Technology Pill

This week we speak to Ioannis, a senior lawyer at PI, about his and his colleague's work on the landmark case protecting encyrption at the European Court of Human Rights: Podchasov v. Russia. The case dealt with a Russian law obliging telecommunications service providers to indiscriminately retain content and communications data for certain time periods, as well as a 2017 disclosure order by the Russian Federal Security Service requiring Telegram Messenger company to disclose technical information which would facilitate “the decoding of communications”. Links: PI case page: https://privacyinternational.org/legal-action/podchasov-v-russia ECtHR judgment in the Podchasov case: https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng?i=001-230854 PI's work on encryption: https://privacyinternational.org/learn/encryption PI's report on End-to-End Encryption (E2EE): https://privacyinternational.org/report/4949/securing-privacy-end-end-encryption More information about the Marper case: http://www.genewatch.org/sub-563146

In this podcast, Ed, a Senior Technologist at PI, discusses the basics of encryption, including symmetric and asymmetric methods. The conversation delves into encryption algorithms, quantum computing's impact, hashing functions, data security practices, and encryption protocols. It also touches on the history of encryption and its evolution in modern internet security.

This week we speak to Mark Nelson, a car mechanic and father of five, who has been forced to wear a GPS tag by the Home Office for the past 20 months, and his lawyer Katie Schwarzmann of Wilsons Solicitors. The pair have been challenging the Home Office's ongoing imposition of GPS tracking on Mark in the courts and are now awaiting a judgement. We explore the legal case, the ways the tag hasn't worked for long periods of time, and a dubious AI the Home Office has been using in decisions as to whether someone remains on a GPS tag. Links - Read more from Katie's law firm, Wilsons Solicitors, about the case: https://www.wilsonllp.co.uk/news/high-court-hears-first-challenge-to-the-governments-policy-of-gps-tagging-migrants - PI's Complaint to the ICO (the UK's Data Protection Authority): https://privacyinternational.org/legal-action/ico-complaint-against-uks-gps-tagging-migrants - Read more about relevant cases in which PI has filed witness evidence: https://privacyinternational.org/legal-action/uk-migrant-gps-tracking-challenges - The five companies at the heart of the UK's GPS tagging system: https://privacyinternational.org/long-read/5063/who-profits-uks-247-tracking-migrants - We tested GPS ankle tags, read how our experiment went: https://privacyinternational.org/long-read/5064/life-under-247-gps-surveillance-gps-ankle-tag-experiment - Listen to our last podcast discussing GPS ankle tags: https://privacyinternational.org/video/5074/gps-tracking-migrants-uk-who-profits

This week we talk about good things (or good-ish things) that you might have missed from 2023! Links Companies getting disciplined - Ovulation Tracking App Premom Will be Barred from Sharing Health Data for Advertising Under Proposed FTC Order https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2023/05/ovulation-tracking-app-premom-will-be-barred-sharing-health-data-advertising-under-proposed-ftc - Facebook getting fined for data exploitation in Norway: https://dig.watch/updates/meta-fined-98500-daily-over-user-privacy-breach-in-norway - CNIL fines Criteo: https://privacyinternational.org/press-release/5075/global-adtech-company-criteo-fined-eu40-million-france-unlawfully-collecting - CNIL fines Doctissimo: https://edpb.europa.eu/news/national-news/2023/health-data-and-use-cookies-french-sa-fines-doctissimo_en - Worldcoin (aspires to be World ID) has been getting some pushback from some countries: https://www.citizen.digital/news/data-protection-office-says-worldcoin-likely-to-tamper-with-data-from-kenyans-seeks-courts-intervention-n325472 Governments abandoning plans, or at least held to account - Kenya drops Huduma Numba and replaces it with new systems (it’s not any better and advocacy under way) but it’s still a sense of victory that they dropped Huduma Numba that caused some much controversy as highlighted by CSOs in particular through advocacy, research and litigation (which we supported led by Kenyan organisations like Nubian Rights Forum, amongst others) https://www.biometricupdate.com/202303/kenya-huduma-namba-funding-almost-entirely-cut-as-upi-digital-birth-registration-begins - MI5 win: https://privacyinternational.org/press-release/5027/press-landmark-ruling-exposes-years-rule-breaking-mi5 - UK Supreme Court rules against Rwandan policy https://www.ft.com/content/c040946a-c294-4a89-808e-46c8b2f2f414 - Colombia at the UN Human Rights Committee https://privacyinternational.org/advocacy/5080/pis-submission-un-human-rights-committee-regarding-colombias-compliance-iccpr - USA at the UN Human Rights Committee: https://ccprcentre.org/ccprpages/united-states-under-the-microscope-vast-participation-of-american-civil-society-organizations - Brazil at the UN Human Rights Committee: https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CCPR%2FC%2FBRA%2FCO%2F3&Lang=en Legal protections emerging - Proposed US Privacy Act: https://www.wired.com/story/government-surveillance-reform-act-2023/ - New data protection laws adopted (they are not perfect but they exist) in India https://www.techradar.com/computing/cyber-security/india-approves-new-privacy-law-but-is-it-really-a-win-for-citizens and Nigeria: https://kpmg.com/ng/en/home/insights/2023/09/the-nigeria-data-protection-act--2023.html Innovations - Apple deciding right to repair actually matters https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/24/23930762/apple-right-to-repair-white-house-iphone

This week we have a think about generative AI. After a concerning Guardian article about deep fake scams, we ask the question: did we really understand the risks when we started a podcast? The audio clips featured in this podcast episode are the intellectual property of Smart Energy GB (Clip 1), Kim Kardashian (Clip 2), the Hollywood Reporter (Clip 3) and Lucasfilm Ltd (Clip 4). All rights are reserved to their copyright owners. Other links: - Experience: scammers used AI to fake my daughter’s kidnap: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/aug/04/experience-scammers-used-ai-to-fake-my-daughters-kidnap - 23 and Me hack: https://www.bankinfosecurity.com/23andme-investigating-apparent-credential-stuffing-hack-a-23267 - Deepfakes Can Help Families Mourn—or Exploit Their Grief: https://www.wired.com/story/deepfake-death-grief-hologram-photography-film/

This week we speak to competition expert Dr Deni Mantzari about competition, monopoly, and regulation. Are big tech companies monopolies? And if they are is that a problem? Since we recorded this podcast there has been an update on the Microsoft Activision merger: https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/13/23796552/microsoft-activision-blizzard-cma-approval-uk Links PI competition page (our "very influential work"): https://privacyinternational.org/learn/competition-and-data More about Dr Deni Mantzari: https://profiles.ucl.ac.uk/24171 Ecosystems and competition law in theory and practice - a research paper about ecosystems: https://academic.oup.com/icc/article/30/5/1199/6428760 Power Imbalances in Online Marketplaces: At the Crossroads of Competition Law and Regulation - one of Dr Deni's papers looking at peconomic dependence in online marketplaces: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/cles/sites/cles/files/cles_4_2021.pdf Google Android European court case on abuse of dominance: https://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&docid=265421&doclang=en and more info here: https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2022-09/cp220147en.pdf The Stigler Report: https://www.chicagobooth.edu/research/stigler/news-and-media/committee-on-digital-platforms-final-report The Furman Report: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5c88150ee5274a230219c35f/unlocking_digital_competition_furman_review_web.pdf German Facebook case: https://www.bundeskartellamt.de/SharedDocs/Meldung/EN/Pressemitteilungen/2019/07_02_2019_Facebook.html;jsessionid=202D25E3738EF7AB3AC859AD9C78C43C.2_cid371?nn=3591568 Meta Data Protection fine: https://edpb.europa.eu/news/news/2023/12-billion-euro-fine-facebook-result-edpb-binding-decision_en The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) Roomba decision: https://www.gov.uk/cma-cases/amazon-slash-irobot-merger-inquiry and PI's submission to the inquiry: https://privacyinternational.org/advocacy/5071/submissions-uk-and-eu-competition-authorities-amazonirobot-merger The EU Digital Markets Act (DMA): https://commission.europa.eu/strategy-and-policy/priorities-2019-2024/europe-fit-digital-age/digital-markets-act-ensuring-fair-and-open-digital-markets_en The EU Data Act: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2023-0069_EN.pdf

This month we speak to Dr Leonie Tanczer about her work looking at tech abuse: the use of “everyday” digital systems (computers, smartphones, apps) to coerce, control, and harm a person or groups of individuals. This is increasingly prevalent in the context of domestic abuse - around 85% of victims and survivors in the UK have been subjected to some form of tech abuse. Links Refuge's Tech Safety resources: https://refugetechsafety.org/ Refuge's Tech Safety smart home devices tool: https://refugetechsafety.org/hometech/ Read more about Dr Tanczer and her work: https://www.leonietanczer.net/about.html Find out more about the Gender and Tech at UCL and sign up to the newsletter: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/computer-science/research/research-groups/gender-and-tech PI's guides to improve your own device security: https://privacyinternational.org/act UK MPs discuss smart tech and abuse: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/aug/07/uk-mps-warn-use-smart-tech-domestic-abuse Connected technology: MPs call on Government to tackle growing problem of tech-enabled domestic abuse: https://committees.parliament.uk/work/6686/connected-tech-smart-or-sinister/news/196867/connected-technology-mps-call-on-government-to-tackle-growing-problem-of-techenabled-domestic-abuse/

In this episode we chat with Ben Wizner - Edward Snowden's lawyer, and the director of the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project - and Caroline Wilson Palow - PI's Legal Director about what it was like to be knee deep in the legal and policy responses to Snowden's revelations, holding British and US intelligence agencies to account for secret powers. Additional audio from The Guardian and from Channel 4 News via the Guardian Links What is Tempora? ⁠https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2013/jun/21/gchq-cables-secret-world-communications-nsa⁠ Taking angle grinders to the Guardian's hard drives: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jan/31/footage-released-guardian-editors-snowden-hard-drives-gchq PI's legal cases: https://privacyinternational.org/legal-action/our-cases The ACLU's case challenging upsteam surveillance: https://www.aclu.org/cases/wikimedia-v-nsa-challenge-upstream-surveillance The White House review of the NSA post Snowden: https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/default/files/docs/2013-12-12_rg_final_report.pdf Hear from Ed Snowden directly: https://privacyinternational.org/video/4518/fight-back-edward-snowden

This week we're discussing the UK Home Office's practice of forcing migrants to wear GPS ankle tags or carry GPS fingerprint scanners. Find out more about the policy, its impact on people, how the trackers work and why we think its wrong for a company to profit from all of this. Links Send Capita an email at: pvcy.org/GPSaction Find out more on our website about the campaign: https://privacyinternational.org/campaigns/capital-surveillance Watch the full video testimonies - video 1: https://media.privacyinternational.org/w/cB1gjT7FA4L77NUA2PF7Jd video 2: https://media.privacyinternational.org/w/bMY219Rmd2tXSpmSH4HL9F

This week we’re joined by Lucy and Laura to discuss the use of technology in elections, and their time monitoring the Kenyan Presidential Election in 2022. Links Human rights abuses including unlawful killings by police, violence at Kenya's 2017 election: https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/08/27/kenya-post-election-killings-abuse Claims of fraud from Kenya's last election: https://www.cartercenter.org/countries/kenya.html PI and the Carter Center's joint election report: https://privacyinternational.org/long-read/5053/our-final-report-kenyas-2022-election-collaboration-carter-center-election-expert Challenge to the 2022 election result and Supreme Court decision: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-africa-62768439 More about the use of data in elections: https://privacyinternational.org/taxonomy/term/848 Our data and elections checklist: https://privacyinternational.org/advocacy/3093/technology-data-and-elections-checklist-election-cycle