老澳门开奖结果

Today and tomorrow the United Nations Human Rights Committee will review the United States鈥� compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. To assist in the review of U.S. compliance with the covenant鈥檚 privacy protections, the 老澳门开奖结果 today released a report, 鈥�Privacy in the Digital Age,鈥� which interprets how Article 17 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights should protect privacy in an age where technology enables mass surveillance. Article 17 protects everyone from arbitrary or unlawful interferences with their 鈥減rivacy, family, home or correspondence鈥� from state intrusion. The 老澳门开奖结果 urges the Human Rights Committee to issue a new interpretation of Article 17 that fully protects the privacy of everyone from governments everywhere.

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Since the summer, Americans have learned that the National Security Agency has routinely violated their right to privacy for more than a decade. The world, however, learned they had no such right, whatsoever鈥攁t least in so far as the U.S. is concerned鈥攁s more and more of the NSA鈥檚 worldwide surveillance apparatus was revealed. Months later, the global uproar over NSA surveillance, fueled by stories of the NSA tapping German Chancellor Angela Merkel鈥檚 personal cell phone, led President Barack Obama to concede that everyone should be afforded some level of privacy from U.S. spying.

鈥淸U.S.] intelligence activities must take into account that all persons should be treated with dignity and respect, regardless of their nationality or wherever they might reside,鈥� the president said in January, 鈥渁nd that all persons have legitimate privacy interests in the handling of their personal information.鈥�

President Obama鈥檚 recognition of privacy as a human right, however deficient, isn鈥檛 new. It鈥檚 actually the law. In 1992, the U.S. ratified the United Nations鈥� International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, a human rights treaty that guarantees privacy rights. More specifically, Article 17 protects everyone from arbitrary or unlawful interferences with their 鈥減rivacy, family, home or correspondence.鈥�

What these protections mean today in our digital age of mass surveillance by the NSA and other intelligence agencies has been one of the many issues considered in Geneva this week, as the U.N. Human Rights Committee 鈥揳 group of independent human rights experts tasked with overseeing compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights鈥攔eviews the U.S.鈥檚 human rights record, both at home and overseas. Indeed, the right to privacy, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, is one of the most pressing issues facing the committee during its 110th session.

To continue reading 鈥淧rivacy Rights are Human Rights,鈥� click .

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