Technology and human rights | Page 2 | Amnesty International UK

Edward Snowden speaks to an audience at our office this week

Snowden on surveillance, two years on

"I have one regret: I should have come forward sooner." Two years since he blew the whistle on the NSA, Snowden blogs on how governments and activists responded to that information, and why we still need to care about mass surveillance.

Edward Snowden at our May 2015 event

Watch Edward Snowden Q&A on surveillance

We spoke to Edward Snowden via video link to Russia. Watch his answers to questions on recent developments in the UK to legalise mass surveillance, and new US laws restricting surveillance. Snowden reveals how he remains positive since 'burning everything down' to blow the whistle on mass human rights abuses.

Copyright REUTERS

Mass surveillance

Your government knows a lot about you. It's likely that they are storing your private emails, calls, internet searches, locations, and more. The UK is one of the main culprits.
We have a right to privacy and free speech, which mass surveillance violates. In the wrong hands, our sensitive information can be used against us, and endanger our lives.

Evidence of global opposition to US mass surveillance

Our research shows that around the world, the public don’t want to be spied on by the United States. Yet every day, US government agencies access and store data from our phones, computers and other hardware that lets them know the most intimate details of our lives – no matter who we are. It has to stop.

A protester against NSA spying practices © JASON REED/Reuters/Corbis

Five reasons to care about mass surveillance

What do we mean when we talk about mass surveillance? And why should you care about it? Our Security and Human Rights Advisor blogs on her top five reasons to clue up about mass surveillance, and its threat to your human rights.

UK government’s mass spying ruled unlawful

We have won a historic victory against the UK government’s spy agencies, GCHQ, Mi5 and Mi6 over their indiscriminate surveillance practices.

The landmark verdict proves that mass surveillance sharing on such an industrial scale was unlawful, and a violation of our rights to privacy and to free expression.

Edward Snowden © RADiUS-TWC

Meet 'citizen four' and learn why we should fear mass surveillance

In 2013, documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras and journalist Glenn Greenwald flew to Hong Kong for the first of many meetings with 'citizen four'.

Their mysterious contact turned out to be Edward Snowden, and their meeting created one of the biggest news stories of the century.

An Egyptian youth activist updates her Facebook page C. 2011 Getty Images

The great social media crackdown

'If you want to liberate a country, give them the internet'. Social media has contributed to the success and spread of movements for political and social change since its inception. So it's no surprise that many governments are cracking down on its use.
We look at free speech on the 'interwebs' and how to get around the great firewall of China.

Why we're taking the UK government to court over mass spying

We believe our emails and phone calls with activists around the world have been unlawfully accessed by intelligence services in the UK and USA. Find out how industrial-scale spying by our own governments could be putting human rights activists around the world at risk.

Don't spy on us

'No matter who you are, where you are, and regardless of the device you're reading this on, chances are, you are in some capacity being watched.'

Our Head of Advocacy blogs on the problem with the UK government's attitude to mass surveillance, and how that's led us to join the Don't Spy On Us campaign.

You have no unread messages: Why Amnesty is taking action over surveillance concerns

Our Head of Advocacy explains why, in the wake of the now infamous Snowden revelations, we are taking the UK government to court for its mass surveillance practices. We have to go through some bureaucratic channels, but it is possible to challenge the intelligence services. And we must take a stand when our government denies our human rights.

David Miranda and Glenn Greenwald in Brasilia, 2013 C. EVARISTO SA/AFP/Getty

The David Miranda and Guardian rows: What to read

David Miranda, the partner of journalist Glenn Greenwald, was detained by police following Greenwald's reporting on Edward Snowden's mass surveillance revelations. Meanwhile Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger was ordered to destroy Snowden's files, in a blow to free speech. We've brought together some blogs and reports to give you the low-down on the issue.

Panic Button workshop in Nairobi

How to turn a mobile phone into an alert system for activists

We've been working in partnership with software developers and human rights defenders to make a tool that can alert others when activists are in danger, and help locate them if they are at risk of 'disappearing'.

Meet Panic Button, a revolutionary mobile app that could reduce risk and potentially save lives for human rights activists.

Receive urgent actions to Your phone

Text PROTEST + your full name to 70505