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Digital rights groups in Brazil protested against Smart Sampa, a government program seeking to install 20,000 security cameras with facial recognition technology in São Paulo by 2024.

Using drones, the groups projected slogans like "No More Invasive Surveillance" and "Respect our Rights" on building walls.

In a public letter, activists for the campaign Tire Meu Rosto da Sua Mira (Get My Face Out Of Your Sight) warned that the program could violate the rights to privacy, personal data protection, freedom to reunion, and freedom of speech by tracking people wherever they go.

They also warned that facial recognition systems place Black people at risk of mass incarceration, as was the case in other Brazilian states that have been using the technology for years.

For example, a 2019 study by the Center for Studies on Public Security and Citizenship found that 90% of 151 people arrested that year using facial recognition systems were Black.

The municipality of São Paulo first released a notice for the supplying and maintenance of the Smart Sampa platform in August 2022, but a court suspended the process in November over concerns of racial discrimination.

The suspension was overturned in May, when a bid for $1.9 million was also selected from an unidentified company, according to Folha de São Paulo.

USA

Avi Asher-Schapiro, US tech correspondent

Surveillance videos taken from AI-powered cameras in Amazon delivery vans have begun to leak online, Motherboard reported this week.

The cameras are intended to detect when workers are driving unsafely, but Context reported in 2021 when they were first introduced that some drivers were concerned for their privacy.

Motherboard reported that the videos were likely being posted by managers of Amazon delivery service partners - the independent contractors who run Amazon’s delivery network - without drivers' consent.

Asia

Rina Chandran, Asia tech correspondent

The Indian government will introduce and pass a long-delayed data protection bill in the next session of parliament beginning July 20, according to an official circular.

The bill aims to "provide for the processing of digital personal data in a manner that recognises both the right of individuals to protect their personal data and the need to process personal data for lawful purposes," it said.

Privacy experts have raised concerns about the rapid digitisation of personal data and the rollout of technologies such as facial recognition without adequate legislation.

Europe

Adam Smith, UK tech correspondent

The European Commission is making it easier for tech giants like Meta and Google to share user data with the US.

The new EU-US Data Privacy Framework aims to assuage concerns that EU citizens' data would be accessible by American intelligence agencies. But privacy campaigners like non-profit NOYB (None of Your Business) said they would challenge the decision.

"Just announcing that something is 'new', 'robust' or 'effective' does not cut it before the [European] Court of Justice. We would need changes in US surveillance law to make this work and we simply don't have it," activist Max Schrems said in a statement.

Africa

Kim Harrisberg, South Africa correspondent

Uganda's parliament joined Nigeria, Kenya and Tanzania in passing a tax on foreign digital service providers like Meta, Amazon, Uber and Google to recoup some of the tech giants' profit for local revenue, GZERO Media reported.

Critics fear that the new tax could inadvertently impose a cost on social media users if the companies try to find ways to offset their new tax expense, Reuters reported.