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For me going forward, the issue is the ability of the US to go
forward at simultaneously as a democracy and human rights defender
and promoter, as well as a 'violator' of it. <br>
<br>
The US state is one of the most remarkable ones in the ability to
handle contradictions of this nature... there are numerous examples
of this... <br>
<br>
This dualistic politics is what will be interesting. It is what
makes sensible for me the protection of American's 'rights' over
those of foreigners - as the discourse is unfolding. <br>
<br>
From my Third World perspective, this would be the frame of
analysis. Allowing us to see the consequences of the dichotomies,
and contradictions in this process...<br>
<br>
Riaz<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 2013/06/15 12:35 PM, parminder
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote cite="mid:51BC3560.2090505@itforchange.net" type="cite">
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<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On Saturday 15 June 2013 02:49 PM,
Baudouin SCHOMBE wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote
cite="mid:CAHj_20iKjmRGFk8siuC6EAehTuRNS=s48njLnKOS4KtBrTy4Zw@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
<div dir="ltr">I support this statement. After all, no one can
pretend to be above the law.</div>
</blockquote>
<br>
When there is no global law then it is more difficult to say no
one can be above the law.... and there is no global law to
constrain the US from doing what it would with the centres and
nodes of the Internet which it occupies.... We can though keep
talking about the much fancied but meaningless bottom up processes
here.... parminder <br>
<br>
parminder <br>
<blockquote
cite="mid:CAHj_20iKjmRGFk8siuC6EAehTuRNS=s48njLnKOS4KtBrTy4Zw@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
<div dir="ltr"> It is a principle as old as democracy in
advanced democracies, prinicipe must constantly remain in our
minds and reflexes whatever our geographical situation and who
we are.I support this statement. After all, no one can pretend
to be above the law. It is a principle as old as democracy in
advanced democracies, prinicipe must constantly remain in our
minds and reflexes whatever our geographical localisation and
who we are.<br>
</div>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br clear="all">
<div>SCHOMBE BAUDOUIN<br>
<br>
Téléphone mobile:+243998983491<br>
email : <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:b.schombe@gmail.com" target="_blank">b.schombe@gmail.com</a><br>
skype : b.schombe<br>
blog : <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://akimambo.unblog.fr" target="_blank">http://akimambo.unblog.fr</a><br>
Site Web : <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.ticafrica.net" target="_blank">www.ticafrica.net</a><br>
<br>
<br>
</div>
<br>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">2013/6/15 Norbert Bollow <span
dir="ltr"><<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:nb@bollow.ch" target="_blank">nb@bollow.ch</a>></span><br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0
.8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"> >
> <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://bestbits.net/prism-congress/"
target="_blank">http://bestbits.net/prism-congress/</a><br>
<br>
[with IGC coordinator hat on]<br>
<br>
FORMAL CONSENSUS CALL<br>
<br>
We have had quite a few expressions of support for the
“International<br>
civil society letter to Congress” already, and no
objections so far.<br>
<br>
Please review the proposed statement text as included for
reference<br>
below.<br>
<br>
If you agree with the proposed statement or are
indifferent about it,<br>
there is no need to take action about it at the current
stage.<br>
<br>
If however you disagree with IGC expressing support for
this letter, it<br>
is now the final opportunity to object if you wish to do
so.<br>
<br>
** Any objections should be posted by Monday June 17, 9am
UTC. **<br>
<br>
If no objections are received by that time, IGC
endorsement of the<br>
proposed letter will be deemed to have been decided by
consensus.<br>
<br>
NOTE on potential further steps in the decision-making
process: If there<br>
are any objections, we will then discuss how to proceed.<br>
<br>
Greetings,<br>
Norbert<br>
<br>
-- text proposed for endorsement
follows--------------------------------<br>
<br>
Civil society letter to United States Congress on Internet
and<br>
telecommunications surveillance<br>
<br>
Members of US Congress:<br>
<br>
We write as a coalition of civil society organizations
from around the<br>
world to express our serious alarm regarding revelations
of Internet<br>
and telephone communications surveillance of US and non-US
citizens by<br>
the US government. We also wish to express our grave
concern that US<br>
authorities may have made the data resulting from those
surveillance<br>
activities available to other States, including the United
Kingdom, the<br>
Netherlands, Canada, Belgium, Australia and New
Zealand.[1] Many<br>
US-based Internet companies with global reach also seem to
be<br>
participating in these practices.[2]<br>
<br>
The introduction of surveillance mechanisms at the heart
of global<br>
digital communications severely threatens human rights in
the digital<br>
age. These new forms of decentralized power reflect
fundamental shifts<br>
in the structure of information systems in modern
societies.[3] Any step<br>
in this direction needs to be scrutinized through ample,
deep and<br>
transparent debate. Interference with the human rights of
citizens by<br>
any government, their own or foreign, is unacceptable. The
situation of<br>
a citizen unable to communicate private thoughts without
surveillance<br>
by a foreign state not only violates the rights to privacy
and human<br>
dignity, but also threatens the fundamental rights to
freedom of<br>
thought, opinion and expression, and association that are
at the center<br>
of any democratic practice. Such actions are unacceptable
and raise<br>
serious concerns about extra-territorial breaches of human
rights. The<br>
inability of citizens to know if they are subject to
foreign<br>
surveillance, to challenge such surveillance, or to seek
remedies is<br>
even more alarming.[4]<br>
<br>
The contradiction between the persistent affirmation of
human rights<br>
online by the US government and the recent allegations of
what appears<br>
to be mass surveillance of US and non-US citizens by that
same<br>
government is very disturbing and carries negative
repercussions on the<br>
global stage. A blatant and systematic disregard for the
human rights<br>
articulated in Articles 17 and 19 of the International
Covenant on<br>
Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which the United
States is<br>
signatory, as well as Articles 12 and 19 of the Universal
Declaration<br>
of Human Rights is suggested. Bearing in mind that the US
must engage<br>
in a long overdue discussion about how to update and
modernize its<br>
policy to align with its own founding documents and
principles, what<br>
happens next in legislative and Executive Branch oversight
in the US<br>
will have huge and irreversible consequences for the
promotion and<br>
protection of the human rights of people around the world.<br>
<br>
It is also notable that the United States government
supported the<br>
United Nations Human Rights Council Resolution 20/8, which
“[a]ffirms<br>
that the same rights that people have offline must also be
protected<br>
online, in particular freedom of expression …”[5] and,
just a few days<br>
ago, on June 10, the US was part of a core group of
countries that<br>
drafted a cross regional statement, which correctly
emphasized “that<br>
when addressing any security concerns on the Internet,
this must be<br>
done in a manner consistent with states’ obligations under<br>
international human rights law and full respect for human
rights must<br>
be maintained.”[6] That was apparently not the case with
the latest<br>
practices of the US Government. Besides representing a
major violation<br>
of fundamental human rights of people worldwide, the
incoherence<br>
between practices and public statements by the US also
undermines the<br>
moral credibility of the country within the global
community that<br>
fights for human rights, as they apply to the Internet and
fatally<br>
impacts consumers’ trust in all American companies that
provide<br>
worldwide services.<br>
<br>
On 10 June, 2013 many signatories to this letter joined
together to<br>
raise our concerns to the United Nations Human Rights
Council.[7] We did<br>
so against the background of the recent report of the UN
Special<br>
Rapporteur on the right to Freedom of Opinion and
Expression, Mr. Frank<br>
La Rue.[8] This report detailed worrying trends in state
surveillance of<br>
communications with serious implications for the exercise
of the human<br>
rights to privacy and to freedom of opinion and
expression. We note<br>
that US-based stakeholders have also written a letter to
Congress to<br>
express their concerns about the compliance of the current
national<br>
surveillance program with domestic law.[9]<br>
<br>
We are also extremely disappointed that, in all the post
‘disclosures’<br>
statements, US authorities have only insisted that there
was no access<br>
obtained to content related to US citizens, and just their<br>
communication meta-data was collected. There has not been
a word on the<br>
issue of large-scale access to content related to non US
citizens,<br>
which constitute an almost certain human rights violation.
The focusing<br>
of the US authorities on the difference between treatment
of US<br>
citizens and non-citizens on an issue which essentially
relates to<br>
violation of human rights is very problematic. Human
rights are<br>
universal, and every government must refrain from
violating them for<br>
all people, and not merely for its citizens. We strongly
advocate that<br>
current and future legal provisions and practices take
this fact into<br>
due consideration.<br>
<br>
We therefore urge the Obama administration and the United
States<br>
Congress to take immediate action to dismantle existing,
and prevent<br>
the creation of future, global Internet and
telecommunications based<br>
surveillance systems. We additionally urge the US
Administration, the<br>
FBI and the Attorney General to allow involved or affected
companies to<br>
publish statistics of past and future Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance<br>
Act (FISA) requests they have received or may receive.[10]
We further<br>
call on the US Congress to establish protections for
government<br>
whistleblowers in order to better ensure that the public
is adequately<br>
informed about abuses of power that violate the
fundamental human<br>
rights of the citizens of all countries, US and other.[11]
We also join<br>
Humans Rights Watch in urging the creation of an
independent panel with<br>
subpoena power and all necessary security clearances to
examine current<br>
practices and to make recommendations to ensure
appropriate protections<br>
for the rights to privacy, free expression, and
association. The<br>
results of this panel should be broadly published.<br>
<br>
[1] <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d0873f38-d1c5-11e2-9336-00144feab7de.html"
target="_blank">http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d0873f38-d1c5-11e2-9336-00144feab7de.html</a>,<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.bof.nl/2013/06/11/bits-of-freedom-dutch-spooks-must-stop-use-of-prism/"
target="_blank">https://www.bof.nl/2013/06/11/bits-of-freedom-dutch-spooks-must-stop-use-of-prism/</a><br>
and <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.standaard.be/cnt/DMF20130610_063"
target="_blank">http://www.standaard.be/cnt/DMF20130610_063</a>.<br>
<br>
[2] Including Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk,
AOL, Skype,<br>
YouTube, and Apple:<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="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"
target="_blank">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</a><br>
<br>
[3] <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.state.gov/statecraft/overview/"
target="_blank">http://www.state.gov/statecraft/overview/</a><br>
<br>
[4] (A/HRC/23/40)<br>
<br>
[5] <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://ap.ohchr.org/documents/dpage_e.aspx?si=A/HRC/RES/20/8"
target="_blank">http://ap.ohchr.org/documents/dpage_e.aspx?si=A/HRC/RES/20/8</a><br>
<br>
[6] <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://geneva.usmission.gov/2013/06/10/internet-freedom-5/"
target="_blank">http://geneva.usmission.gov/2013/06/10/internet-freedom-5/</a><br>
<br>
[7] <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://bestbits.net/prism-nsa" target="_blank">http://bestbits.net/prism-nsa</a><br>
<br>
[8] (A/HRC/23/40)<br>
<br>
[9] Asking the U.S. government to allow Google to publish
more national<br>
security request data<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2013/06/asking-us-government-to-allow-google-to.html"
target="_blank">http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2013/06/asking-us-government-to-allow-google-to.html</a><br>
<br>
[10] <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.stopwatching.us/" target="_blank">https://www.stopwatching.us/</a><br>
<br>
[11] The just-released Global Principles on National
Security and<br>
Freedom of Information (the Tshwane Principles) which
address the topic<br>
of Whistleblowing and National Security provide relevant
guidance in<br>
this regard:<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="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"
target="_blank">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</a>.<br>
<br>
<br>
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