Webinar: “Tracked, scraped, destroyed: smartphones of people on the move in the focus of state authorities”
Brot Für Die Welt and the Border Violence Monitoring Network are promoting a webinar to mark the launch of the study "Smartphones and people on the move”. The webinar "Tracked, scraped, destroyed: smartphones of people on the move in the focus of state authorities" will shed light on different state authorities and security actors and how they target mobile phones of people on the move and denounce a repressive and militarised border and migration regime violating fundamental human rights and principles of data protection
What do we take with us when we have to leave home? A smartphone is probably always in our pocket. It enables contact with family and friends, stores memories or important documents, helps with navigation and translation.
However, the extensive data on cell phones is also of interest to police, border and migration authorities. Frontex locates cell phone signals to stop people from entering the EU. Border guards deliberately destroy their smartphones. The German asylum agency reads out the cell phones of many asylum seekers to collect information about their identities, places of origin and migration routes.
The webinar will take a closer look at these violent practices. It will discuss counter-strategies of people on the move and activists that use smartphones to denounce violence and support people on the move and the freedom of movement. And it will present a new web dossier that addresses the ambivalent role of the smartphone as a means of oppression and empowerment.
Find out more about the event here.
