Resources
Check a selection of reports on communications privacy laws and related surveillance practices.
¿Quién defiende tus datos? Reports
(English / Español) The webpage gathers ¿Quién defiende tus datos? reports in 8 Latin American countries and Spain. Based on EFF’s “Who Has Your Back?” project, ¿Quién defiende tus datos? reports aim to hold companies accountable to their users by comparing their privacy practices, especially when it comes to government data demands. Starting in 2015, it has covered nine different countries with periodic reports led by local partners: Fundación Karisma (Colombia), R3D (México), Hiperderecho (Peru), Internet Lab (Brazil), Derechos Digitales (Chile), TEDIC (Paraguay), ADC (Argentina), Eticas Foundation (Spain), and IPANDETEC (Panama).
Privacy is Security
(Español) This series of articles by Hiperderecho addresses the intersection between privacy and security by analyzing legal reforms in Peru that have weakened the former supposedly to ensure the latter. A set of these articles focus on communications privacy law and law enforcement access to communications data.
Transparency and Surveillance in Mexico: What We Don’t Know About What the Government Knows About Us
(Español) This study by R3D analyzes whether and how Mexican government authorities comply with the country’s General Law of Transparency and Access to Public Information.
When the State Hacks: The Huracán Operation Case
(Español) This report analyzes the legality of hacking techniques by the Chilean Police in light of the controversial Huracán Operation and provides recommendations informed by international human rights standards.
Fundamental Rights and Criminal Procedure in the Digital Age: Doctrine and Practice in Debate
(Português) This book presents the annals of the 2018 International Congress Fundamental Rights and Criminal Procedure in the Digital Age: Doctrine and Practice in Debate, organized by InternetLab.
Fundamental Rights and Criminal Procedure in the Digital Age: Doctrine and Practice in Debate. Vol II.
(Português) This book presents the annals of the 2019 International Congress Fundamental Rights and Criminal Procedure in the Digital Age: Doctrine and Practice in Debate, organized by InternetLab.
Followers We Don’t See - A First Approach to the State Use of Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) and Social Media Intelligence (SOCMINT)
(Español) This report by ADC analyzes the growing use of information investigation techniques on open data sources and social networks by various government agencies in Argentina, focusing on criminal prosecution. It assesses the impact of these techniques on fundamental rights and offers preliminary recommendations for the improvement of public policies.
Who Does Not Defend Your Data?
(Español) This study by R3D evaluates Mexican telecom companies’ commitments to the disclosure of statistical information on government access to user data, and assesses the fulfilment of transparency obligations that were later withdrawn by the country’s Federal Institute of Telecommunications.
Technology and Surveillance in the Huracán Operation: a Review of the Journalistic Coverage of the Case
(Español) This Derechos Digitales study analyzes the journalistic information published about the controversial Huracán Operation as an example of how surveillance works in Chile.
The Construction of Legal Standards for Surveillance in Latin America, Part I
(Español) This report by Derechos Digitales aims to provide a comparative analysis of surveillance legal frameworks in Latin American countries vis a vis international human rights standards. The research covers Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Guatemala, and Mexico, addressing five main issues: (1) intelligence services; (2) interception of communications; (3) mandatory data retention; (4) remote surveillance; and (5) biometrics.
The Construction of Legal Standards for Surveillance in Latin America, Part II
(Español) This report by Derechos Digitales aims to provide a comparative analysis of surveillance legal frameworks vis a vis international human rights standards. The second part of the research focuses on a set of exemplary norms from countries outside Latin America. It covers Germany, Australia, United States, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, addressing five main issues: (1) intelligence services; (2) interception of communications; (3) mandatory data retention; (4) remote surveillance; and (5) biometrics.
Proposal of Legal Standards for Surveillance in Chile
(Español) Third part of the series The construction of legal standards for surveillance in Latin America, with recommendations that seek to guide state action in a set of critical points where Chilean legal framework does not meet the standards derived from fundamental principles of democracy, dignity, and freedom, and the development of international human rights law.
Compatibility of General Metadata Retention and the Respect for Fundamental rights: the Decreto Espía case
(Español) The revelation of different state surveillance programs worldwide has shed light on metadata retention policies and regulations. This report builds on the discussions around the so-called Decreto Espía (“Spy Decree”) in Chile, proposed in 2017 and later declared unlawful, to assess the retention of metadata vis a vis the fundamental right to privacy and the inviolability of communications.
Digital Evidence, Cybercrime Investigation, and Criminal Procedure Safeguards
(Español) This report by ADC provides a summary of the debates during the _Digital Evidence, Cybercrime Investigation, and Criminal Procedure Safeguards _workshop in Argentina, which gathered forensic experts, members of the judiciary, and criminal lawyers. It addresses the challenges posed by the eruption of computer technology in the criminal process, and the difficult balance between efficiency in the investigation of crimes and the need for procedural safeguards in the digital world.
Communications Surveillance in Brazil
(Português) This InternetLab’s study maps and analyzes legislative changes as well as doctrinal and jurisprudential advances related to state surveillance activities in Brazil. Among other issues, the report covers the access to cell phone data in flagrante delicto cases, police infiltration, and conflicts over cross-border access to data.
Gobierno Espía: Systematic Surveillance of Journalists and Human Rights Defenders in Mexico
(Español) This report by R3D, Article 19 Mexico and Central America, and SocialTIC unveils and analyzes a series of attacks against journalists and activists in Mexico between January 2015 and July 2016, that used the Pegasus malware provided by the Israeli company NSO Group.
The Right to Privacy in Colombia
(English) This report is a submission by Dejusticia, Fundación Karisma, and Privacy International for the Universal Periodic Review, 30th Session about the right to privacy in Colombia.
Data Retention and Registration of Mobile Phones: Chile in the Latin American Context
This report by Derechos Digitales provides a comparative perspective on data retention and registration of mobile phones legislation in Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Argentina, and Chile.
Observatory of Transparency Reports - 2017 Report
(Español) This report by R3D sets best practice recommendations for transparency reports and evaluates telecom and Internet companies accordingly.
Is Data Retention Legitimate in Colombia?
“Is Data Retention Legitimate in Colombia?” is a document drafted by Karisma Foundation that analyzes Colombian regulations on data retention and compares them with those in Peru, Mexico, and Brazil from the point of view of its compliance with international human rights standards.
Hacking Team: malware for surveillance in Latin America
(Español) This study by Derechos Digitales provides a legal analysis of the rules governing the acquisition and use of malware, considering the Latin American countries that have bought Hacking Team’s spyware or have negotiated with the Italian company.
Why to repeal the Legislative Decree 1182?
(Español) This report by Hiperderecho analyzes Peru’s Legislative Decree 1182 before constitutional and human rights safeguards. This decree has controversially authorized law enforcement access to location data without requiring a previous judicial order.
Legislative Decree 1182, Geolocation, and Criminal Procedure
(Español) This report by Hiperderecho provides relevant background information on the approval of Peru’s Legislative Decree 1182 and presents a legal analysis regarding the country’s criminal procedural law and safeguards.
Personal data protection policies in telecommunications companies - Case studies from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico
(Español) This ADC study evaluates telecommunications companies’ practices and policies with regard to national data protection legal frameworks.