The UK’s GPS Tagging of Migrants Has Been Ruled Illegal

The best way the UK authorities has been tagging migrants with GPS trackers is against the law, the nation’s privateness regulator dominated on Friday, in a rebuke to officers who’ve been experimenting with migrant-surveillance tech in each the UK and the US.

As a part of an 18-month pilot that concluded in December, the UK inside ministry, referred to as the Residence Workplace, pressured as much as 600 individuals who arrived within the nation with out permission to put on ankle tags that constantly tracked their places. Nevertheless, that pilot broke UK information safety legislation as a result of it didn’t correctly assess the privateness intrusion of GPS monitoring or give migrants clear details about the information that was being collected, the UK’s Data Commissioner’s Workplace (ICO) mentioned right this moment. The ruling means the Residence Workplace has 28 days to replace its insurance policies round GPS monitoring.

Friday’s resolution additionally means the ICO may fantastic the Residence Workplace as much as £17.5 million ($22 million) or 4 p.c of its turnover—whichever is larger—if it resumes tagging individuals who arrive on the UK south coast in small boats from Europe. In 2023, over 29,000 individuals arrived utilizing this usually perilous route. Earlier this week, French rescue companies mentioned one individual had died and two had been lacking after making an attempt to cross the English Channel, the stretch of water that separates England and France.

Critics of the GPS tags welcomed the choice. “Blanket 24/7 GPS surveillance of asylum seekers arriving within the UK runs diametrically against information safety and privateness rights,” says Jonah Mendelsohn, a lawyer at Privateness Worldwide, a digital rights group that has campaigned in opposition to the tag. “The UK authorities’s gung-ho, Wild West method in deploying deeply intrusive know-how has by right this moment’s resolution collided with a rules-based system that all of us have recourse to, no matter our immigration standing.” The Residence Workplace didn’t reply to WIRED’s request for remark.

“Gaining access to an individual’s 24/7 actions is extremely intrusive, as it’s prone to reveal a number of details about them, together with the potential to deduce delicate info reminiscent of their faith, sexuality, or well being standing,” mentioned John Edwards, the UK info commissioner, in a press release. “Lack of readability on how this info can be used may also inadvertently inhibit individuals’s actions and freedom to participate in day-to-day actions.”

The ICO didn’t rule that the Residence Workplace needed to delete migrants’ GPS information already saved in its techniques. The regulator additionally left open the likelihood that there could also be a authorized method to monitor migrants electronically, however not with out information protections in place.

In UK courts, a minimum of two circumstances revolving round GPS tags are awaiting judgment. In a single, a 25-year-old former asylum seeker from Sudan, who was tagged by the Residence Workplace as a part of the pilot scheme after arriving within the UK by way of a small boat in Could 2022, is difficult the regime for its disproportionate interference along with his proper to household and personal life. Carrying the tag introduced up painful recollections of being certain and tortured throughout his journey to the UK, in response to his attorneys at London agency Duncan Lewis, including that his tag has since been eliminated.

One other case revolves round automotive mechanic Mark Nelson, who informed WIRED that his expertise carrying a GPS tag had been dehumanizing. “Our agency represents quite a few people like Mark who’re being electronically monitored,” says Katie Schwarzmann, a human rights lawyer at Wilsons Solicitors, who’s representing Nelson. “In nearly all circumstances the Residence Workplace has failed to offer proof they’ve thought-about less-intrusive strategies or clarify why this draconian regime is critical for immigration management.”

The UK will not be the one nation that’s utilizing GPS monitoring units as an alternative choice to immigration detention facilities. Final 12 months, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement company additionally introduced it might begin monitoring migrants utilizing GPS ankle tags and specifically designed smartwatches.