UN seeks to stop online spying

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon addresses the permanent council at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) headquarters in Vienna, Austria, on November 4, 2014. The UN adopted a resolution on protecting digital privacy that for the first time urged governments to offer redress to citizens targeted by mass surveillance. PHOTO | JOE KLAMAR |

What you need to know:

  • The resolution presented by Germany and Brazil on Wednesday, builds on a landmark text presented last year in the wake of revelations by Edward Snowden of widespread surveillance by the US and British governments.
  • The resolution calls on all governments to adopt national legislation that will ensure their citizens’ right to privacy online is protected.

NEW YORK

The United Nations adopted a resolution on protecting digital privacy that for the first time urged governments to offer redress to citizens targeted by mass surveillance.

The resolution presented by Germany and Brazil on Wednesday, builds on a landmark text presented last year in the wake of revelations by Edward Snowden of widespread surveillance by the US and British governments.

“Where mass surveillance technology is used, a situation can easily be created where no privacy of communications on the Internet exists at all,” German Ambassador Harald Braun told a UN committee.

Braun warned that without proper checks, “we risk turning into Orwellian states” where citizens are being constantly monitored.

The resolution was adopted by consensus by the General Assembly’s human rights committee and now goes before the full Assembly in December.

It followed weeks of tough negotiations with Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand and the United States — members of the so-called Five Eyes Intelligence Alliance — who sought to limit the resolution’s scope.

The five countries are not among the 65 co-sponsors of the resolution.

While the resolution is not-binding, it carries political weight and helps shape the debate on online privacy as a human right.

The resolution calls on all governments to adopt national legislation that will ensure their citizens’ right to privacy online is protected.