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"Facial recognition technology can track who you are, where you go, what you do, and who you know. It threatens human rights including the right to privacy, and puts some of the most vulnerable in society at risk." — Quinn McKew, Executive Director for ARTICLE 19 

As extensive surveillance is putting human rights at risk in Hyderabad, India, ARTICLE 19, Amnesty International and the Internet Freedom Foundation stepped up calls to ban intrusive facial recognition technology with its Ban the Scan campaign.

Hyderabad, one of the most surveilled cities in the world, has begun construction of an ominous “Command and Control Centre” (CCC), intended to connect the state's vast facial recognition-capable CCTV infrastructure in real time. 

This follows Indian authorities' record of undermining human rights through its use of facial recognition technology, including enforcing COVID-19 lockdown measures, identifying voters in municipal elections, and policing protests. The rights of Muslims, Dalits, Adivasis, Transgender communities, and historically disadvantaged sections of society are particularly at risk by mass surveillance. 

• As climate summit COP26 dominated headlines around the world, ARTICLE 19 renewed calls for greater transparency and stronger commitments for the protection of environmental and human rights defenders. We highlighted the very real risk environmental activists — and journalists and civil society that report on and share their work — face, including Vietnamese independent journalist Pham Doan Trang, who has been repeatedly targeted for reporting on sensitive topics like environmental rights and police violence.
  
  
  

• In Iran, politicians have taken steps to push through a controversial new Internet Bill supported by some of the country’s most influential religious leaders. In the latest of ARTICLE 19’s “Tightening the net” series, journalist, activist and Internet expert Sayeh Isfahani looks at the so-called "Protection" Bill and the worsening threats to Iranian people’s freedoms under the new president, Ebrahim Raisi.
  
  
  Plus: Online harassment against women journalists in the Iranian diaspora
  
  

• And, in Italy, politicians turn their back on a law that would have protected LGBTQ people and people with disabilities from incitement to violence, violence and discrimination.

• ARTICLE 19’s Barbora Bukowksa gave evidence to the UK parliament about the proposed Online Safety Bill , which fails to meet basic human rights standards when calling for restrictions on freedom of expression.
  
  

• YouTube’s recent take-down of media organisation Novara reignited alarm about big tech’s power to remove content without warning — and the impact this could have on civil society around the world. “What was so frustrating was that in a powerful English-language country like the UK, when there is an outcry YouTube pays attention and reverses its decision,” said Sarah Clarke, Head of Europe and Central Asia for ARTICLE 19. “We rarely see this in other non-Anglophone countries.”
  
  

• Michael Caster on Hong Kong and the protection of journalists 
  
  
• Maria Luisa Stasi on why Frances Haugen's Facebook revelations are important — and why she's missing the point

You can now help to protect freedom of expression by giving to ARTICLE 19!

Working in human rights is a challenging but rewarding career choice. With ARTICLE 19 you will find an international community of activists, legal specialists and experts working together to protect basic freedoms.

 Adding our voice to International Human Rights Day and the Summit for Democracy