SOCIAL MEDIA, BIOMETRICS, DATA, AND MORE IN THE NEWS
US-built databases a potential tool of Taliban repression, AP, 7 September 2021
Over two decades, the United States and its allies spent hundreds of millions of dollars building databases for the Afghan people. The nobly stated goal: Promote law and order and government accountability and modernize a war-ravaged land. But in the Taliban’s lightning seizure of power, most of that digital apparatus — including biometrics for verifying identities — apparently fell into Taliban hands. Built with few data-protection safeguards, it risks becoming the high-tech jackboots of a surveillance state. As the Taliban get their governing feet, there are worries it will be used for social control and to punish perceived foes.
Exclusive: Google locks Afghan government accounts as Taliban seek emails -source, Reuters, 4 September 2021
Google has temporarily locked down an unspecified number of Afghan government email accounts, according to a person familiar with the matter, as fears grow over the digital paper trail left by former officials and their international partners. Publicly available mail exchanger records show that some two dozen Afghan government bodies used Google's servers to handle official emails, including the ministries of finance, industry, higher education, and mines. Afghanistan's office of presidential protocol also used Google, according to the records, as did some local government bodies.
Twitter, Facebook May Let Taliban Control Afghan Government Social Media Accounts, Forbes, 17 August 2021
The social media companies say they won’t rule out allowing the Taliban to run those channels, which number more than two dozen across the two sites. Doing so would almost certainly hand the insurgents a useful platform on which to spread propaganda and misinformation, and no matter the decision, it is likely to reopen long-simmering debates about what should be on the internet and who should determine what belongs there.
How Twitter, Facebook are handling the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan on social media, ABC News, 18 August 2021
"The companies have a legal right to curate their sites, but we urge that when they make those decisions, they do so within the human rights framing that is respectful for the for the broader free speech principles that are at play," Electronic Frontier Foundation Civil Liberties Director David Greene said. "Here is something where the government could help out an awful lot by simply having a consistent designation for organizations like the Taliban that these groups can point to so that they aren't crucified after the fact for trying to make their own determinations," Enderle Group Principal Analyst Rob Enderle said.
Taliban Ramp Up on Social Media, Defying Bans by the Platforms, NYTimes, 18 August 2021
Dozens of pro-Taliban accounts that had sprung up on Twitter in recent days then shared the five videos. Within 24 hours, they had together racked up more than half a million views. The videos were part of an effort by the Taliban to establish their authority and legitimize their rule across Afghanistan through the use of social media, researchers said. But by publishing on Facebook and YouTube, the Taliban defied longtime bans by the platforms. The social media companies, following government guidelines, have largely designated the Taliban as a terrorist organization and don’t allow Taliban content on their sites.
#WhyID: international actors in Afghanistan must clean up, restrict dangerous biometric trail, Access Now, 25 August 2021
As the Taliban takes control of Afghanistan, seized biometric data is placing millions at risk. People are scrambling to understand the full scope of the mess left behind by international actors who implemented biometric digital identity systems without sufficient safeguards over the last two decades. Through an open statement, Access Now and 52 other civil society organizations and individuals are calling on the U.S. government, the World Bank, U.N. agencies, and all key actors — including private sector vendors whose tools have been deployed — to take immediate action to restrict and secure biometric and other digital identity databases in Afghanistan, to limit further access by unintended parties, and to provide full transparency into where people’s data may have been exposed.
A U.S.-built biometric system sparks concerns for Afghans, NBC News, 31 August 2021
If the Taliban do access the U.S.-created datasets as they assume power over Afghanistan and are able to sync them with biometric collection devices, human rights advocates say the data could be curated to create targeted lists of people who worked with coalition forces or international human rights groups in any capacity. Last week, 36 civil society organizations signed a joint letter calling on governments, aid organizations and private contractors that created databases in Afghanistan to take immediate action to shut them down and erase them.
Afghans are forced to choose between staying safe and staying online, Rest of World, 20 August 2021
As the Taliban seized control of major cities, people grew concerned that the group could use social media profiles and other information on the internet to identify citizens who previously worked for the Afghan security forces, civilian government, or foreign organizations. Many Afghans scrambled to delete their accounts or adjust their privacy settings, sometimes forced to choose between staying safe and maintaining important connections to contacts abroad. In response, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter all said they had taken steps to help people in the country secure their data.
Human Rights Groups Call on Social Media Platforms to Preserve Evidence of Potential Human Rights Abuses in Afghanistan, Amnesty, 30 August 2021
Given the rapidly evolving situation in Afghanistan, including the significant risk of serious human rights abuses, it is critical that online platforms that allow for hosting and sharing of content, including social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, preserve evidence of any past or ongoing human rights abuses or violations of international criminal and humanitarian law by all actors in the conflict. These platforms understandably restrict content that unlawfully incites or promotes violence. But it is essential that they preserve and archive removed material with potential evidentiary value and make it accessible for competent investigators and researchers and victims to help hold perpetrators on all sides to account for serious crimes. A failure to do so could effectively conceal evidence of human rights abuses.
Fears loom over Afghanistan’s internet, Politico, 25 August 2021
The Taliban have long abandoned their initial objections to the internet as a whole. The Islamist group has adopted a tech-savvy social media strategy that it heavily relied on as the U.S. began withdrawing from the country. But former officials fear the Taliban won't allow others to use the internet same way they have been doing. "The internet is under threat in Afghanistan," said Mohammad Najeeb Azizi, a former chairman of the Afghanistan Telecom Regulatory Authority (ATRA). The Taliban is "eager to use the internet in their own favor. But at the same time it will be the preference for them not to allow [political opponents] to disseminate information in the future."
One way of working out if the data you’re gathering is particularly sensitive is to do a thought experiment: what would happen if this data got into the hands of a malicious actor? Who would be keen to get their hands on it? What are the worst things that they could do with this data? Sometimes, though, it can be hard to put yourself in the shoes of your enemies, or to envision potential future actions. As a result, practicing data minimisation is a keystone of a rights-based, responsible data approach. And sadly, it’s the opposite of the approach we’re seeing governments around the world take.
