UK Government’s Illegal Use of GPS Tracking Devices on Migrants Sparks Privacy Concerns

Ankle tags that track a person’s whereabouts continuously are invasive, according to the UK’s privacy authority, which claims the government ignored this fact.

TFD – Dive into the controversy surrounding the UK government’s illegal use of GPS tracking devices on migrants. Discover how this invasive practice raises serious privacy concerns and sparks debates about human rights and immigration policies. Stay updated with CNN for more on this developing story.

The way the UK government has been tagging migrants with GPS trackers is illegal, the country’s privacy regulator ruled on Friday, in a rebuke to officials who have been experimenting with migrant-surveillance tech in both the UK and the US.

The UK interior ministry, known as the Home Office, made up to 600 individuals who entered the country without authorization wear ankle tags that recorded their whereabouts continuously as part of an 18-month experimental program that ended in December. The UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) ruled today that the pilot program violated data protection laws in the country because it failed to adequately evaluate the privacy invasion caused by GPS tracking and failed to provide migrants with clear information about the data being gathered. The Home Office now has 28 days to revise its GPS tracking regulations in light of the verdict.

Critics of the GPS tags welcomed the decision. “Blanket 24/7 GPS surveillance of asylum seekers arriving in the UK runs diametrically opposed to data protection and privacy rights,” says Jonah Mendelsohn, a lawyer at Privacy International, a digital rights group that has campaigned against the tag. “The UK government’s gung-ho, Wild West approach in deploying deeply intrusive technology has through today’s decision collided with a rules-based system that we all have recourse to, regardless of our immigration status.” The Home Office did not respond to WIRED’s request for comment.

The UK information commissioner, John Edwards, stated in a statement that “having access to a person’s 24/7 movements is highly intrusive, as it is likely to reveal a lot of information about them, including the potential to infer sensitive information such as their religion, sexuality, or health status.” Uncertainty over the intended use of this information may potentially unintentionally restrict people’s freedom of movement and participation in daily activities.

The Home Office was not ordered by the ICO to remove GPS data that had already been saved on migrants’ records from its systems. The regulator would not rule out the prospect of a legitimate means of electronically monitoring migrants, provided that data protections were in place.

In UK courts, at least two cases revolving around GPS tags are awaiting judgment. In one, a 25-year-old Sudanese ex-assimil seeker who entered the UK in May 2022 in a small boat and was identified by the Home Office as a participant in the trial program is suing the government for undue interference with his right to a family and a private life. Wearing the tag brought up painful memories of being bound and tortured during his journey to the UK, according to his lawyers at London firm Duncan Lewis, adding that his tag has since been removed.

Mark Nelson, an auto technician, is the subject of another case. He told WIRED that having a GPS tracker had dehumanized him. “Our firm represents many people who are being electronically monitored, including Mark,” said Wilsons Solicitors’ Katie Schwarzmann, a human rights attorney who is defending Nelson. “In virtually all cases the Home Office has failed to provide evidence they have considered less-intrusive methods or explain why this draconian regime is necessary for immigration control.”

GPS tracking devices are being used by several nations in place of immigration detention facilities, not just the UK. Additionally, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency declared last year that it would begin tracking migrants with specially made smartwatches and GPS ankle tags.