News and Analysis

N&A, Long Reads, Press Release

News & Analysis

The Mother and Child Tracking System - understanding data trail in the Indian healthcare systems

Photo by Ray Witlin / World Bank CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 This article has been written by Ambika Tandon, Policy Officer at the Centre for Internet and Society, in collaboration with Privacy International. On October 17th 2019 , the UN Special Rapporteur (UNSR) on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, Philip

Press release

UN Special Rapporteur warns that beneficiaries are forced to give up their right to privacy and data protection to receive their right to social security

Tomorrow, the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights will present his annual report to the UN General Assembly in New York on digital technology, social protection and human rights. On the same day, Privacy International will be launching its own series on surveillance in the

Long Read

Big Brother says ‘No’: Surveillance and income management of asylum seekers though the ASPEN Card

Governments across the world are building technologically integrated programmes to allow citizens to access welfare payments, and these could have adverse effects on those they should be supporting.

News & Analysis

NSO targets Human Rights Defenders in Morocco using TrueCaller as a cover

Photo by VanveenJF on Unsplash Last week, Amnesty International published a report revealing the Moroccan government appears to have been using spyware from Israeli company NSO Group against two human rights defenders, historian and columnist Maati Monjib and lawyer Abdessadak El Bouchattaoui. In

Long Read

How financial surveillance in the name of counter-terrorism fuels social exclusion

[Photo credit: Images Money] The global counter-terrorism agenda is driven by a group of powerful governments and industry with a vested political and economic interest in pushing for security solutions that increasingly rely on surveillance technologies at the expenses of human rights. To

Long Read

A technical look at Phone Extraction

Police officers who operate mobile phone extraction technologies often have little or no forensic training and are increasingly reliant on devices whose capabilities they do not understand, particularly as budgets are cut and the volume of data they have to cope with increases.

News & Analysis

Open letter to EU Member States: Deliver ePrivacy now!

On 11 October 2019, Privacy International together with EDRi, BEUC, AccessNow and Open Society European Policy Institute, sent an open letter to EU Member States, to urge them to conclude the negotiations on the ePrivacy Regulation. The letter highlights the urgent need for a strong ePrivacy

Long Read

The Identity Gatekeepers and the Future of Digital Identity

Photo by Nadine Shaabana on Unsplash Digital identity providers Around the world, we are seeing the growth of digital IDs, and companies looking to offer ways for people to prove their identity online and off. The UK is no exception; indeed, the trade body for the UK tech industry is calling for the

News & Analysis

Twitter Headquarters - Christinatt (photo by Troy Holden)

Use of 2FA information for commercial purposes is unacceptable

The latest news of Twitter “inadvertently” sharing email addresses or phone numbers provided for safety or security purposes (for example, two-factor authentication) for advertising purposes is extremely concerning for several reasons. First of all, it is not the first time for Twitter 's used

News & Analysis

Who, what, why? A guide to understanding the Facebook encryption debate if you have lost the plot

Photo by Daniel Jensen on Unsplash Everyone is talking about Facebook's end-to-end encryption plans and the US, UK and Australian government's response. Feeling lost? Here is what you need to know. What's Facebook trying to do? First let's be clear: Facebook has many faults when it comes to privacy

News & Analysis

PI response to confused governments’ confusing declaration of war and victory on encryption

Today’s announcement regarding the UK and US agreement signed pursuant to the US CLOUD Act is being touted on both sides of the Atlantic as a major victory for law enforcement and security. But it is a step backward for privacy. And it’s far more complicated than their press release and letter to

Long Read

Social media companies have failed to provide adequate advertising transparency to users globally

An analysis of what Facebook, Google, and Twitter have done to provide users with political ad transparency as of September 2019. Our full analysis is linked below. Recently the role of social media and search platforms in political campaigning and elections has come under scrutiny. Concerns range

News & Analysis

No, the UK Hasn’t Just Signed a Treaty Meaning the End of End-to-End Encryption

A new UK Times report claims that “WhatsApp, Facebook and other social media platforms will be forced to disclose encrypted messages from suspected terrorists, paedophiles and other serious criminals under a new treaty between the UK and the US.” Several other media outlets have followed up on the

Long Read

Buying a smart phone on the cheap? Privacy might be the price you have to pay

Research by Privacy International shows that cheap smartphones come with a hidden cost: pre-installed apps that can't be deleted and that leak your data.

News & Analysis

New Report Underlines the EU’s Strategy in the War on Migration: Border Externalisation

Photo: The European Union “Border Externalisation”, the transfer of border controls to foreign countries, has in the last few years become the main instrument through which the European Union seeks to stop migratory flows to Europe. Similar to the strategy being implemented under Trump’s

News & Analysis

An agent during his guard duty out of the police border post of Makalondi, at the border between Niger and Burkina Faso. Ph. by Francesco Bellina

Europe’s Shady Funds to Border Forces in the Sahel

Photo by Francesco Bellina The wars on terror and migration have seen international funders sponsoring numerous border control missions across the Sahel region of Africa. Many of these rely on funds supposed to be reserved for development aid and lack vital transparency safeguards. In the first of a