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2003 Privacy and Human Rights Survey Released

Posted by michael on from the endangered-species dept.

Privacy Digest writes "Out-Law.com, UK - Global privacy report is the most comprehensive ever . The Electronic Privacy Information Center and Privacy International on Friday released their sixth annual Privacy and Human Rights survey which claims to be the most comprehensive survey on privacy and data protection ever published. The report reviews the state of privacy in over fifty-five countries around the world. Key topics include Total Information Awareness, the public response to the U.S.A.-Patriot Act, traveller profiling, biometric identification, and other new technologies of surveillance. Privacy and Human Rights 2003: An International Survey of Privacy Laws and Developments is available free online or it can be purchased from the EPIC Bookstore."

10 of 205 comments (clear)

  1. Does it make any mention of ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    ... the fact that the left-leaning pro-privacy folks at slashdot still need to refer to anonymous posters as "cowards"?

    YOU INSENSITIVE CLODS!

  2. Stop it by Doesn't_Comment_Code · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I know this puts me in danger of being modded down.
    But...

    Privacy is not a basic human right. Not like freedom to not be murdered, beaten, or starved. There are a lot of human rights violations going on right now, but certain levels of tracking don't even show up on the human-rights-violations radar.

    Sure, denial of privacy can reach extreme levels, to the point where it becomes a concern. But I think this report is a little knitpicky.

    --

    Slashdot Syndrome: the sudden, extreme urge to correct someone in order to validate one's self.
    1. Re:Stop it by Kierthos · · Score: 5, Interesting

      "Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness"

      I don't know about you, but if every book I buy, every movie I watch, every phone call I make, every e-mail I send is being watched, catalogued, and analyzed, it infringes on my liberties, and doesn't make me very damned happy.

      The government does not have the right or the duty to effectively stalk its' citizens because it's "afraid".

      Ben Franklin still said it best: "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

      Kierthos

      --
      Mr. Hu is not a ninja.
    2. Re:Stop it by IthnkImParanoid · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I consider myself a privacy advocate because I consider a high degree of privacy necessary for a free society. The reasons are too complex for me to convey clearly, especially in a slashdot post, but consider that people behave differently when they know they are observed. Would I be posting to /. if I had a camera behind me?

      All "basic human rights" fall under the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. So while privacy may not be itself such a right, I don't feel I can act freely when my actions are monitored.

      --
      It's nothing but crumpled porno and Ayn Rand.
    3. Re:Stop it by Dutchmaan · · Score: 5, Insightful
      Sure, denial of privacy can reach extreme levels, to the point where it becomes a concern. But I think this report is a little knitpicky.

      You do realize that when the extreme levels happen, and becomes a concern, it is more often than not too late to make effective change.

      ..an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure seems to ring pretty clearly here.

    4. Re:Stop it by Trurl's+Machine · · Score: 5, Informative

      Privacy is not a basic human right. Not like freedom to not be murdered, beaten, or starved. There are a lot of human rights violations going on right now, but certain levels of tracking don't even show up on the human-rights-violations radar.

      The guys who wrote the Universal Declaration Of Human Rights almost half century ago seemed to have different opinion than yours ;-)

      Article 12
      No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

    5. Re:Stop it by pmz · · Score: 4, Informative

      The government does not have the right or the duty to effectively stalk its' citizens because it's "afraid".

      The government is afraid of its citizens. The citizens are afraid of their government. All Osama needs to do, now, is just to sit on the sidelines and cheer for both teams. The "war on terrorism" is really a red herring for more fundamental issues, where personal liberties are being stripped away in some futile attempt to protect us from ourselves.

      Why is it that in some small towns, people are content to not even have locks on their doors out of no fear of neighbors? It seems they may soon want to install locks, but this time out of fear of government.

      --
      Healthcare article at Kuro5hin
  3. Individual rights and Government by ianfs · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It seems there's a chicken and egg senario concerning most government's and the rights given to citizens. Here in the United States the govenment is made up of elected citizens who are supposed to, ideally, work for us and pass the laws WE ask for. However, the relationship between the government and the people tends to get distorted through campaign contributions, the media, large corporations and wealthy individuals, etc... I'm not sure we've reached the level of security we want but I'm not sure it's worth our privacy. To paraphrase Benjamin Franklin: "Those who substitute Liberty for Security deserve neither."

    --
    "Terminate?"
    "Terminate... with extreme prejudice"
  4. Re:Of Course, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The First Lady has said the best byproduct of ousting the Taliban from Afghanistan was the liberation of Afghan women. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the same thing when asked what the U.S. achieved in its war in Afghanistan.

    If the liberation of Arab women is so important to the current administration, then does that mean we'll be invading Saudi Arabia next?!!!

  5. European Convention on Human Rights by kmarius · · Score: 5, Informative

    Just to get a more official view:

    Quoted from European Convention on Human Rights (available in several languages)

    Article 8 - Right to respect for private and family life
    1. Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence.
    2. There shall be no interference by a public authority with the exercise of this right except such as is in accordance with the law and is necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security, public safety or the economic well-being of the country, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.