New report on data, privacy and the use of new technologies in the migrant and refugee sector
An interesting short new report published by Open Rights Group last week examines the needs and capacities of migrants' rights organisations with regards to issues around data, privacy and the use of new technologies.
You can read the 18-page report here.
The report explains: "Open Rights Group with the support of Unbound Philanthropy and the Paul Hamlyn Foundation is engaging in an effort to support organisations in the migrant and refugee sector to become better equipped in dealing with data and privacy issues, to better understand new technologies and their impact on immigration policy and to become better able to support their clients. This report is an attempt to summarise the existing capacities, and identified needs and to lay out suggestions on next steps."
For the report, Open Rights Group surveyed organisations in the migrant and refugee sector and asked them a range of questions, including on intrusive data processing, knowledge and use of data, privacy and technology and the relationship between these and the rights of migrants and refugees.
Open Rights Group found that two thirds of responding organisations have not received any training on data protection in terms of either their policy and advocacy, in relation to their clients' privacy and data protection rights or on how to make use of data rights.
"Of those who did receive training it was mostly on GDPR. Providers of legal advice were among those who had received training on a regular basis. Of the six organisations working outside of London only one had received half a day's training, organised by the council," the report stated.
The report continued: "It emerges that despite the existing broad understanding of the connection between immigration, data and new technologies, there exists the need to continue working on increasing awareness, as data sharing and other technologies continue to be developed and deployed by the Home Office. There is also space for providing support to help organisations better understand how this work relates to their existing mandates and how it may relate to work they are already doing. For service providers, there also seems to be a gap in the experience of clients. This may be due to the fact that data privacy is not among the main concerns but also could be due to an inability of service providers to spot data and privacy issues due to their lack of training."
Open Rights Group also found that over half of survey respondents said they were concerned about disproportionate data collection, the use of data for other purposes than it was originally given for, disproportionate data sharing, and clients not having access to their data.
Technology concerns included the use of video-conferencing for asylum interviews and location tracking of the pre-paid ASPEN cards that provide asylum-seekers with financial support.
Respondents also raised growing concerns about the involvement of third parties and private actors in non-enforcement aspects of immigration, including apps offering right to work checks and companies involved with visa processing.
As a result of its research, Open Rights Group found: "There is a clear need to support small service providers and community support organisations with little or no additional burden on staff and time. This will include working with existing groups of organisations and with coordinators of such groups and networks; reflecting on the work they already do and the support they provide but do not necessarily see in terms of digital and data rights; providing accessible and tailored training corresponding to the specific needs of service providers; easy sign-posting and references. Also accessibly address privacy concerns arising from remote working and the implications for storing and accessing client data, as well the risks associated with different online platforms."
The report concludes: "The importance of digital privacy and technology in the future of immigration policy cannot be underestimated, as well as the importance of increasing the capacity of organisations to engage with it. An emerging ecosystem of digital and migrant and refugee supporting organisations is working to better understand how new technologies and data are being used in immigration policy, to develop strategies for resisting these changes, and to better support individuals."
Open Rights Group said on Twitter that it was looking forward to supporting the migrant rights sector in tackling data and digital rights issues.