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.
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 mass surveillance and discriminatory targeted surveillance.
Resources
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.
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.
As the WEF meets, pressure is on world’s powerbrokers to shut down spyware industry
Brett Solomon, Daily Maverick
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.
Digital Security
Unsafe anywhere: attacked by Pegasus, women activists speak out
Front Line Defenders and Access Now’s new report, “Unsafe anywhere: women human rights defenders speak out about Pegasus attacks,” unpacks the first-hand experiences of women navigating an increasingly hostile and dangerous environment.
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
U.S. cracks down on commercial spyware with visa restrictions
Between privacy and border control: tech in the Migration Pact
New EU migrant pact ushering in ‘deadly new era of digital surveillance,’ privacy experts warn
U.S. Senate must stop the biggest expansion of surveillance power in 20 years
Joint statement – The EU Migration Pact: a dangerous regime of migrant surveillance
The EU New Pact on Migration and Asylum ushers in a deadly new era of digital surveillance, expanding the digital infrastructure for an EU border regime based on the criminalisation and punishment of migrants and racialised people.
Falsos positivos, verdaderas consecuencias
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.
“Smart borders” and the making of a humanitarian crisis
Joint statement – A dangerous precedent: how the EU AI Act fails migrants and people on the move
The EU AI Act falls short in the vital area of migration, failing to prevent harm and provide protection for people on the move.
Bigger, bolder: U.S. slaps sanctions on spyware company and executives
Spyware found on phones in Jordan
Dictators Used Sandvine Tech to Censor the Internet. The US Finally Did Something About It
More accountability: U.S. blocklists Sandvine for enabling digital repression in Egypt
Access Now applauds the U.S. government for blocklisting Sandvine for supplying the Egyptian government with technology that facilitated the targeting of human rights activists and politicians.
How is Israel’s arms industry profiting from the war on Gaza?
US rolls out visa restriction policy on people who abuse spyware to target journalists, activists