Legal

Legal Case Description, Legal Case Files

Report

PI’s Guide to International Law and Surveillance providing the most hard-hitting results that reinforce and strengthen the core principles and standards of international law on surveillance.

News & Analysis

In the span of three months, two UK courts and one regulatory authority handed down rulings on the UK's GPS tagging of migrants, dealing serious blows to the legality of the policy. We delve into these three rulings and their implications for people and the wider policy.

Long Read

On International Migrants Day, we reflect on wins and losses in the fight against violations of migrants’ rights.

Long Read

We won our case against the UK’s Security Service (MI5) and the Secretary of State for the Home Department (SSHD)

Following on from our initial reaction, we answer some key questions about the judgement below.

Press release

The European Ombudsman has found that the European Commission failed to take necessary measures to ensure the protection of human rights in the transfers of technology with potential surveillance capacity supported by its multi-billion Emergency Trust Fund for Africa. 

News & Analysis

PI, together with 5 other human rights groups, has submitted a complaint to the European Ombudsman calling for an investigation into EU surveillance aid to non-EU countries

Advocacy

In June 2024, PI filed expert witness testimony before the court to assist the adjudication of the case.

News & Analysis

The UK's data protection authority (ICO) took action against the Home Office's GPS tagging of migrants.

Long Read

Our 2018 complaint against French AdTech company Criteo led to a €40 million fine for failing to ensure that data subjects had provided their consent to processing, to sufficiently inform them and to enable them to exercise their rights.
Following on from our initial reaction, we answer some questions about the decision below.

Press release

Suite à une plainte de Privacy International déposée en 2018, la société française d'AdTech Criteo s'est vue infliger une amende de 40 millions d'euros pour avoir failli à s'assurer que les personnes concernées avaient donné leur consentement au traitement de leurs données, ainsi que pour le manque d'information et de transparence qui leur était fourni par Criteo, et l'impossibilité d'exercer pleinement leurs droits.

Press release
In a landmark judgment, handed down today (Monday 30 January 2023), the Investigatory Powers Tribunal have found that there were “very serious failings” at the highest levels of MI5 to comply with privacy safeguards from as early as 2014, and that successive Home Secretaries did not to enquire into
News & Analysis

In a case that found seizing and extracting data from migrants' mobile phones breached their fundamental right to privacy, UK courts breathe some life into the human rights principle of access to remedy.

News & Analysis

The right to privacy encompasses bodily autonomy and the right to access safe abortion care. In light of the recent decision of the United States’ Supreme Court in Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health, we at Privacy International (PI) wanted to examine how the right to privacy has evolved around the world and in the U.S.

 

Press release

On 14 June 2022, the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) upheld the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) assessment that Meta’s purchase of GIPHY harms competition. On 18 October 2022, the CMA confirmed its order for Meta to sell GIPHY, citing risks over users' data quoting among the key competition concerns.

Explainer

Electronic tags have been a key part of criminal justice for many years throughout the world. As traditional radio-frequency tags are replaced by GPS ankle tags, we examine how these different technologies work and the seismic shift that will result from 24/7 location monitoring and data analytics, enabled by GPS tags.

News & Analysis

The Home Office has been seizing mobile phones from migrants arriving in the UK by small boats. Last week, PI intervened in a judicial review at the High Court challenging the lawfulness of this highly intrusive practice.