Government

Long Read

Social media monitoring in the UK: the invisible surveillance tool increasingly deployed by government

Privacy International presents how the use of social media monitoring by governments and companies is an increasingly prevalent one, and as this article explores, largely unregulated.

News & Analysis

GPS tagging of migrants UNLAWFUL, UK authority finds after PI complaint

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

Advocacy

NGOs call upon the UK Home Secretary to stop expansion of Facial Recognition Technology

PI and Big Brother Watch along with other NGOs have written to UK Home Secretary James Cleverly to raise concerns over the danger posed to society by Facial Recognition Technology (FRT).

Advocacy

Sign reading reproductive healthcare is a human right

PI's Submission to the Women and Equalities Committee Inquiry into Women's Reproductive Health

PI responded to a call for evidence from the UK Westminster Women and Equalities Committee on women’s reproductive health.

Long Read

The UK government's controversial proposal to expand surveillance powers: What you need to know

Building on our response to the government’s plans, this piece explains why what they want to do puts every one of us at risk.

Long Read

Couple sitting in front of shops in the UK

Welfare policy in the UK today: the government's flawed approach to fraud

After a consultation held in 2021 to which Privacy International responded, the government has now decided not to expand the powers of its "National Fraud Initiative". However, recent changes in the UK welfare landscape point to troubling plans for the future.

News & Analysis

UK High Court orders groundbreaking redress for thousands of migrants affected by unlawful phone seizures and data extraction

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.

Long Read

The World Bank & social protection during crises: a privacy trade-off?

Privacy International ("PI") researched a number of social safety-net projects financed by the World Bank during the COVID-19 pandemic. To inform the World Bank's future implementation of these kinds of projects, this article reflects on how certain aspects of social protection projects can inadvertently lead to excessive surveillance of marginalised communities, impact equal access to urgent social protection disbursements, and interfere with people's dignity and right to privacy.

Minnesota police continue surveilling journalists and civil rights activists

Since the May 2020 murder of George Floyd, Minnesota law enforcement agencies have carried out a secretive, long-running surveillance programme targeting journalists and civil rights activists known as Operation Safety Net, a complex surveillance engine that has expanded to include collecting

LA police trials market research software to search social media

According to internal documents obtained by the Brennan Center, the Polish “strategic communications” specialist Edge NPD, whose business is helping companies with market research, provided the Los Angeles Police Department with a free 40-day trial in which it collected nearly 2 million tweets

San Francisco police spy on George Floyd protesters

According to internal documents, the San Francisco Police Department illegally spied on thousands of Bay Area residents protesting in 2020 against the murder of George Floyd and racist police violence. To conduct its surveillance, the SFPD used a network of more than 300 video cameras in downtown’s

Prosecutors pursue Kyle Rittenhouse via aerial footage

At his 2021 trial, prosecutors used previously-unseen infrared footage from FBI airplane surveillance at 9,000 feet to attempt to show that 18-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse chased one of the two people he later claimed to have shot in self-defence. Rittenhouse travelled from his home in Illinois to

Press release

Press Release: High Court rules seizing and retaining mobile phones from asylum seekers unlawful

Today, the High Court ruled that the Home Secretary acted unlawfully and breached human rights and data protection laws by operating a secret, blanket policy of seizing, retaining and extracting data from the mobile phones of asylum seekers arriving by small boat. This claim for judicial review was

News & Analysis

Data Protection Impact Assessments and ID systems: the 2021 Kenyan ruling on Huduma Namba

In this article we provide background on the initial challenge of the Huduma Namba and subsequent developments which led to an important ruling of the High Court of Kenya on the retrospective effect of the Data Protection Act as we reflect on its wider implications for the governance and regulation of digital ID systems.

News & Analysis

Afghanistan: What Now After Two Decades of Building Data-Intensive Systems?

Over the last 20 years, vast data-intensive systems were deployed in Afghanistan by national and foreign actors. As we highlight some of these systems we present our concerns as to what will happen to them.

News & Analysis

various graphics about device surveillance

Policing Bill: An unsatisfactory debut on the statute books for mobile phone extraction

The controversial Police, Crime, Sentencing & Courts Bill includes provisions for 'extraction of information from electronic devices'. It relies solely on voluntary provision and agreement. We analyse the power imbalance between the State and individual - which calls into question 'voluntary provision' and 'agreement' as a basis for seizure of a device and extraction of data.