Privacy International

12/06/2026

In the EU there has been an increase in funding for “dual-use by design” research. SIPRI raises some concerns about this blurring between publicly funded civilian and military research.

Although some universities have tried to disassociate their research from dual-use tech used for military ends, an increase in funding is strengthening synergies between civilian companies, universities and the military sector.

The growth of dual-use by design research could increase the risk of tech used in ways that violate human rights.

Export controls are meant to address risks of misuse, but a broader governance framework is needed to regulate dual-use by design research.

There needs to be increased coordination between export controls and security policy, SIPRI says.

Universities will also need to be more actively involved in the governance of export controls, in order to strengthen responsible research.

https://www.sipri.org/commentary/topical-backgrounder/2026/growth-dual-use-design-research-europe-export-control-risks-and-challenges

11/06/2026

A recent RCW report evaluates the militarisation of data-intensive systems with an intersectional lens

The report highlights how an increased use of tech by militaries, police and immigration enforcement agencies expands violence against women, LGBTQ+ people and racialised communities.

This tech, RCW remarks, is being developed by ‘tech broligarchs’ and used for categorisation and control.

The report explains how data-intensive systems used in warfare and law enforcement amplify existing inequalities through biased in datasets, which can lead to harmful outcomes.

These systems can be used to commit gender-based violence; and norms of militarised masculinities can result in further harm.

The structures that uphold gender inequality also impact how women and LGBTQ+ people experience the environmental harm caused by data centres and other sources of energy and water consumption.

RCW concludes that states must stop the integration of AI into military systems, and refuse to engage in an arms race. Instead, they can chose to invest in collective care and environmental regeneration.

11/06/2026

Today’s AI can reveal your location from a single photo. Vision‑Language Models (VLMs) can now determine where in the world any given photo is taken, without using any GPS data.

What does that means for your privacy? It can lead to covert surveillance, doxxing, discriminatory policing, and profiling.

One of the most surprising — and concerning — capabilities of the newest Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems is their ability to infer geographic location from images. Vision‑Language Models (VLMs) can now determine where in the world any given photo is taken with striking speed and accuracy.

08/06/2026

Governments and companies around the world are fighting to establish their dominance - plunging us into a ‘tech race’ that is redefining the battlefield and blurring the line between civilian and military infrastructures.

This military tech is seeping into our daily lives, raising urgent questions about who controls our civic life and shapes our future.

What is the militarisation of tech?

05/06/2026

The Trump Administration has approved a secret $9 billion fund for U.S. spy agencies to expand their AI capabilities, according to the New York Times.

The money is intended to buy Nvidia's most advanced chips and the infrastructure needed to run frontier AI models on classified networks. The NSA has already been authorised to use Anthropic's Mythos model, a tool initially considered too dangerous for public release because of its ability to find and exploit cybersecurity vulnerabilities. U.S. intelligence agencies have long relied on Amazon's cloud infrastructure to run their operations.

The companies building our everyday technology are now essential to government surveillance infrastructure. There is no public framework governing how these tools are used or what limits apply.

We need new checks and balances, before — not after — this regime is built.

05/06/2026

The same defence-tech companies developing surveillance tools, processing sensitive data, and defining what counts as “normal” in conflict zones are now playing central roles in our day-to-day life.

Read more on how the militarisation of tech is reshaping our townsquares

We are at a war footing as we enter an era where the tech world is increasingly defined by conflict. Innovation has never been driven solely by social needs, market forces or the common good.

04/06/2026

NEW: The UK Science, Innovation and Technology Committee have published a report following its inquiry into the UK government's plans for the digital transformation of public services.
https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/53352/documents/298462/default/

The report cites concerns over the Palantir NHS contract, as well as the recent Biobank data breach scandal that lead to thousands of volunteer's health data being shared for sale online
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/mar/14/confidential-health-records-exposed-online-uk-biobank

The report acknowledged that "it is a fundamental duty of government, public sector bodies and bodies in receipt of public funds to keep safe the data they hold on citizens. This duty has not been consistently upheld in the UK for some time...The advertisement of UK Biobank datasets on a Chinese e-commerce platform points to a particularly egregious example of inadequate data hygiene."

The committee also echoed civil society calls on the government to exercise the Feb 2027 break clause in the contract with Palantir highlighting the lack of transparency over the nature of their access to identifiable and non-identifiable patient data.
https://www.medact.org/2026/resources/briefings/briefing-palantir-fdp/

The report highlights issues around the importance of privacy, public confidence and trust that we continue to raise. Trust is essential to delivering healthcare and the NHS.

Read more coverage about this issue: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/5/12/palantir

04/06/2026

World food Programme (WFP) data breach puts at risk 600,000 households in Gaza
https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news/2026/06/02/data-600000-gaza-households-exposed-wfp-cyber-attack

A breach by unknown hackers exposed names, phone numbers and locations of 600,000 households reliant on the UN food agency’s support to make ends meet.

The cyber attack occurred on 14th May, but Gazans were not informed for 17 days. This is alarming and dangerous; the identity and location data of Palestinians is extremely sensitive, revealing their identities and location can have lethal consequences https://untoldmag.org/automated-apartheid-palestinians-surveillance

As we jointly raised with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in 2018, the humanitarian sector’s increasing reliance on digital and mobile technologies can potentially place the data of millions receiving humanitarian aid at risk.
https://privacyinternational.org/press-release/2510/practices-humanitarian-sector-are-leaving-aid-recipients-risk-pi-and-icrc-find

This continues to be the case today, as reportedly insufficient due diligence and data protection measures were included in the design and implementation of the WFP system in Palestine.

Social protection and humanitarian assistance programmes are incorporating tech solutions including algorithmic decision making at an alarming rate, and without, among others, appropriate human rights and data protection impact assessments. https://privacyinternational.org/learn/social-protection-programmes

We continue to call for development and humanitarian donors and agencies to resist the adoption of technologies that facilitate surveillance, creating serious threats to individuals’ human rights, including their right to privacy.
https://privacyinternational.org/learn/humanitarian-sector

With over 2 million people registered in Gaza, it may be the largest-known breach of humanitarian beneficiary data to date.

03/06/2026

This week International Labour Organization are in Geneva discussing a new convention that could protect workers from unprecedented surveillance and monitoring, as well as other harms endemic to the platform economy.

The ILO must take this opportunity to protect workers rights

https://privacyinternational.org/advocacy/5693/ilo-convention-decent-work-platform-economy

02/06/2026

Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have written to the European Commission with concerns about “systematic governance” failures in European police agency, Europol, and the European Union’s border and coast guard agency, Frontex.

The letter follows an investigation by Computer Weekly, Solomon and Correctiv, which revealed Europol had built a "shadow IT system".

Staff reportedly had access to phone records, identity documents, financial and geolocation information - even of people not suspected of a crime.

This sensitive data should be subject to strict rules about how it can be used. Internal documents and witness accounts suggest those safeguards were absent.

The MEPs are urging the commission to consider holding back some of Europol’s budget - only to be released when Europol is compliant with data protection and other fundamental rights.

MEPs have written to the European Commission calling for action following revelations that Europol and Frontex processed, stored and transferred personal data in ways that raise serious concerns about compliance with EU law.