Data Protection and Privacy regulators in 32 countries concerning recent revelations of secret disclosures of records from SWIFT to US intelligence agencies.(1)
The disclosures involve the mass transfer of data from SWIFT in Europe to the United States, and possibly direct access by US…