D3 - Getting to Know Their Work Advocating for Digital Rights for Portuguese Citizens
The Community Series features stories of the people and projects behind the digital rights community.
Ricardo Lafuente, D3’s president.
D3 - Defesa dos Direitos Digitais (Defense of Digital Rights) advocates for digital rights in Portugal. We talked with D3’s president, Ricardo Lafuente, to learn more about their work in the country and beyond.
He shared his views on a range of topics, such as the collection of people’s metadata from mobile devices, the necessity of local tech investment, and the impact of the Digital Nomad visa on Portugal.
The organization highlights that some of the biggest digital rights challenges in the country are public video surveillance and the lack of enforcement of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
How D3 Started
D3 was started by individuals who were active members in the open data and civil technology community in Portugal. Ricardo shares that in 2017, Eduardo Santos, who would later become D3's first president, circulated an email calling for people interested in setting up an organization dedicated to defending citizens' rights in the digital context. This led to an initial meeting in Porto where the details and principles of what would become D3 were decided upon, as well as a plan action was created to set up the organization as a legal association. Ricardo highlights that the founding members wanted to make a difference, not just create a group to feel validated.
“We wanted to influence public policy and be part of that discussion as members of civil society dedicated to technology,” says Ricardo.
Incidence in Advocacy and Protecting People’s Personal Data
EDRi has advanced digital rights across Europe for over 20 years.
D3 has had an impact to-date, with their campaigns developing alternative, technologically-informed political discourses in Portuguese society that challenge mainstream ones. In addition, they are regularly consulted by local Portuguese media on digital rights issues, and are part of the European Digital Rights (EDRi) federation, which gives them easy contact with other organizations from Europe.
In 2019, D3 historically challenged a Portuguese law that allowed the collection of people’s metadata from their mobile devices which was also incompatible with European Law.
“Get your hands off my metadata”, says the campaign about a Portuguese law that allowed the collection of people’s metadata from their mobile devices.
“D3 sent a complaint to the Justice Ombudsperson about the incompatibility of the country's metadata collection law with European law, which essentially gave Portuguese authorities wide access to citizens’ communication data held by telecom operators. This set off a chain of events that resulted in the matter being sent to the Portuguese Constitutional Court, which ultimately declared the Portuguese law invalid. Following this historic milestone, lawmakers attempted alternative formulations of the Portuguese law, none of which addressed the mass collection of personal data, thus resulting in the Court striking down later iterations. Unfortunately, however, the privacy-invading law passed in 2024 when the Portuguese Prime-Minister António Costa bypassed the Court's review and approved it,” explains Ricardo.
While the outcome was not ideal, Ricardo shares that for D3 it was remarkable to have the opportunity to put this critical issue in the mainstream, which motivated them to take further actions on other fronts. The next fight occurred during the pandemic, when D3 challenged the “Stayaway Covid”—the COVID-19 tracing application that the Portuguese authorities were attempting to make mandatory for citizens.
“During the pandemic, we investigated and published critical perspectives on the risks associated with COVID tracing apps that were being implemented around the world—many of which were tracking users’ very personal data. When Portugal’s Prime Minister, António Costa, attempted to make the Stayaway app mandatory in October 2020, it was met with a huge backlash from citizens. This gave D3 significant airtime, as we were one of the very few organizations critically addressing the issues and risks based on academic studies and fact-based analyses. Needless to say, the app ultimately failed to achieve its goals and stated purpose,” points out D3’s president.
Portugal’s Biggest Issues: Public Video Surveillance, Lack of GDPR Enforcement, & Providing Data of Dissidents to Russia
Lisbon City Hall, by Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Ricardo highlights that one of the biggest issues Portugal is facing is the spread of video surveillance. He shares that many city halls are justifying the implementation and/or expansion of public surveillance based on spotty reports of citizen insecurity.
However, D3 notes that current data does not show a desire by citizens to expand public surveillance. D3 is also wary of the potential for authorities to use data gathered by these systems for automated facial recognition. Ricardo shares that a few years ago there was an attempt to pass a law that would allow for this. In addition, he highlights potential new EU developments following the Paris Olympics, which includes a move toward repressive, predictive policing based on automated video analysis.
D3 also points out that the enforcement of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is lagging in Portugal and, most recently in 2021, the Lisbon City Hall handed the data of dissidents to Russia. In response, the Lisbon District Administrative Court fined City Hall one million Euros.
“Our local data protection authority (CNPD) lacks the means to effectively audit and enforce data privacy laws, especially as the number of internet-based companies increases. However, there have been positive developments with the recent suspension of Worldcoin's operations in Portugal, and the recent condemnation of Lisbon City Hall for having handed the data of dissidents to the Russian state,” says Ricardo.
The Need for Local Investment and Reduction of Global Gentrification
The stencil says "People could live here". Urban Isthmus, CC BY 2.0
Ricardo stresses that Portugal suffers from “infrastructure technology poverty and outsourcing.” Since 2007 the country has experienced privatization of their public goods, while lacking adequate funding for scientific research. He highlights that recent startups that have moved to Portugal don't build products in and for Portugal. Instead, they stay for a limited time and then leave the country with their developments.
In addition, the Digital Nomad Visas has had a controversial impact on the Portuguese community. Ricardo believes that this is because the policy is not designed to elevate local tech efforts or help the working class. Instead, it is designed to attract more tourists and foreign investment, who in return pay taxes and high rents.
“The housing in Lisbon right now is more expensive than New York. This is related to the promotion of the golden visa and other ‘investment-friendly’ policies, which has resulted in thousands of digital nomads moving to Portugal. Current policies are attracting very strange sources of money,” says Ricardo.
How To Support D3’s Work
The best way to help D3 is to become a member. Members can participate in the association's daily activities. People can also support D3 as donors: for those who want to help the association but do not want to register as a member, making a donation is a great option.
To find out more information about D3, checkout their community workspace platform, built on Rocket.Chat software, which serves as a main meeting point for discussions and coordination of work. D3 also has a public access group on Telegram, intended for casual and everyday conversation.
The Future of Digital Rights in Portugal
The stencil found in Lisbon says “Smile, you are being filmed,” by Pedro Jimenez, CC BY-SA 2.0
The current government has recently affirmed the “public perception of security” as a policy priority, highlighting widespread video surveillance as a tool to this end. “Many cities are moving forward to implement such surveillance systems, selling them to the public as magic solutions to crime, which is extremely concerning to us”, points out D3’s president. On the other hand, a recent, highly-publicized prison break on a heavily surveilled detention facility came up as a useful counterpoint to illustrate how cameras are hardly a perfect enforcement mechanism. These issues clearly show that video surveillance will be a very present topic for the near future.
The debate on smartphone restrictions in schools is another major technopolitical issue, one that will remain active in the coming times. This matter is bringing people closer to technopolitics, as they witness the influence of technology (and its specific setups and design choices) in their and their children’s day-to-day lives. “Parents, relatives, and educators are becoming increasingly conscious of how technopolitics shape their lives and agency, and it’s very important that a rights-centered tech discourse provides answers and ways out of the dilemmas imposed by Silicon Valley,” Ricardo argues.