Forensic insights from
the world's most experienced
privacy advocate.
By Simon Davies (with additional research by James Cohen) Six months have passed since US police in Ferguson MO murdered an unarmed teenager in the act of surrender and then subsequently slaughtered a mentally ill man. The events sparked widespread disquiet in America about the militarization of law enforcement agencies. In the six months since those killings, …
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By Simon Davies We should all be on alert whenever government tries to embed a transitive verb into popular language; it usually signals an impending campaign of fear and hatred. The transitive verb of the moment is “radicalized”. The word has, in a very short time, become part of the global political and media vocabulary …
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By Simon Davies Throughout the early to mid 2000’s, the then UK Labour government tried to impose a compulsory national ID card on the whole population. No-one had the slightest clue why it was being introduced, least of all the government. The justification swung wildly to the tune of the latest media frenzy, be it …
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By Simon Davies Last week, a British court ruled that UK spy agencies had acted unlawfully by partnering with the NSA in conducting mass surveillance through the use of covert interception programmes such as PRISM. Make no mistake. Despite the bravado-ridden response of the British government to this ruling, the national security ground has shifted …
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By Simon Davies Google’s claim that it fought the gagging provisions of a federal handover request for detailed information on three Wikileaks staff is not only wholly disingenuous, it’s also deceptive. Since the issuing of that demand in early 2012, it took almost three years before Google finally admitted to WikiLeaks that it handed over …
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BERLIN The whistleblower community turned out in force last night in Berlin for the launch of the long-awaited Code Red security accountability project. The Code Red initiative was created by veteran privacy activist Simon Davies in response to mounting concerns that government surveillance and intrusion has escalated – despite the Snowden national security disclosures …
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By Simon Davies Anyone concerned about the future of privacy protection should take careful note of the fallout from the Charlie Hebdo shootings in France. The rapid chain of events in the days since then has triggered a domino effect of intrusive proposals and inflammatory rhetoric that could imperil the right to privacy for decades …
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Ever wondered what horrors of hell are in store for the privacy invaders? Simon Davies and Edward Allnutt take inspiration from Dante’s Inferno to give you the inside scoop. PROLOGUE There was no earthly reason why I had suddenly appeared in the bleak centre of this strange and soulless city – or how I had come …
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By Simon Davies One of Europe’s most important information rights and competition stories of the past five years has almost invisibly unfolded this week in Spain. It’s a tale dominated by corporate bullying, retribution and hypocrisy – and its impact is likely to resonate across the world. The thirty-second background is that Google has just …
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By Simon Davies The Privacy Surgeon has published an important new resource for citizen activism that argues for more strategic and aggressive direct action by rights campaigners. Ideas for Change is an independent project that sets out a hundred principles for effective activism. The work is a ‘tool kit’ of strategic principles and campaign tactics …
Read More...The PrivacySurgeon is owned and operated by Simon Davies - Initial design by Scarab Designs Ltd - Implementation, coding and maintenance by Jim & Pete.
