[LINK] Open Letter to the United Nations

[Roger Clarke]

stephen at melbpc.org.au posted on Sat, 23 Nov 2013 05:01:25 GMT
>HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
>Open Letter from International Human Rights & Privacy Rights Organizations:

APF's letter to the two relevant Ministers is here:
http://www.privacy.org.au/Papers/UNRes-Mins-131117.pdf

APF's also written in similar terms to the Human Rights and other 
Commissioners, endeavouring to awaken them from their slumbers.

_____________________________________________________________________

"The United Nations General Assembly Must Uphold Individuals' Right to
Privacy"

November 20, 2013

To All Member States of the United Nations General Assembly

Dear Ambassador,

The right to privacy is central to who we are as humans and is enshrined in
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights. It protects us from unwarranted intrusions into
our daily lives, allows us to speak freely without fear of retribution, and
helps keep our personal information, including health records, political
affiliations, sexual orientation, and familial histories, safe.

Indiscriminate mass surveillance, which tramples individualsí right to
privacy and undermines the social contract we all have with the State, must
come to end immediately.

That is why we welcome efforts at the United Nations to adopt a resolution
on ìThe right to privacy in the digital age.î

Should it be adopted, the resolution, introduced by Brazil and Germany,
would be the first major statement by the UN on privacy in 25 years.

A strong resolution would crucially reiterate the importance of protecting
privacy and free expression in the face of technological advancements and
encroaching State power. It would also build on the strong stance taken by
the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, and the UN Special
Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, Frank La Rue, in recent
months, as well as the International Principles on the Application of Human
Rights to Communications Surveillance, an initiative supported by 300
organizations from around the world.

As negotiations continue on this draft resolution, we are deeply concerned
that the countries representing the ìFive Eyesî surveillance alliance ó the
United States, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and the United Kingdom ó have
sought to weaken the resolution at the risk of undercutting their own
longstanding public commitment to privacy and free expression.

In discussion of the draft resolution, we urge these countries and the
entire General Assembly to protect the right to privacy and take into
account these basic points:

Privacy is intrinsically linked to freedom of expression and many other
rights:

* The mere existence of domestic legislation is not all that is required to
make surveillance lawful under international law;

* Indiscriminate mass surveillance is never legitimate as intrusions on
privacy must always be genuinely necessary and proportionate;

* When States conduct extraterritorial surveillance, thereby exerting
control over the privacy and rights of persons, they have obligations to
respect privacy and related rights beyond the limits of their own borders;

Privacy is also interfered with even when metadata and other third party
communications are intercepted and collected.

We call upon all States meeting at the UN General Assembly this week to
take a stand against indiscriminate mass surveillance, interception and
data collection, both at home and abroad; to support the draft resolution,
and to uphold the right of all individuals to use information and
communication technologies such as the internet without fear of unwarranted
interference.

This is a critical moment for the protection of privacy around the world.

Signed:

Access
Amnesty International
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Human Rights Watch
Privacy International


Source: http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/11/20/open-letter-international-human-
rights-and-privacy-rights-organizations-united-natio

Resolution:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4juH_L6eTeIQVBrZTFuY2RBb1k/edit

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Roger Clarke                                 http://www.rogerclarke.com/

Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd      78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA
Tel: +61 2 6288 6916                        http://about.me/roger.clarke
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Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Law            University of N.S.W.
Visiting Professor in Computer Science    Australian National University