Privacy International

Signatories stress that the Convention should only move forward if it pursues a specific goal of combating cybercrime without endangering the human rights and fundamental freedoms of those it seeks to protect, nor undermining efforts to improve cybersecurity for an open internet.

The inclusion of a privacy and confidentiality provision is welcome, but significant gaps remain which need to be addressed to ensure the treaty puts human rights at the centre of the prevention and response to future pandemics.

“The EU cannot continue to undermine human rights outside of its borders under the guise of fighting terrorism and curbing migration. Surveillance technologies are at the crux of rising digital authoritarianism in the Middle East and North Africa region, and the EU should not sponsor this trend.”

In a new report, Privacy International explores the human rights implications of end-to-end encryption, and rejects proposals by governments, intelligence agencies and law enforcement agencies for access to the content of or the banning of this type of communication.

After analysing a sample of World Bank-financed Covid-19 Response initiatives, PI argues that certain aspects of social protection projects can inadvertently lead to excessive surveillance and interfere with people’s dignity and right to privacy.

“Imagine your performance at work was assessed directly from the amount of e-mails sent, the amount of time consumed editing a document, or the time spent in meetings or even moving your mouse. This may sound ludicrous but your boss might be doing exactly that.”

In December, eighteen U.S. lawmakers demanded that the U.S. government impose sanctions on four non-US surveillance companies for, as they mention in their letter, facilitating “disappearance, torture and murder of human rights activists and journalists”.

Investigations by Privacy International expose cellphone manufacturer TECNO’s weaknesses in protecting users’ privacy and security at risk.