Blog
17 Sep 2021 By Heather Burns
Papers please: nationality checks for the British internet?
Over the course of the debate on how to tackle online harms, we’ve drawn attention to the risks to digital and human rights which can arise when technical solutionism meets poorly drafted legislation.
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15 Sep 2021 By Heather Burns
How the Online Safety Bill lets politicians define free speech
The Joint Pre-Legislative Scrutiny committee has opened its work into the draft Online Safety Bill.
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14 Sep 2021 By Mariano delli Santi
Vandalising your privacy rights
Anything you say and do can and will be used against you.
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10 Sep 2021 By Mariano delli Santi
Why on earth is the Government mucking about with our privacy laws?
Thursday evening, the UK Government published their long-awaited proposal for a new UK data protection regime.
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09 Sep 2021 By Mariano delli Santi
Cookie banners, explained
Cookie banners are hitting the headlines, as policymakers and activists across political divides seek to take action on them once and for all.
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08 Sep 2021 By Sahdya Darr
Afghans targeted by fake Home Office website
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is currently deciding whether it will take further action against a fake website created by the Home Office.
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27 Aug 2021 By Mariano delli Santi
Government prepares to take back control – of your privacy
The UK Government has unveiled their plans to deregulate data protection laws.
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18 Aug 2021 By Sahdya Darr
Digital deception & disinformation used to deter migrants
The Information Commissioner’s Office has opened an investigation into a fake website created by the Home Office.
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30 Jul 2021 By Sahdya Darr
Immigration, Data & Technology Newsletter
Welcome to the July edition of Immigration, Data and Technology!
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27 Jul 2021 By Heather Burns
Age verification in the Online Safety Bill
The draft Online Safety Bill’s provisions on mandatory age verification don’t just threaten your rights to privacy and freedom of expression – they also threaten the integrity of the Internet’s architecture.
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20 Jul 2021 By Heather Burns
Encryption in the Online Safety Bill
Let’s look at how the Online Safety Bill brings the contents of your private communications into scope for scanning, monitoring, and censorship.
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12 Jul 2021 By Heather Burns & Jim Killock
Racists must be prosecuted, not moderated
The wave of racist comments on social media that has followed the England football defeat is reprehensible: but so is the fiction that this problem must be ‘solved’ by social media companies.
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06 Jul 2021 By Heather Burns
Access denied: Service blocking in the Online Safety Bill
As the Online Safety Bill approaches the pre-legislative scrutiny process, attention is being drawn to the powers which government will have to redefine, constrain, and censor the boundaries of our free and legal speech.
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01 Jul 2021 By Mariano delli Santi
Fear and loathing in the UK adequacy decision
On June 28, the European Commission adopted the UK adequacy decision, which will allow personal data to be transferred from the EU to the UK without additional safeguards.
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30 Jun 2021 By Sahdya Darr
Newsletter: Immigration, Data and Technology
Welcome to the June edition of Immigration, Data and Technology!
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23 Jun 2021 By Heather Burns
Duty to Censor: What’s legal to say should be legal to type
Open Rights Group has joined Index on Censorship’s “Legal to say, legal to type” campaign to scrutinise and push back against the threats to freedom of expression created by government’s Online Safety Bill.
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17 Jun 2021 By Mariano delli Santi
Stand Up for Privacy
Yesterday, on June 16, the Taskforce on Innovation, Growth and Regulatory Reform published a report outlining their vision to “refresh the UK’s approach to regulation now that we have left the EU”.
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14 Jun 2021 By Heather Burns
MPs: Encryption keeps your constituents safe
Today (14 June) Open Rights Group has joined over thirty digital and human rights organisations in calling on MPs to keep their constituents safe by protecting end-to-end encryption from legislative threats.
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09 Jun 2021 By Heather Burns & Sahdya Darr
Is government preparing to censor discussions about migration?
Over the weekend, you may have seen news reports discussing how Home Secretary Priti Patel has ordered social media companies to remove posts which “glamourise” dangerous migrant crossings from Europe.
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01 Jun 2021 By Mariano delli Santi
Adtech: let’s get rid of cookie banners
A nuisance is troubling the Internet and the digital life of Europeans: the consent or ‘cookie’ banner.
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28 May 2021 By Sahdya Darr
Newsletter: Immigration, Data and Technology
Welcome to the May edition of Immigration, Data and Technology!
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05 May 2021 By Heather Burns
Online abuse: Why management liability isn’t the answer
As part of recent high-profile campaigns against social media abuse, calls have been repeated to impose criminal sanctions and penalties onto the directors and managers of companies where that abuse takes place.
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29 Apr 2021 By Open Rights Group
Don’t let the Government create a digital Police state
You might be aware of plans to give Police more powers through the Police, Crime, Sentencing & Courts Bill 2021.
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29 Apr 2021 By Jim Killock
The Government assault on your privacy rights
It has been a busy few months for developments on privacy, even placing the COVID response aside.
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27 Apr 2021 By Mariano delli Santi
Adtech vs. iOS, explained
With their last update for the iOS operating system, Apple rolled out a feature called App Transparency Tracking framework.
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23 Apr 2021 By Sahdya Darr
NFI proposals seek to give police more powers
Many people are aware that the UK Government is trying to give police more powers through the Police,Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill 2021.
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22 Apr 2021 By Mariano delli Santi
#StopStalkerAds: adtech is watching you!
Following our open letter to the European Parliament, Open Rights Group are launching a new campaign that wants to #StopStalkerAds.
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21 Apr 2021 By Mariano delli Santi
UK Adequacy: it’s only the beginning
The European Data Protection Board issued their opinion about the draft UK adequacy decision.
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14 Apr 2021 By Mariano delli Santi
Adtech: an Open Letter to the European Parliament
Today, Open Rights Group, Panoptykon and Liberties EU sent an Open Letter to the European Parliament, asking them to stand up for the ePrivacy Regulation and our online privacy.
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06 Apr 2021 By Mariano delli Santi
Adtech: An industry broken by design and by default
European Digital Rights (EDRi) recently published “targeted online: an industry broken by design and by default”.
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01 Apr 2021 By Heather Burns
Endgame for end-to-end encryption
Today, Wired has reported that the Home Office is actively exploring legal and technical mechanisms to compel Facebook and WhatsApp to break end-to-end encrypted messaging.
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31 Mar 2021 By Sahdya Darr
Immigration, Data and Technology newsletter
Welcome to the third edition of Immigration, Data and Technology!
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29 Mar 2021 By Mariano delli Santi & Heather Burns
First look at vaccine passports
Countries around the world are considering introducing vaccine passports, and the UK is among them.
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26 Mar 2021 By Sahdya Darr
Privacy & migrant groups win extension on data matching powers
This week Open Rights Group along with other privacy advocates and organisations working for migrants’ rights were pleased to be informed that the National Fraud Initiative (NFI) agreed to our request to further extend the deadline to respond to the NFI Data Matching Powers and new Code of Data Matching Practice consultation until 5 May.
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24 Mar 2021 By Jim Killock & Heather Burns
Nominet’s chance to build a better Internet
This week, during Nominet’s EGM, Open Rights Group cast its organisational membership vote to change the current Board membership.
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18 Mar 2021 By Matthew Rice & Mariano delli Santi
Europe cannot rubber stamp the UK’s data laws
The United Kingdom is currently awaiting a decision from Europe on whether it provides adequate standards of data protection.
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17 Mar 2021 By Matthew Rice & Heather Burns
Trust is a two-way street: the UK’s digital identity framework
Open Rights Group has recently responded to the DCMS policy paper on the UK’s digital identity and attributes trust framework.
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16 Mar 2021 By Heather Burns
#SaveAnonymity: Together we can defend anonymity
In recent days, a petition has circulated online which calls for a legal requirement to provide a verified form of ID in order to open a social media account.
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11 Mar 2021 By Heather Burns
Save Online Speech Coalition Launches
Today Open Rights Group has joined our colleagues from Big Brother Watch, the Adam Smith Institute, Article 19, Global Partners Digital, and Index on Censorship in launching a campaign to demand that the Online Safety Bill protects freedom of expression online.
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10 Mar 2021 By Mariano delli Santi
Blindspots in new guidance on use of data in campaigning
The Information Commissioner’s Office published their new “Guidance for the use of personal data in political campaigning”.
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02 Mar 2021 By Mariano delli Santi
Wanted: corporate lobbyist to take over the ICO
Communicating “the wider benefits of data sharing”, “commercial and business acumen”, experience “of using data to drive innovation and growth”; and, of course, “excellent communication and relationship management skills”.
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26 Feb 2021 By Sahdya Darr
Data & Immigration update – February newsletter
Welcome to the second edition of Immigration, Data and Technology!
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25 Feb 2021 By Matthew Rice
The Government’s own goals on data privacy
The UK Government has decided not to take up an optional power to improve data protection enforcement.
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24 Feb 2021 By Mariano delli Santi
Adtech – an offer you can’t refuse
This spring, Apple will implement a new policy that will require App Store developers to ask for users’ permission in order to track them online.
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27 Jan 2021 By Sahdya Darr
Newsletter: Immigration, Data and Technology
Happy New Year!
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25 Jan 2021 By Mariano delli Santi
ICO enforcement: two years after the GDPR
On Tuesday, the Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham will appear in front of the DCMS Committee for a hearing, where she will be questioned about her office’s role in protecting personal data against targeted online advertising, and the use of personal data for tackling the coronavirus pandemic.
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Data and Democracy
22 Jan 2021 By Matthew Rice
ORG Takes Political Parties to Privacy Watchdog
On 11 December 2020, the eve of the anniversary of the 2019 General Election Open Rights Group submitted complaints, represented by the data rights firm AWO, to the Information Commissioner’s Office on behalf of data subjects on the processing of personal data by the Labour Party, the Conservative and Unionist Party and the Liberal Democrats.
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13 Jan 2021 By Heather Burns
Speech offences: what’s illegal offline should be illegal online
Open Rights Group has worked with David Allen Green of Preiskel & Co.
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11 Jan 2021 By Jim Killock
Trump takedowns need accountability
Late last week, in response to the insurrection at the Capitol, Twitter and Facebook removed Donald Trump’s accounts.
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21 Dec 2020 By Mike Morel
Our movement turns 15
In 2005, a dedicated group of grassroots activists created Open Rights Group (ORG) to protect the digital rights of people in the UK.
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15 Dec 2020 By Heather Burns
Online harms: Freedom of expression remains under threat
Today (15 December) government has published its long-awaited full response to the Online Harms White Paper ahead of the publication of the Online Safety Bill next year.
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11 Dec 2020 By Mariano delli Santi
Our fight against Adtech gets bigger
Two years ago, complaints against real time bidding (RTB) were lodged by Jim Killock of Open Rights Group, Michael Veale of UCL, and Johnny Ryan.
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24 Nov 2020 By Sahdya Darr
How will the National Data Strategy affect migrants and refugees?
In early September the government launched its National Data Strategy (NDS) which it described as ‘an ambitious, pro-growth strategy that aims to drive the UK in building a world-leading data economy while ensuring public trust in data use.
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23 Nov 2020 By Jim Killock
Parliament must hold the ICO to account
The Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport Committee of the House of Commons will hold a hearing with Information Commissioner soon.
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19 Nov 2020 By Jim Killock
Commons Committee spells out Japan deal digital risks
The Commons International Trade Select Committee today has politely and clearly signalled that the shift in data protection provisions put forward in the Japan-UK Trade Deal is meaningful.
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18 Nov 2020 By Jim Killock
The ICO must fix the Adtech industry
When we first took on the ad industry we knew it would not be simple.
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17 Nov 2020 By Mariano delli Santi
Belgian DPA fires a warning shot at adtech, what’s next?
In 2018 we lodged complaints in UK and Ireland against real time bidding (RTB), a technology which powers commercial tracking on the Internet.
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16 Nov 2020 By Jim Killock
The democratic deficit weakening privacy in the UK-Japan deal
Trade agreements matter; and Parliament has been cut out of the substance.
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13 Nov 2020 By Heather Burns
ORG signs joint civil society statement defending encryption
Open Rights Group has signed onto a joint civil society statement expressing concerns over proposals by the UK government which would undermine encryption, including through its Online Harms Bill.
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12 Nov 2020 By Pascal Crowe
10,000,000 voters racially profiled by Conservatives
The summary report of ICO’s audits of UK political parties have finally been published.
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12 Nov 2020 By Mariano delli Santi
Bringing sticks to a gunfight: how the ICO fails to enforce the law
As you may be aware of, we are taking the Information Commissioner’s Office to Court over their failure to enforce the law against digital advertising and real time bidding.
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11 Nov 2020 By Jim Killock
Parliament must act before it’s too late
Our blog on Monday made a simple point.
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09 Nov 2020 By Heather Burns & Jim Killock
Japan Trade Deal punches USA-sized hole in privacy
The UK has just signed its first new free trade agreement, independently from the EU, with Japan.
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06 Nov 2020 By Pascal Crowe
Digital Imprints, GDPR and Enforcement
Yesterday ORG submitted its response to the Cabinet Office’s technical consultation on digital imprints.
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26 Oct 2020 By Heather Burns
Online Harms: Encryption under attack
The UK government wants to make the web “safer” by using the Online Harms Bill to weaken encryption of private messages.
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14 Oct 2020 By Matthew Rice
Speak up and make UK data protection stronger
On October 22 the UK Government consultation on implementing new data protection enforcement powers will close.
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13 Oct 2020 By Pascal Crowe
Bigger than Cambridge Analytica
ORG’s view on the ICO’s personal data and political campaigns investigation.
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07 Oct 2020 By Sahdya Darr
Data & Trust: Will migrants use the NHS app?
A fortnight ago, the NHSX Covid-19 App was launched across England and Wales following the many concerns raised by civil society and privacy advocates including Open Rights Group (ORG) both collectively and individually regarding privacy and security.
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24 Sep 2020 By Jim Killock
NHS App users get privacy; other visitors get nothing
Today the Government launched its England and Wales COVID App, and its new rules to ensure that bars and restaurants keep records of customers who visit.
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14 Sep 2020 By Mariano delli Santi
Pubs vs. Privacy: what changes for contact tracing
The Prime Minister announced on Wednesday 9 September that “premises and venues where people meet socially will be legally required to request the contact details of a member of every party, record and retain these details for 21 days and provide them to the NHS Test and Trace without delay when required”.
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20 Aug 2020 By Mariano delli Santi
How I learned to stop worrying and love the algorithm
United Kingdom, 2020 AD.
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05 Aug 2020 By Jim Killock
Fighting and winning for privacy, where was the ICO
The Government admitted their Test and Trace programme is operating unlawfully, but we should never have had to threaten legal action.
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29 Jul 2020 By Mariano delli Santi
Digital advertising market study: the good, the bad and the ugly
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) recently released their market study on online platforms and digital advertising.
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22 Jul 2020 By Pascal Crowe
Hot Take: the Russia Report and Elections
Amongst the many revelations in the Russia report, a battle is playing out for the future regulatory landscape of UK elections.
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16 Jul 2020 By Mariano delli Santi
CJEU invalidates Privacy Shield: what about the UK?
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) just delivered their Schrems II judgment, writing a new chapter of the never ending saga about the adequacy of US privacy standards.
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08 Jul 2020 By Mariano delli Santi
What will Brexit mean for our privacy?
The Brexit clock is ticking.
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03 Jul 2020 By Pascal Crowe
Winners, losers, and unanswered questions
In their report released on Monday the House of Lords’ Democracy and Digital Technologies Select Committee produced a comprehensive overview of problems it considers to be of high importance to a functioning democracy.
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26 Jun 2020 By Matthew Rice
Where everybody knows your name: pubs and data
The UK Government has announced that pubs can reopen on 4 July, and in the process asked them to start collecting the personal data of their customers to assist in test and trace.
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23 Jun 2020 By Mariano delli Santi
NHSX App delayed, but data protection still MIA
It finally happened: NHSX came to realise the issues surrounding their contact tracing app, and decided to switch to a decentralised approach.
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17 Jun 2020 By Mariano delli Santi
NHSX App: no news is bad news
Amid some confusion, reports would indicate that the NHSX contact tracing app may be released nationwide in less than two weeks.
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16 Jun 2020 By Matthew Rice
Police data practices need to change: LEDS is a start
A new information management system is being developed to replace the maligned and dated Police National Computer and Police National Database.
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15 Jun 2020 By Yva Alexandrova Meadway
Immigration sector privacy concerns
As part of ORG’s work in the area of immigration we have consulted 30 organisations on their priorities and needs.
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09 Jun 2020 By Pascal Crowe
Political parties: listen to your members
ORG’s Data and Democracy Project has been working for over a year to limit the use of personal data by political parties.
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08 Jun 2020 By Mariano delli Santi
The ICO we want
Last week, Open Rights Group (ORG) found out that the Information Rights tribunal ceased their general stay.
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03 Jun 2020 By Mariano delli Santi
Demand strong legal safeguards for Contact Tracing
The NHSX is currently testing their digital contact tracing app in the Isle of Wight, and is set to release it nation-wide sometime soon.
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02 Jun 2020 By Mariano delli Santi
Something is rotten in the Information Commissioner’s Office
The COVID-19 test and trace system immediately hit the news for its dubious privacy policy, as well as the lack of a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA).
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29 May 2020 By Yva Alexandrova Meadway
Immigration Bill brings surveillance to EU migrants
The UK immigration regime is set for major changes, as the UK leaves the EU.
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22 May 2020 By Mariano delli Santi
ICO may have slowed down on AdTech, but we’re up and running
The ongoing coronavirus crisis may have pulled the brake on the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) enforcement of your rights, but online advertising companies are doing just fine.
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19 May 2020 By Yva Alexandrova Meadway
Data, privacy and new tech in the immigration sector
Understanding the needs and capacities to deal with data, privacy and the use of new technologies in the immigration sector
Please take a moment to answer our survey on the immigration sector needs and capacities to deal with privacy, personal data, digital and technological changes: https://www.
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13 May 2020 By Mariano delli Santi
NHSX tracking app Privacy Assessment: Key Concerns
NHSX finally released the Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) for their contact tracing app at the weekend.
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07 May 2020 By Yva Alexandrova Meadway
Hostile environment may stop migrants from using NHSX tracker app
This week the Government confirmed that the NHSX app being developed as a response to the Covid-19 pandemic is using a centralised contact matching system.
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24 Apr 2020 By Jim Killock
Time for a Coronavirus Safeguards Bill
While we pause our weekly online discussions, we’ll keep you informed here on the fast moving debate over digital privacy and Covid-19.
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21 Apr 2020 By Yva Alexandrova Meadway
Contact tracing apps & vulnerable migrants: key concerns
In our recent blog we discussed the emerging privacy issues around contact tracing and ‘immunity passports’, and the announcement from Google and Apple that they are jointly working on a contact tracing app.
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15 Apr 2020 By Jim Killock
Contact tracing and immunity passports must respect privacy
The government’s plans for contact tracing and immunity passports should respect privacy, both at a technical level and backed by legal safeguards.
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07 Apr 2020 By Jim Killock
Contact tracing and immunity passports: questions for the government
We continue to hear bits and pieces about the way that mobile apps may be developed, and about the possibilities that Immunity Passports might come with intrusive database projects.
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Data and Democracy
07 Apr 2020 By Pascal Crowe
Democracy and Covid-19
The Covid 19 epidemic has disrupted our economic and social life unlike anything seen in peacetime.
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03 Apr 2020 By Jim Killock
The government must explain its approach to mobile contact tracing
Mobile data and contact tracing is a hot topic, as the UK and EU develop projects to provide privacy-protecting means of understanding who is at risk of infection.
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Data and Democracy
31 Mar 2020 By Pascal Crowe
Imprints: who’s responsible?
Many proposed electoral reforms are highly contested.
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26 Mar 2020 By Jim Killock
Open tech, privacy and Covid-19
From enabling strategies to curb the virus to empowering individuals to connect and work from home, digital technology is playing a vital role in the COVID-19 epidemic.
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