Surveillance

STANDING UP TO SURVEILLANCE

We fight surveillance laws, policies, and practices that undermine human rights. From investigating spyware attacks that target human rights defenders to fighting biometric surveillance systems that put entire communities at risk, we work to hold manufacturers and investors accountable for the impact of dangerous surveillance tech and push for strict regulations to prevent widespread abuse.

Thumbnail of the Investigation report: how Pegasus spyware crushes civic space in Jordan

Exiled, then spied on: Civil society in Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland targeted with Pegasus spyware

All governments must establish an immediate moratorium on the export, sale, transfer, servicing, and use of targeted digital surveillance technologies until rigorous human rights safeguards are put in place to stop human rights abuses.

Resources

Spyware: a threat to human rights and democracy

Data Protection

Geneva Declaration: international community unites to end spyware abuse

Access Now and the Government of Catalonia are calling for an end to the proliferation of surveillance tech through the Geneva Declaration.

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Digital Identity Systems

Surveilling Europe’s edges: when digitalisation means dehumanisation

In the first of a three-part blog series, Caterina Rodelli explains how digital surveillance is dehumanising people at Europe’s borders.

Manual Del Pequeñx Vigilado Header

Data Protection

Manual del Pequeñx Vigiladx

El Manual del Pequeñx Vigiladx es una guía para ayudarte a navegar el sistema judicial en caso de sufrir una detención errónea por sistemas biométricos.

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Digital Security

New guide: surveillance technology investors face significant risks if human rights are ignored

A new guide on effective due diligence will help shareholders with investments in surveillance technology prevent and mitigate human rights risks.

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Data Protection

Sonic surveillance: why you don’t want AI snooping on you

The threat voice recognition technology poses to our rights needs to be addressed now — before our voices become yet another piece of biometric data to be used against us.

Surveillance

Ban Biometric Surveillance

Some surveillance technologies are so dangerous that they inevitably cause far more problems than they solve. The use of facial recognition and remote biometric technologies in publicly accessible spaces enables

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Digital Security

MENA Surveillance Coalition: stop all surveillance tech sales to the region’s autocratic governments

The MENA Surveillance Coalition is demanding the immediate end to the sale of surveillance technology to Middle East and North Africa’s (MENA) autocratic governments.

Latest Updates

Espionage for repression: forensic analysis of a cross-border hack-for-hire campaign targeting civil society in MENA
Surveillance
Surveillance

Hack-for-hire spyware campaign targets journalists in Middle East, North Africa

9 Apr 2026
News
Hack-for-hire spyware campaign targets journalists in Middle East, North Africa
Cyberscoop ↗
9 Apr 2026
Hack-for-hire spyware campaign targets journalists in Middle East, North Africa
Espionage for repression: forensic analysis of a cross-border hack-for-hire campaign targeting civil society in MENA
Surveillance
Surveillance

Two prominent Egyptian journalists targeted with elaborate spearphishing campaign

9 Apr 2026
News
Two prominent Egyptian journalists targeted with elaborate spearphishing campaign
The Record ↗
9 Apr 2026
Two prominent Egyptian journalists targeted with elaborate spearphishing campaign
Espionage for repression: forensic analysis of a cross-border hack-for-hire campaign targeting civil society in MENA
Surveillance
Surveillance

Hack-for-hire group caught targeting Android devices and iCloud backups

9 Apr 2026
News
Hack-for-hire group caught targeting Android devices and iCloud backups
Tech Crunch ↗
9 Apr 2026
Hack-for-hire group caught targeting Android devices and iCloud backups
Espionage for repression: forensic analysis of a cross-border hack-for-hire campaign targeting civil society in MENA
Surveillance
Surveillance

Hack-for-hire: new report investigates hacking campaign against Egyptian journalists

8 Apr 2026

A new report  by Access Now’s Digital Security Helpline, Espionage for repression: forensic analysis of a cross-border hack-for-hire campaign targeting civil society in MENA, exposes a hack-for-hire campaign targeting two prominent Egyptian journalists and government critics, Mostafa Al-A’sar and Ahmed Eltantawy, through a series of spear-phishing attacks. 

Press Release
Hack-for-hire: new report investigates hacking campaign against Egyptian journalists
8 Apr 2026
Hack-for-hire: new report investigates hacking campaign against Egyptian journalists
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Surveillance
Surveillance

How selling to a repressive regime almost broke a tech firm

25 Mar 2026
News
How selling to a repressive regime almost broke a tech firm
Bloomberg ↗
25 Mar 2026
How selling to a repressive regime almost broke a tech firm
Proceed with caution: Sandvine removed from U.S. Entity List
Surveillance
Surveillance

DarkSword’s GitHub leak threatens to turn elite iPhone hacking into a tool for the masses

25 Mar 2026
News
DarkSword’s GitHub leak threatens to turn elite iPhone hacking into a tool for the masses
Cyberscoop ↗
25 Mar 2026
DarkSword’s GitHub leak threatens to turn elite iPhone hacking into a tool for the masses
Grunge artwork showing surveillance cameras and two businessmen in suits shaking hands.
Surveillance
Surveillance

AI, surveillance & migration: inside Europe’s tech-driven border policies + the rise of renting apps

23 Mar 2026
News
AI, surveillance & migration: inside Europe’s tech-driven border policies + the rise of renting apps
Somewhere on Earth ↗
23 Mar 2026
AI, surveillance & migration: inside Europe’s tech-driven border policies + the rise of renting apps
Grunge artwork showing surveillance cameras and two businessmen in suits shaking hands.
Surveillance
Surveillance

From cooperation to complicity: meet the companies powering the EU’s war on migrants

11 Mar 2026

In new research, Access Now reveals the private sector companies helping to build Fortress Europe, via relationships with the EU agencies focused on migration and border security.

Post
From cooperation to complicity: meet the companies powering the EU’s war on migrants
11 Mar 2026
From cooperation to complicity: meet the companies powering the EU’s war on migrants
Grunge artwork showing surveillance cameras and two businessmen in suits shaking hands.
Surveillance
Surveillance

Shadowy surveillance: Access Now maps the companies implementing the EU’s migration policies

11 Mar 2026

Access Now’s latest research exposes the private sector companies building and profiting from the EU’s extensive surveillance infrastructure.

Press Release
Shadowy surveillance: Access Now maps the companies implementing the EU’s migration policies
11 Mar 2026
Shadowy surveillance: Access Now maps the companies implementing the EU’s migration policies
header image: pushing back against IMEI registration in Myanmar
Surveillance
Surveillance

IMEI နံပါတ်တွေ မှတ်ပုံတင်ခိုင်းတာ စစ်တပ်ရဲ့ စောင့်ကြည့်ရေး ယန္တရားဖြစ်နိုင်

6 Mar 2026
News
IMEI နံပါတ်တွေ မှတ်ပုံတင်ခိုင်းတာ စစ်တပ်ရဲ့ စောင့်ကြည့်ရေး ယန္တရားဖြစ်နိုင်
DVB TV News ↗
6 Mar 2026
IMEI နံပါတ်တွေ မှတ်ပုံတင်ခိုင်းတာ စစ်တပ်ရဲ့ စောင့်ကြည့်ရေး ယန္တရားဖြစ်နိုင်
Spyware
Surveillance
Surveillance

Will NSO’s U.S. lobbying pay off under Trump?

4 Mar 2026
News
Will NSO’s U.S. lobbying pay off under Trump?
Tech Policy Press ↗
4 Mar 2026
Will NSO’s U.S. lobbying pay off under Trump?
Border Surveillance Greece Header
Surveillance
Surveillance

How the EU is building a dystopian, surveillance-driven, deportation machine

4 Mar 2026
News
How the EU is building a dystopian, surveillance-driven, deportation machine
4 Mar 2026
How the EU is building a dystopian, surveillance-driven, deportation machine
a web of connected eyes on a purple and blue background
Surveillance
Surveillance

From Sandvine to AppLogic Networks: a rebrand doesn’t mean reform

12 Feb 2026

Access Now, alongside several human rights organizations and independent news platforms, are calling on AppLogic Networks (previously Sandvine) to substantiate its announced corporate reforms following its removal from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Entity List.

Press Release
From Sandvine to AppLogic Networks: a rebrand doesn’t mean reform
12 Feb 2026
From Sandvine to AppLogic Networks: a rebrand doesn’t mean reform
Surveillance
Surveillance

Spyware maker is hijacking diplomatic efforts to limit commercial hacking, civil society warns

2 Feb 2026
News
Spyware maker is hijacking diplomatic efforts to limit commercial hacking, civil society warns
The Record ↗
2 Feb 2026
Spyware maker is hijacking diplomatic efforts to limit commercial hacking, civil society warns
Paragon spyware
Surveillance
Surveillance

WhatsApp releases account feature that looks to combat spyware

28 Jan 2026
News
WhatsApp releases account feature that looks to combat spyware
Cyberscoop ↗
28 Jan 2026
WhatsApp releases account feature that looks to combat spyware
EU Human Rights Agenda
Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence

One year on, the new European Commission is abandoning human rights

2 Dec 2025

A year into its new mandate and the European Commission is reversing course when it comes to safeguarding human rights in the EU.

Post
One year on, the new European Commission is abandoning human rights
2 Dec 2025
One year on, the new European Commission is abandoning human rights