Learn what we work on

In this section you will find a wide range of content that we hope you will find useful in learning more about how technology, privacy, autonomy and freedom are deeply interconnected. We also provide some guides on steps you can take to enhance your privacy - although, we need to be clear that few, if any, watertight measures exist, which is why we continue to press for better regulation, better safeguards and better technological solutions.

Featured learning topics

Social Media Surveillance

The data generated through peoples' use of social media becomes valuable intelligence to others, who want to monitor, profile, and manipulate.

Mass Surveillance

Mass surveillance can subject a population or significant component thereof to indiscriminate monitoring, involving a systematic interference with people’s right to privacy and all the rights that privacy enables, including the freedom to express yourself and to protest.

Artificial Intelligence

AI has the potential to revolutionise societies, however there is a real risk that the use of new tools by states or corporations will have a negative impact on human rights.

AdTech

AdTech - short for advertisement technology - is a catch-all term that describes tools and services that connect advertisers with target audiences and publishers. It’s a multi-billion-dollar industry that is facing investigations by Data Protection Authorities globally and complaints by

Health Tech In Sexual and Reproductive Rights

Reproductive rights are necessary for bodily autonomy. Bodily autonomy is necessary for equality.

Tech at the Border

There are few places in the world where an individual is as vulnerable as at the border of a foreign country.

Impact stories

Wonder how we've worked on this topic? Here is a story of our historical impact

Impact Case Study

A picture of the planet portraying the global impact of the topic

Fighting Mass Surveillance in the Post-Snowden Era

What Happened On 5 June 2013, The Guardian published the first in a series of documents disclosed by

Multimedia

We use videos and explainers to help you understand our topics. This is our latest piece of multimedia content.

Cycles of Control: Reproductive rights and digital risks

Resources

Data Protection Guide

In this section, you can access the different parts of our guide for policy engagement on data protection "The Keys to Data Protection". The guide is intended to help organisations and individuals improve their understanding of data protection, by providing a framework to analyse the various

Privacy Matters

To be free and equal Privacy has become all the more essential in the age of data exploitation. The way data and technology are now deployed means that our privacy is under increased threat and on a scale that we couldn’t have imagined 20 years ago, outside of science fiction – the ways in which we

Researching social benefits systems

As part of its new strategic programme aimed at safeguarding peoples’ dignity, Privacy International (PI) is challenging the role of surveillance and data exploitation in social benefits systems. Corporate, governmental, and institutional actors are increasingly converging to apply surveillance and

Our Data Future

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

Analysing responses to Covid-19

Data can be essential and useful at various stages of a pandemic and public health emergency. It can also feed intelligence and policing, being highly useful for enforcement. Finally, it can be valuable for commercial exploitation. The challenge before us now is which of these do we prioritise in

Technology Pill Podcast

Join Gus - our executive director - and a myriad of guests for our podcast, which looks at how technology is reshaping our lives every day and explores the new powers of governments and companies. You can listen and subscribe to the podcast where ever you normally find your podcasts: Spotify | Apple

Resources for migrants and asylum rights organisations

We have created this resource page because we know that minority and migrant communities are disproportionately placed under various forms of surveillance and data exploitation, for example by immigration authorities, benefits agencies, and the private companies that much of this work is outsourced

A Guide to Litigating Identity Systems

Some of the largest, data-intensive government programs in the world are National identity systems—centralised government identity schemes that link an individual’s identity to a card or number, often using biometric data, and require identity authentication within the system for the provision of

Teaching about Data: A resource for educators

Summary: PI and Cardiff University have developed this resource for educators whose students want to learn about data and tech, and what we describe as critical data literacy. Every day new developments in tech and data are creating profound changes in how society is ordered, decisions are made, and

No Body's Business but Mine: Vol 2

Many menstruating individuals today use period-tracking apps as a convenient digital tool on their smart phone to track their menstruation. In the UK, researchers have found that more women are using smartphone apps to track their menstrual cycles for fertility-tracking purposes. In the U.S., the