MURRAY HUNTER Learn more about Murray's work

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MURRAY HUNTER

Senior Associate

PUBLIC LAW & POLICY, EMERGENT TECH, INFORMATION RIGHTS

COMMUNICATIONS, ADVISORY, RESEARCH, IMPACT, TRAINING

special projects

Developing international human rights law

ABOUT MURRAY

Learn more about Murray and his work

Overview

Murray Hunter is a specialist on digital rights, advocacy and communications. Before joining ALT Advisory, he held various advocacy and leadership roles at the Right2Know Campaign (2010-2012; 2014-2019), Open Secrets (2012-2013), and the amaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism (2020). He has also given media consulting to a range of civil society initiatives, most recently the South Africa Media Innovation Program.

Murray has authored investigative reports and publications on communications surveillance and data protection, and in 2019 published a children’s book about surveillance capitalism.

He received a Bertha Activist Fellowship in 2014, and the Ruth First Fellowship in 2021.
Academic Qualifications
- B.A in English Literature, Film Studies & Media Studies (with Distinction), B.A. Hon. in Media Theory & Practice (with Distinction) (University of Cape Town)
- M.A in Anthropology of Media (with Merit) (School of Oriental & African Studies, University of London)
Recent Publications / Presentations
- Murray Hunter, ‘Big Tsek: Joburg’s Private Surveillance Network and our Public Deficit’, African Studies (2022), prepared for the Ruth First Memorial Lecture.
- Murray Hunter, Track and trace, trial and error: Assessing South Africa’s approaches to privacy in Covid-19 digital contact tracing (2020), report for the Media Policy and Democracy Project, University of Johannesburg
- Murray Hunter & Admire Mare, A patchwork for privacy: Mapping communications surveillance laws in southern Africa (2020), report for the Media Policy and Democracy Project, University of Johannesburg
- Murray Hunter, Cops & Call Records: policing and metadata privacy in South Africa (2020), report for the Media Policy and Democracy Project, University of Johannesburg
- Murray Hunter, Boris the BabyBot: a little book about Big Data (2019)
- Murray Hunter & Tymon Smith, Spooked: Surveillance of Journalists in South Africa (2018) report for the Right2Know Campaign
- Co-author, R2K, Stop the Surveillance: Activist guide to RICA and State Surveillance in South Africa (2017), report for the Right2Know Campaign
- Murray Hunter, Big Brother Exposed: Stories of South Africa’s intelligence structures monitoring and harassing activist movements(2015), report for the Right2Know Campaign
Contact Murray

Promoting rights-based technology innovation

MURRAY’S RECENT WORK

Learn about Murray’s recent projects

Ongoing projects
- Collaborating on a research series about artificial intelligence (AI) to create a suitable framework for safeguarding fundamental rights in the planning and implementation of AI in Africa.
- Crafting an advocacy campaign for the ratification of the Malabo Convention.
- Updating and maintaining Data Protection Africa, an online open-access portal that provides information on data protection laws and authorities in all African countries.
- Assisting civil society partners with strategic communications campaigns.
Previous projects
- Drafting of a digital rights mapping for Namibia and development of the Namibian Digital Rights Charter.
- Drafting a mapping report on digital rights in SADC for the Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria.
- Producing a series of informational videos on health-science research projects supported by the Newton Fund.
- Designing a court reporting manual and developing an online portal for the South African National Editors’ Forum (SANEF).
- Supporting the creation of digital artwork, photography, and other visual media based on themes related to digital information rights, such as data protection, freedom of expression online, digital privacy, and access to the internet.
- Updating resources on the online resource hub for practicing lawyers in East, West, and Southern Africa on digital rights and freedom of expression online for Media Defence.
- Facilitating a digital security training for environmental defenders.
- Presenting a seminar to the Google Fuchsia Privacy Team on privacy, safety, and surveillance.