[governance] FORMAL CONSENSUS CALL - IGC endorsement: International civil society letter to Congress
Dominique Lacroix
dl at panamo.eu
Sat Jun 15 03:11:23 EDT 2013
+1
Even ask ONU to create a special court for digital crimes.
@+, Dom
--
Dominique Lacroix
http://reseaux.blog.lemonde.fr
Société européenne de l'Internet
http://www.ies-france.eu
+33 (0)6 63 24 39 14
Le 15/06/13 08:58, parminder a écrit :
>
> On Saturday 15 June 2013 11:27 AM, Imran Ahmed Shah wrote:
>> Dear Norbert,
>> Should we also address the same concern with UN General Assembly?
>
> Interesting question.... That was my initial feeling about writing to
> US Congress.... I dont feel that it feels accountable to non US
> citizens, and all the pronoucements from the US post PRISM disclosures
> confirm that.... We should appeal to those who are show some feeling
> of accountability to us... At the global stage, that is the UN, and UN
> GA.... I think we must write to them.
>
> That is also my problem with the ISOC statement in the issue, they
> speak about global principles on privacy etc developed at plurilateral
> forums - most of the rich nations - which exclude most of us... They
> speak of the need of a global dialogue that should take place on he
> issue (and I agree) but dont say where it should take place. I reckon,
> if I direct this question to them they'd say, the IGF. Which is very
> well. But the next question is, subsequent to such a dialogue, and as
> an outcome of it, where should development of global principles for
> privacy etc should take place - to which I would almost certainly not
> obtain any reply... Although I am willing to be proved wrong - by ISOC
> or any of its sympathisers here.
>
> I dont agree with statements that may merely do what seem to have
> become difficult to ignore, without clear political direct for the
> corresponding required political actions... This is the doctrine of
> political responsibility that we, at my organisation, take really
> seriously, and we think all civil society should. We have here not to
> make just statements, we are here to change the world in a manner that
> it becomes more fair to those who are marginalised at present.
>
> I think we should all begin to act less like second class US citizens,
> begging for at least some recognition, and behave like global citizens
> of a globally democratic polity. The biggest lession from the recent
> NSA disclosures is this: unaccountable power will also certianly go
> corrupt..... Make sure anyone who exercises global power - as the US
> does to a extremely momentous extent - must be made 'globally'
> accountable. And any such accountability can only be exercised through
> a mechanism where everyone from across the globe is equally represented...
>
> Lets write to the UN assembly too...
>
> parminder
>> B/R
>> Imran
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> *From:* Norbert Bollow <nb at bollow.ch>
>> *To:* governance at lists.igcaucus.org
>> *Sent:* Saturday, 15 June 2013, 5:09
>> *Subject:* [governance] FORMAL CONSENSUS CALL - IGC endorsement:
>> International civil society letter to Congress
>>
>> > > http://bestbits.net/prism-congress/
>>
>> [with IGC coordinator hat on]
>>
>> FORMAL CONSENSUS CALL
>>
>> We have had quite a few expressions of support for the “International
>> civil society letter to Congress” already, and no objections so far.
>>
>> Please review the proposed statement text as included for reference
>> below.
>>
>> If you agree with the proposed statement or are indifferent about it,
>> there is no need to take action about it at the current stage.
>>
>> If however you disagree with IGC expressing support for this
>> letter, it
>> is now the final opportunity to object if you wish to do so.
>>
>> ** Any objections should be posted by Monday June 17, 9am UTC. **
>>
>> If no objections are received by that time, IGC endorsement of the
>> proposed letter will be deemed to have been decided by consensus.
>>
>> NOTE on potential further steps in the decision-making process:
>> If there
>> are any objections, we will then discuss how to proceed.
>>
>> Greetings,
>> Norbert
>>
>> -- text proposed for endorsement
>> follows--------------------------------
>>
>> Civil society letter to United States Congress on Internet and
>> telecommunications surveillance
>>
>> Members of US Congress:
>>
>> We write as a coalition of civil society organizations from
>> around the
>> world to express our serious alarm regarding revelations of Internet
>> and telephone communications surveillance of US and non-US
>> citizens by
>> the US government. We also wish to express our grave concern that US
>> authorities may have made the data resulting from those surveillance
>> activities available to other States, including the United
>> Kingdom, the
>> Netherlands, Canada, Belgium, Australia and New Zealand.[1] Many
>> US-based Internet companies with global reach also seem to be
>> participating in these practices.[2]
>>
>> The introduction of surveillance mechanisms at the heart of global
>> digital communications severely threatens human rights in the digital
>> age. These new forms of decentralized power reflect fundamental
>> shifts
>> in the structure of information systems in modern societies.[3]
>> Any step
>> in this direction needs to be scrutinized through ample, deep and
>> transparent debate. Interference with the human rights of citizens by
>> any government, their own or foreign, is unacceptable. The
>> situation of
>> a citizen unable to communicate private thoughts without surveillance
>> by a foreign state not only violates the rights to privacy and human
>> dignity, but also threatens the fundamental rights to freedom of
>> thought, opinion and expression, and association that are at the
>> center
>> of any democratic practice. Such actions are unacceptable and raise
>> serious concerns about extra-territorial breaches of human
>> rights. The
>> inability of citizens to know if they are subject to foreign
>> surveillance, to challenge such surveillance, or to seek remedies is
>> even more alarming.[4]
>>
>> The contradiction between the persistent affirmation of human rights
>> online by the US government and the recent allegations of what
>> appears
>> to be mass surveillance of US and non-US citizens by that same
>> government is very disturbing and carries negative repercussions
>> on the
>> global stage. A blatant and systematic disregard for the human rights
>> articulated in Articles 17 and 19 of the International Covenant on
>> Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which the United States is
>> signatory, as well as Articles 12 and 19 of the Universal Declaration
>> of Human Rights is suggested. Bearing in mind that the US must engage
>> in a long overdue discussion about how to update and modernize its
>> policy to align with its own founding documents and principles, what
>> happens next in legislative and Executive Branch oversight in the US
>> will have huge and irreversible consequences for the promotion and
>> protection of the human rights of people around the world.
>>
>> It is also notable that the United States government supported the
>> United Nations Human Rights Council Resolution 20/8, which “[a]ffirms
>> that the same rights that people have offline must also be protected
>> online, in particular freedom of expression …”[5] and, just a few
>> days
>> ago, on June 10, the US was part of a core group of countries that
>> drafted a cross regional statement, which correctly emphasized “that
>> when addressing any security concerns on the Internet, this must be
>> done in a manner consistent with states’ obligations under
>> international human rights law and full respect for human rights must
>> be maintained.”[6] That was apparently not the case with the latest
>> practices of the US Government. Besides representing a major
>> violation
>> of fundamental human rights of people worldwide, the incoherence
>> between practices and public statements by the US also undermines the
>> moral credibility of the country within the global community that
>> fights for human rights, as they apply to the Internet and fatally
>> impacts consumers’ trust in all American companies that provide
>> worldwide services.
>>
>> On 10 June, 2013 many signatories to this letter joined together to
>> raise our concerns to the United Nations Human Rights Council.[7]
>> We did
>> so against the background of the recent report of the UN Special
>> Rapporteur on the right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression, Mr.
>> Frank
>> La Rue.[8] This report detailed worrying trends in state
>> surveillance of
>> communications with serious implications for the exercise of the
>> human
>> rights to privacy and to freedom of opinion and expression. We note
>> that US-based stakeholders have also written a letter to Congress to
>> express their concerns about the compliance of the current national
>> surveillance program with domestic law.[9]
>>
>> We are also extremely disappointed that, in all the post
>> ‘disclosures’
>> statements, US authorities have only insisted that there was no
>> access
>> obtained to content related to US citizens, and just their
>> communication meta-data was collected. There has not been a word
>> on the
>> issue of large-scale access to content related to non US citizens,
>> which constitute an almost certain human rights violation. The
>> focusing
>> of the US authorities on the difference between treatment of US
>> citizens and non-citizens on an issue which essentially relates to
>> violation of human rights is very problematic. Human rights are
>> universal, and every government must refrain from violating them for
>> all people, and not merely for its citizens. We strongly advocate
>> that
>> current and future legal provisions and practices take this fact into
>> due consideration.
>>
>> We therefore urge the Obama administration and the United States
>> Congress to take immediate action to dismantle existing, and prevent
>> the creation of future, global Internet and telecommunications based
>> surveillance systems. We additionally urge the US Administration, the
>> FBI and the Attorney General to allow involved or affected
>> companies to
>> publish statistics of past and future Foreign Intelligence
>> Surveillance
>> Act (FISA) requests they have received or may receive.[10] We further
>> call on the US Congress to establish protections for government
>> whistleblowers in order to better ensure that the public is
>> adequately
>> informed about abuses of power that violate the fundamental human
>> rights of the citizens of all countries, US and other.[11] We
>> also join
>> Humans Rights Watch in urging the creation of an independent
>> panel with
>> subpoena power and all necessary security clearances to examine
>> current
>> practices and to make recommendations to ensure appropriate
>> protections
>> for the rights to privacy, free expression, and association. The
>> results of this panel should be broadly published.
>>
>> [1]
>> http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d0873f38-d1c5-11e2-9336-00144feab7de.html,
>> https://www.bof.nl/2013/06/11/bits-of-freedom-dutch-spooks-must-stop-use-of-prism/
>> and http://www.standaard.be/cnt/DMF20130610_063.
>>
>> [2] Including Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL,
>> Skype,
>> YouTube, and Apple:
>> http://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/us-intelligence-mining-data-from-nine-us-internet-companies-in-broad-secret-program/2013/06/06/3a0c0da8-cebf-11e2-8845-d970ccb04497_story.html
>>
>> [3] http://www.state.gov/statecraft/overview/
>>
>> [4] (A/HRC/23/40)
>>
>> [5] http://ap.ohchr.org/documents/dpage_e.aspx?si=A/HRC/RES/20/8
>>
>> [6] http://geneva.usmission.gov/2013/06/10/internet-freedom-5/
>>
>> [7] http://bestbits.net/prism-nsa
>>
>> [8] (A/HRC/23/40)
>>
>> [9] Asking the U.S. government to allow Google to publish more
>> national
>> security request data
>> http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2013/06/asking-us-government-to-allow-google-to.html
>>
>> [10] https://www.stopwatching.us/
>>
>> [11] The just-released Global Principles on National Security and
>> Freedom of Information (the Tshwane Principles) which address the
>> topic
>> of Whistleblowing and National Security provide relevant guidance in
>> this regard:
>> http://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/sites/default/files/Global%20Principles%20on%20National%20Security%20and%20the%20Right%20to%20Information%20%28Tshwane%20Principles%29%20-%20June%202013.pdf.
>>
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>
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