Archive
Summary analysis
Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies are being embedded into everyday life by powerful actors, primarily motivated by profit. Police, border and criminal justice agencies are also looking to take advantage of the new powers AI offers for “security” policies, at both national and EU level. The EU is creating new infrastructure, away from the public eye, to allow the swift development and deployment of “security AI.” This will also reinforce the existing discrimination, violence and harm caused by policing, border and criminal justice policies. Exposing and understanding this emerging security AI complex is the first step to challenging it. Read More
Contents
Summary analysis Acronyms and abbreviations 1 Introduction 2 Cop out: security exemptions in the Artificial Intelligence Act 2.1 “A historic achievement” 2.2 Summary: exceptions and loopholes 2.3 In detail: the AI Act’s security exemptions 2.3.1 Read More
Automating Authority: Artificial intelligence in European police and border regimes
Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies are being embedded into everyday life by powerful actors, primarily motivated by profit. Police, border and… Read More
UK: Ministry of Justice secretly developing ‘murder prediction’ system
The Ministry of Justice is developing a system that aims to ‘predict’ who will commit murder, as part of a “data science” project using sensitive personal data on hundreds of thousands of people. Read More
UK government wants to legalise automated police decision-making
A proposed law in the UK would allow police decisions to be made solely by computers, with no human input. The Data Use and Access Bill would remove a safeguard in data protection law that prohibits solely automated decision-making by law enforcement agencies. Over 30 civil liberties, human rights, and racial justice organisations and experts, including Statewatch, have written to the government to demand changes. Read More
UK creating ‘murder prediction’ tool to identify people most likely to kill
The Guardian, 8 April 2025. Read More
Swedish parliament urged to reject law that would “greatly undermine security and privacy”
The Swedish parliament is benig urged to reject a law that would "force companies to store and provide law enforcement with access to their users’ communications, including those that are end-to-end encrypted." The law, designed to strengthen police powers, would "create vulnerabilities that criminals and other malicious actors could readily exploit," says the letter. More 230 organisations and individuals from more than 50 countries have signed the letter, including Statewatch. Read More
Impunity for war criminals and the European migration strategy in Libya
New leaked documents show that the EU’s “border assistance mission” in Libya is slowly expanding its work and is entering a “consolidation phase”. The efforts to “stabilise” the North African country include increased cooperation with Frontex. Meanwhile, in January, a wanted war criminal was arrested in Italy, only to be released and flown back to Libya on a government jet. This act made Italy and the EU’s reliance on third-state actors to maintain their migration policy clear. Politicians in Europe consider their migration policies so essential that they are willing to undermine the so-called rules-based international order to maintain them. Read More
European support for Egypt: billions of euros for a dictatorial “partner” in migration control
A year ago, the EU and Egypt announced the launch of a “strategic and comprehensive partnership.” This comes with a €7.4 billion aid and investment package from the EU to Egypt. This article analyses this development in the context of regional changes, the ineffectiveness of “external solutions” to migration, and the impact of EU-Egyptian cooperation on human rights in Egypt. It argues that European support for Egypt underpins human rights abuses. Those abuses are then ignored or sidelined so that the EU can claim Egypt is a safe and reliable “partner” for managing migration. Read More
Serbia: Mass protests continue despite government repression
Almost 140 organisations from across Europe and beyond have expressed their solidarity with people in Serbia protesting against the government. An open letter condemns the Serbian government’s “effort to silence critical voices and suppress fundamental freedoms,” in response to nationwide protests sparked by the collapse of a train station. Statewatch has signed the letter. Read More