A group of Burundi refugees in South Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo say that they are being denied access to humanitarian aid because they have not consented the DRC government’s biometric data registration program. The group, which has refused to be entered in the biometric database for religious reasons, say that they have had no assistance from UNHCR or other humanitarian organisations since January 1st (AFP via The Citizen)
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International say the Indian government’s Aadhar biometric identification program could violate rights to privacy and lead to millions of people being denied access to essential services and benefits. Transparency, accountability and the ability of the government to deactivate Aadhaar numbers “for any other case… as deemed appropriate” are also cited as concerns (Human Rights Watch).
See last week’s roundup for security expert Troy Hunt’s assessment of the Aadhar database.
Continuing today’s biometric theme, a controversial proposal for a biometric ID card has been dropped by the government in Tunisia. Access Now worked with partners to advocate for key amendments to the bill which, if passed, would help protect the rights and personal data of citizens. Subsequently, the Ministry of the Interior withdrew the bill (Access Now).
WeRobotics and Tanzania Flying Labs used UAVs to conduct post-flood assessments after the worst flooding in a century in Tanzania. The project collected aerial imagery to help analyse the extent and impact of flooding as well as identifying features preventing floodwaters from draining (WeRobotics).
The European Parliament has approved tighter export controls on cyber-surveillance technologies, which are classified as dual-use items which can be used for either civilian or military purposes. In recent years there have been a number of high profile cases of European companies selling cyber-surveillance tools to authoritarian regimes, including the Italian company Hacking Team and London-based Gamma Group (EURACTIV).
Speaking of spyware, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and mobile security company Lookout have discovered a new cyber-surveillance campaign targeting individuals in over 20 countries. The coordinated effort uses trojanised versions of Signal and WhatsApp and appears to be linked to Lebanese intelligence agencies (Electronic Frontier Foundation).
An audit of the World Food Programme’s system for managing beneficiary data has found multiple serious security flaws and an absence of proper safeguards. The internal audit found problems stemming both from the technical design and management of the SCOPE platform and from a lack of conceptual clarity and coordination around what data should be collected, why it should be collected and how it should be managed (IRIN).
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