A year ago on Monday the New York Times published an article, by a fantastic tech journalist called Kashmir Hill, about a facial recognition company called Clearview AI called 'The Secretive Company That Might End Privacy as We Know It' . 

This episode we talk to a range of experts and journalist about who are Clearview? What are they doing? Why is their business model so problematic? And is the problem Clearview specific? Or is systemic?

Links

The original article: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/18/technology/clearview-privacy-facial-recognition.html

Info on how to do your own Data Subject Access Request: https://privacyinternational.org/explainer/3845/71-tips-how-make-most-out-your-dsar 

And the template from the ICO: https://ico.org.uk/your-data-matters/your-right-to-get-copies-of-your-data/preparing-and-submitting-your-subject-access-request/

Find more from Ann Cavoukian: https://gpsbydesign.org/

Find out more about the ACLU's legal challenge in Illinois: https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/aclu-sues-clearview-ai

Find out more about Robert Julian-Borchack William's case: https://www.npr.org/2020/06/24/882683463/the-computer-got-it-wrong-how-facial-recognition-led-to-a-false-arrest-in-michig

Read more from Riccardo on facial recognition [italian]: https://www.vice.com/it/article/g5p83w/riconoscimento-facciale-in-italia 

Find out more about Pimeyes and Daniel's research at Netzpolitik: https://netzpolitik.org/2020/pimeyes-face-search-company-is-abolishing-our-anonymity/

We give you the run down on the things we expect and are excited for and sometimes apprehensive of in 2021 and give you the lowdown on what's written in your stars for the coming year.

Links!

If you're worried about your devices and a controlling partner: https://privacyinternational.org/long-read/3366/womens-aid-and-privacy-international-launch-digital-information-cards-help-women; you can also find out more at women's aid's website: https://www.womensaid.org.uk/cover-your-tracks-online/

Find out more about our court victory here: https://privacyinternational.org/news-analysis/4359/victory-high-court-against-governments-use-general-warrants

Dr David Crepaz-Keay from the Mental health Foundation: https://privacyinternational.org/video/4279/podcast-your-mental-health-sale

Tom and immunity passports: https://privacyinternational.org/video/4072/podcast-immunity-passports

Lucy and low cost tech: https://privacyinternational.org/video/3785/podcast-low-cost-tech

Lucy and marketing and maternity: https://privacyinternational.org/video/3787/podcast-marketing-and-maternity

Eva and smart cities: https://privacyinternational.org/video/4250/smart-whom-tale-smarter-cities

PI's Reproductive Rights and Privacy Project speaks with Nerima Were, who is the Program Manager on Sexual Reproductive Health Rights from  KELIN. The Kenya Legal & Ethical Issues Network on HIV and AIDS  (KELIN) focuses on creating country-based networks that intersect law, ethics, human rights, and HIV.

**Language advisory: Gus does several swearwords this episode including one f-word at 9:45

This week we talk to Edin, PI's Advocacy Director, about documents obtained by he spent a year working on obtaining, that detail how EU agencies ‘outsource’ border controls to neighbouring countries. From surveillance drones to cameras to wiretapping and more - the EU are providing technologies that will be used to crush political and civil freedoms and undermine democracy without urgent reforms.

Find out more: 

• https://privacyinternational.org/long-read/4288/borders-without-borders-how-eu-exporting-surveillance-bid-outsource-its-border
• https://privacyinternational.org/long-read/4291/surveillance-disclosures-show-urgent-need-reforms-eu-aid-programmes

PI's Reproductive Rights and Privacy Project speaks with Denisse Albornoz from Hiperderecho in Peru, which is Peruvian non-profit civil  association dedicated to research, facilitating public understanding and  promoting respect for rights and freedoms in digital environments.

We talk to Dr David Crepaz-Keay from the Mental Health Foundation to find out what happens to your data when you visit a mental health website? How can technology help people dealing with a mental health issue? And what can happen when things go wrong?

Find out more about the Mental Health Foundation here: https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/

If you're worried about your mental health and want to try the NHS's mood self-assesment you can find it here: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/stress-anxiety-depression/mood-self-assessment/

Read our work on mental health here: https://privacyinternational.org/campaigns/your-mental-health-sale

PI's Reproductive Rights and Privacy Project speaks with Dr. Andrea Swartzendruber about crisis pregnancy centres in the US. 

Dr. Andrea  Swartzendruber is the principal investigator for the Pregnancy Resource  Center Evaluation at Emory University's Center for Reproductive Health  Research in the Southeast. She is an assistant professor in the  Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of  Georgia College of Public Health and an adjunct professor at Emory  University Rollins School of Public Health. She has recently published  and presented research findings on pregnancy resource centers (also  known as crisis pregnancy centers) and sexual and reproductive health  services for adolescents in Georgia.

This week we talk to Dr Ellie Cosgrave - an Associate Professor at UCL, Dr Lakshmi Priya Rajendran - a Senior Research Fellow looking at future cities, and Dr Rob Kitchin - a Professor focussing on the relationship between technology, society, and space about what is a smart city? What do we want the cities of the future to look like? And what's the best way of making sure the future of our metropolitan public spaces is bright, not dystopian?

Find out more:

About PI's work on smart cities here: https://privacyinternational.org/learn/smart-cities

About Ellie's work here: https://www.urbaninnovationandpolicy.net/ellie-cosgrave

About Lakshmi's work here: https://aru.ac.uk/people/lakshmi-priya-rajendran

And Rob's work here: http://www.kitchin.org/

And you can support PI's work here: support.privacyinternational.org

The European Union's top court rules that UK, French and Belgian mass surveillance regimes must respect privacy. But what does that mean for government's data collection schemes? And what does it take to fight a legal battle lasting years?

Find out more on our website: https://privacyinternational.org/long-read/4206/qa-eus-top-court-rules-uk-french-and-belgian-mass-surveillance-regimes-must-respect

And make sure we can keep taking these fights to court: support.privacyinternational.org

PI's Reproductive Rights and Privacy Project speaks with Lintang Setianiti and Miftah Fadhli from the Institute for Policy  Research and Advocacy (ELSAM) in Indonesia about reproductive rights in  the country.

PI's Reproductive Rights and Privacy Project speaks with Maite Karstanje  and Nadia Ferrari from Equipo Latinoamericano de Justicia y Género  (ELA) in Argentina, which works with Latin American feminist  institutions to promote and defend human rights and gender justice in  the region, about reproductive rights in the country.

PI's Reproductive Rights and Privacy Project speaks with Dr. Subasri Narasimhan and Dr. Dabney Evans from the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University in the US about their paper which documents how  misleading health information about reproductive health can flow into  policy and legislative debates. 

This week we talk to a whole host of guests, including María Paz Canales Executive Director of Derechos Digitales, about the issues with coronavirus immunity passports and whether the digital ID industry is capable of rising to the moment.

This week we talk to PI's Tech Co-ordination Groups to bring you tips and tricks about how to start cleaning up and securing your phone or computer.

Episode notes

Useful info

How to minimise targeted ads: privacyinternational.org/act/minimise-targeted-ads

Protect yourself from online tracking: privacyinternational.org/act/protect-yourself-online-tracking 

Social media account settings: privacyinternational.org/act/protect-yourself-social-media-monitoring 

Our Onion address: privacyintyqcroe.onion 

Episode Info

3:24 - reasons to delete apps you’re not using 

6:18 - 4 things you should do first

6:37 - Updates 

7:59 - Password managers Keepass, 1password, Lastpass

11:40 - Has your data been breached? haveibeenpwned.com/

12:56 - Backups 

19:05 - Apps

20:52 - Firewalls 

Netguard - play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.faircode.netguard&hl=en_GB 

Clamwin - clamwin.com 

28:45 - When is too old too old 

31:12 - iPhone 

Better Blocker - better.fyi 

36:27 - Android 

40:29 - Social Media 

40:29 Facebook/instagram 

Facebook TOR address: facebookcorewwwi.onion 

Zynga hack: theguardian.com/games/2019/dec/19/170m-passwords-stolen-in-zynga-words-with-friends-hack-monitor-says 

45:20 - Twitter 

MicahFlee - delete your tweets: micahflee.com/2019/06/semiphemeral-automatically-delete-your-old-tweets-except-for-the-ones-you-want-to-keep/ 

Social media monitoring by local authorities - privacyinternational.org/long-read/3586/when-local-authorities-arent-your-friends 

49:40 - Email 

51:35 - Desktops 

51:50 - Windows 

CCleaner - ccleaner.com/ 

WinDirStat - windirstat.net/ 

55:42 - Mac OS 

Little snitch - obdev.at/products/littlesnitch/index.html 

58:20 - Linux 

Uncomplicated Firewall (UFW) - linux.com/training-tutorials/introduction-uncomplicated-firewall-ufw/ 

Firewall D - firewalld.org/

1:01:40 Encryption 

Veracrypt - veracrypt.fr/en/Introduction.html 

Bitlocker - support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4028713/windows-10-turn-on-device-encryption  

Why do Google want to buy Fitbit? What do they get out of it? And why should competition regulators be concerned?

Gus talks to two of PI's lawyers - Ailidh and Ioannis - to ask why we're telling the EU commission to block the merger.

Find out more and sign the petition at: pvcy.org/notwatch

Music: Last Chance Saloon by Sepia

PI's Reproductive Rights and Privacy Project speaks with Ruth Taylor, the CEO of the UK-based charity Abortion Support Network about how  opposition groups are using misinformation to delay people from  accessing safe abortion care. 

From double registration to exclusion and discrimination - this week we talk to Yusuf Bashir, Executive Director of Haki na Sheria, and Keren Weitzberg, an academic from UCL, about the trouble with Identity in Kenya. 

You can find out more about Haki na Sheria here: http://hakinasheria.org/

Find out more about double registration in Keren's piece "In Kenya, thousands left in limbo without ID cards" in CodaStory: https://www.codastory.com/authoritarian-tech/kenya-biometrics-double-registration/

Find out more about the Huduma Namba case on our website: https://privacyinternational.org/news-analysis/3350/why-huduma-namba-ruling-matters-future-digital-id-and-not-just-kenya

With huge numbers of people out on the streets standing up for their rights in the US and Hong Kong, and around the world - we take a look at  the surveillance tools police and security forces round the world have been using to monitor people as they exercise their civil rights.

Given everything that's happening at the moment around the world, we've decided to postpone our episode on ID in Kenya until next week.

Some of the resources we mentioned in the episode can be found here:

ACLU: know your rights: https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights/protesters-rights/

EFF Attending a protest tool: https://ssd.eff.org/en/module/attending-protest

Netpol - know your rights: https://netpol.org/know-your-rights/

Motherboard: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/d3devm/motherboard-guide-to-not-getting-hacked-online-safety-guide

A quick catch-up on the state of play of apps round the world - though we end up mostly discussing India and the UK - and we celebrate a very special birthday.

You can find a much deeper and more detailed look at the various questions and concerns around coronavirus apps on our website: https://privacyinternational.org/long-read/3792/covid-contact-tracing-apps-are-complicated-mess-what-you-need-know and all the latest news in our tracker https://privacyinternational.org/examples/tracking-global-response-covid-19

This week Gus chats with Edin, PI's Advocacy Director, about the latest Covid-19 news and the trends we're seeing around the world. 

Find out more about coronavirus apps around the world: https://privacyinternational.org/long-read/3675/theres-app-coronavirus-apps and keep an eye on the global responses: https://privacyinternational.org/examples/tracking-global-response-covid-19

Music by Glass boy - licensed under creative commons
Find more from them here: https://glassboy.bandcamp.com/album/enjoy

PI's Reproductive Rights and Privacy Project speaks with Tasneem Mewa and Ambika Tandon from the Center for Internet and Society about data  exploitation in reproductive rights in India.

We're happy to announce, we're launching a new mini-series! 

Every last monday of each month we'll be releasing a new podcast - focusing on reproductive rights and privacy across the world, from Indonesia to  Chile to Kenya and more.

Tech companies, governments, and international agencies have all announced measures to help contain the spread of the COVID-19, otherwise known as the Coronavirus. Unprecedented levels of surveillance, data exploitation, and misinformation are being tested across the world.

Many of those measures are based on extraordinary powers, only to be used temporarily in emergencies. Others use exemptions in data protection laws to share data. Some may be effective and based on advice from epidemiologists, others will not be.

But all of them must be temporary, necessary, and proportionate.

Tracking the global response to Covid-19: https://privacyinternational.org/examples/tracking-global-response-covid-19

Fighting the global Covid-19 power grab: https://privacyinternational.org/campaigns/fighting-global-covid-19-power-grab

This week: it's a weird one - rather than our normal look at technology, we've got recommendations for movies and games you might enjoy while you're locked down. 

Music by Simon Mathewson, you can find more from him here: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Simon_Mathewson 

Recommendations include:

• Sorry to Bother You
• Legally Blonde
• S-Club Seeing Double
• Snowpiercer 
• Broforce
• Ultimate Chicken Horse
• Hidden in plain site
• Don't starve
  

Recorded 12th March. 

We can’t believe we’re having to say this, but the hours after giving  birth are private. If you’re a parent, you may have heard of Bounty, a  sales and marketing company allowed access to hospital maternity wards and approach women who have just given birth. This doesn’t happen on any other hospital ward. Can you imagine coming round from major surgery to find a stranger trying to sell you stuff? The physical invasion of  privacy is bad enough, but delving into the company’s relationship with you and your baby’s personal data reveals some surprises.

You’re a witness or a victim or a suspect of a crime; or even just travelling going on holiday. Officials demand your phone, then disappear with it. What happened to your phone? What happened to your data? What will happen to you?

We all generate vast amounts of data using our mobile phones - more than most of us are aware of - and that data has become increasingly attractive to law enforcement agencies around the world, enabled by ‘extraction technologies’ supplied by companies like Cellebrite. But what can those agencies see, and what does that mean for us?

Find out more: https://privacyinternational.org/campaigns/police-unlocking-your-data-cloud

Music: Last chance saloon by Sepia

Photo by Antoine Beauvillain on Unsplash

Find out why 53 organisations from all over the world  are telling Google it's time they take action on pre-installed apps  (bloatware).

Sign the petition: pvcy.org/soundcloudpet

Music by Glass Boy, find more of their work here: glassboy.bandcamp.com/album/enjoy
(creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/)