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UN Denounces Mass Surveillance in New Ruling

The UN got serious about mass surveillance last year when they sought to stop the tracking of private and personal phone calls. This year, they passed a monumental resolution that is loads better than what they had on the table last year. On Tuesday this week, they made a decision to categorically denounce any mass surveillance efforts conducted by any country on their own or the people of other country. This is a true milestone event in the fight against bulk data monitoring by governments.

UN Rapporteur Says Bulk Surveillance Infringes on Privacy and Treaties

In mid October, the Special Rapporteur to the United Nations reported on the grave offenses committed by governments that support mass surveillance programs. This head of the UN’s anti-terrorism and human rights office went before the General Assembly to ask for a decision to formally and publicly censure mass surveillance. The report focused on electronic surveillance as a main threat to both privacy rights and international treaties. After the recent exposure of several deep and large-scale surveillance operations conducted by governments around the world, the UN had to take action.

There exist today several conventions and treaties that protect the basic privacy rights of individuals the world over. The UN has penned many of these agreements and backs them all with a promise of support for any reported violations. These guaranteed rights have been repeatedly breached by governments. These governments use their highly evolved technologies to trespass on individual and corporate freedoms without a second thought about the multiple rulings that they defy in the process. Mass surveillance technology is being used to rob people of their protected rights to privacy of communications and data. These governments are abusing the Internet to gain unhindered access to information that they have no business even searching for in the first place.

The UN Special Rapporteur condemned the use of surveillance techniques to indiscriminately spy on people without cause. Governments have shown no self control in their mass spying campaigns as they conduct sustained monitoring of anyone and everyone they choose. Email messages, website activities and telephone calls are tracked and recorded in secret without due process because these governments know that they can give no motive to justify their actions where human rights are concerned. These governments simply refuse to respect privacy rights and must therefore be reigned in and called to account.

The 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights brought the Five Eyes group together along with the majority of the key players in the international scene to sign it. This treaty has very specific guarantees for privacy rights that the United States approved and endorsed in 1992. Even after they took the liberty of modifying certain elements of the document that related to the country’s own laws, they are still held to the same standards for protecting the rights that are clearly delineated in the treaty’s 17th article. People are guaranteed the privilege of expressing ideas and sharing information without any of these governments meddling or intruding on their communications. This means that they can freely exercise this protected right without fear that anyone else but the intended recipient will hear or read their messages. There is no doubt that mass surveillance has deeply, severely and consistently infringed on this right for over a decade. These governments have never been able to show any anti-terrorism rationale or provide any other admissible reason for their bulk data monitoring practices.

UN Rules That Mass Surveillance is Intolerable

On Tuesday, the UN announced their decision regarding the mass electronic surveillance programs of governments around the world. The UN clearly defined terms for the protection of metadata, which has been the center of much controversy. This ruling is a giant step up from their efforts during the previous year regarding the tracking of phone call data. The ruling also includes under protected data such activities as email content and Facebook likes. The icing on top of this cake is clear rights and means to prosecute any country that violates the revised data privacy terms.

Brazil and Germany must be commended for their strong and public opposition to the spying programs of the US National Security Agency in cooperation with the British Government Communication Headquarters in particular. They were powerful catalysts that got the ball rolling towards this milestone achievement that privacy advocates everywhere are wildly cheering about. Once again, the UN has succeeded in bringing together unlikely allies like Russia, Austria and Costa Rica to back the decision. This time around, the Five Eyes are not standing behind the resolution. But nevertheless, it is just a matter of time now before the UN and all these supporters demand that this groups members and all others involved in mass spying are held publicly accountable to answer for their crimes.

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