Tackling state surveillance & protecting human rights, EFF has created the State Surveillance & Human Rights Project.
Government intrusion into the lives of individuals is remote and hidden from view, understood only by the few who possess specialized technical expertise, and justified by a calculated and often persuasive narrative that holds the goals of national security above all else. Because our modes of communication have been revolutionized in the digital era, we often cannot help but leave hefty volumes of personal information in our wake as a result of day-to-day online activities. Nor are we guaranteed control over who can access that information once a digital record has been created.
In the face of these challenges, EFF has partnered with Privacy International and other human rights advocates and activists around the world to build an international movement to protect privacy against government surveillance. EFF is launching its new State Surveillance and Human Rights project to ensure that strong and reasonable human rights protections are in place to counterbalance government surveillance practices in the digital age.
In 2012, working together with Privacy International and other like-minded organizations and individuals we played a crucial role in launching a collaborative process to draft a set of International Principles on Communications Surveillance and Human Rights for protection of human rights vis-a-vis surveillance laws.
As part of this effort, EFF has joined a wide array of advocates in announcing a public consultation on the International Principles on Communications Surveillance and Human Rights. In a blog post, Privacy International articulated the need for these principles:
The rationale behind these principles is to provide civil society, industry and government with a framework against which to evaluate whether current or proposed surveillance laws and practices are consistent with human rights. Now more than ever, we need greater transparency and proportionality around state surveillance in order to safeguard the future of participatory democracy.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/12/tackling-state-surveillance-and-human-rights-protecting-universal-freedoms.
EFF's State Surveillance & Human Rights Project:
Through EFF’s new State Surveillance and Human Rights Project, advocates will learn how to effectively fight overreaching government surveillance proposals around the world. Working collaboratively with advocates, lawyers, journalists, bloggers and security experts on the ground, we are organizing an State Surveillance and Human Rights Camp where we are mapping specific problems posed by invasive surveillance infrastructure, government access to peoples’ data and to examine and devise potential national and regional solutions, strategies and tactics. We will keep the Draft International Principles on Communication Surveillance and Human Rights in mind while exploring strategies and upcoming opportunities to fight overreaching surveillance legislation. Our discussions will touch on existing legislative initiatives, international fora, and other venues where we can have a meaningful impact and establish strong legal safeguards against government access to people’s communications and data.
https://www.eff.org/issues/surveillance-human-rights