Privacy International is an advocacy organization based in London, England, focused on advancing privacy rights. Founded in 1990, the organization identifies its goals as raising awareness of threats to privacy, reporting on surveillance measures in society, and promoting legal and technological measures intended to protect personal information.

Privacy International has launched pressure campaigns against technology industry data collection and government tracking, especially in cases where public safety or national security have been used as a justification for expanded surveillance. The organization also opposes efforts to use technology for border security and immigration-law enforcement. ¹

Initiatives

Privacy International opposes what it calls the exploitation of personal data by both governments and business institutions. The organization claims to support the right of dissent against any government, “no matter the type.” It also argues that data and technology must “serve individuals and communities, rather than state and corporate power.” ²

Government Surveillance

In the 1990s, a top concern for communications privacy advocates was the extension of laws enabling the monitoring of phone lines to include web traffic. According to the organization, this trend accelerated with the start of the Global War on Terror. Privacy International suggests that many of these surveillance practices were initially outside the law, but following leaked revelations from former American intelligence contractor Edward Snowden in 2013, “governments rushed to legislate their previously secret powers.” The organization has campaigned against internet monitoring in the United States, Great Britain, and elsewhere, and it claims to have “successfully pushed back” against numerous British government efforts to expand “already permissive” surveillance laws. ³

Corporate Tracking

Privacy International describes the data collection practices of many top technology firms, including Google, Amazon, and Facebook, as exploitation. The organization argues that these businesses use the promise of easy and cheap services to “collect, use, and share huge amounts of data” without their customers’ “explicit consent and knowledge.” ⁴

Privacy International condemns the practice of compiling what it calls “secret profiles” of users to feed them information which can more effectively influence them. The organization claims to have pushed dozens of companies to make their data collection policies less invasive and more transparent and spurred government officials in Ireland, France, Britain, and elsewhere to investigate offending corporations. ⁵

Facilitating Migration

Privacy International opposes governments’ use of technology to track foreigners within their borders, including asylum claimants and other migrants with a questionable or undetermined justification for entering. The organization has claimed that such security measures, especially in the United Kingdom, are “racialized” and “hostile.” Privacy International has demanded that technology firms refuse to contract with government immigration enforcement and border security agencies. ⁶

Leadership

Gus Hosein is the executive director of Privacy International. He is a career left-of-center data privacy activist and has been involved with efforts to restrict the use of technology for border security and immigration control, as well as with various United Nations initiatives. He was also an advisor to the British government’s COVID-19 contact tracing app development committee. In addition, he has conducted research for the left-wing American Civil Liberties Union and sat on the advisory board of a technology-related project backed by billionaire liberal donor Pierre Omidyar. ⁷

Alexandrine Pirlot de Corbion is the director of strategy at Privacy International. Like executive director Gus Hosein, she was previously involved with activism for the normalization of open borders and unrestricted immigration. ^{8 9}

Tomaso Falchetta is the global advocacy coordinator at Privacy International. Like executive director Gus Hosein, he was involved with the United Nations in his previous roles at organizations such as Amnesty International. ^{10 11}

Financials

In 2022, Privacy International received more than £2.2 million (approximately $2.7 million), almost entirely through various charitable contributions, and spent more than £1.9 million (approximately $2.3 million). The organization’s resources that year totaled to just over £2.9 million (approximately $3.6 million). ¹²

1. “History.” Privacy International. Accessed August 21, 2023. https://privacyinternational.org/about/history
2. “Strategy.” Privacy International. Accessed August 21, 2023. https://privacyinternational.org/strategic-areas
3. “Fighting Internet Surveillance Laws.” Privacy International. May 2, 2018. Accessed August 21, 2023. https://privacyinternational.org/impact/fighting-internet-surveillance-laws
4. “Striking Silicon Valley at Formative Moments.” Privacy International. May 2, 2018. Accessed August 21, 2023. https://privacyinternational.org/impact/striking-silicon-valley-formative-moments
5. “Striking Silicon Valley at Formative Moments.” Privacy International. May 2, 2018. Accessed August 21, 2023. https://privacyinternational.org/impact/striking-silicon-valley-formative-moments
6. ^[1]“Capital Surveillance.” Privacy International. Accessed August 21, 2023. https://privacyinternational.org/campaigns/capital-surveillance
7. “Gus Hosein.” Privacy International. Accessed August 21, 2023. https://privacyinternational.org/people/95/gus-hosein
8. “Alexandrine Pirlot de Corbion.” Privacy International. Accessed August 21, 2023. https://privacyinternational.org/people/903/alexandrine-pirlot-de-corbion
9. “Gus Hosein.” Privacy International. Accessed August 21, 2023. https://privacyinternational.org/people/95/gus-hosein
10. “Tomaso Falchetta.” Privacy International. Accessed August 21, 2023. https://privacyinternational.org/people/912/tomaso-falchetta
11. “Gus Hosein.” Privacy International. Accessed August 21, 2023. https://privacyinternational.org/people/95/gus-hosein
12. “Report and financial statements for the year ended 31 January 2022.” Privacy International. Accessed August 21, 2023. https://privacyinternational.org/sites/default/files/2022-10/PI%20Annual%20report%20and%20financial%20statements%202022.pdf