[bestbits] FW: [IP] DNI releases Fact Sheet on PRISM, but the damage is already done

[Jeremy Malcolm]

On 09/06/2013, at 4:29 AM, "michael gurstein" <gurstein at gmail.com> wrote:

> What comes through loud and clear on this and the associated comments,
> denials and disclaimers from all and sundry is that this is a global issue
> requiring a global response and particularly initiatives from a global civil
> society.  

Do you think that this is something that we should attempt through Best Bits?  As you quite rightly pointed in response to the joint letter posted to the webwewant list (and as I had also said in an earlier reply), the joint letter from EFF, Free Press and ACLU is not something that international organisations could support, yet international Internet users are are even more affected by the PRISM scandal than US Internet users are.

In favour of such a response, one of the purposes of Best Bits was to enable a broader perspective to attend the publication of statements on human rights and the Internet, rather than a small cadre of Internet freedom groups drafting and then pushing them out to the rest of the world.  Against, is the concern is that "yet another statement" isn't going to have much cumulative effect at this point, because everybody and their dog has something to say about PRISM right now.

If we do want to contribute something, then maybe our special competence is in our knowledge of relevant international processes.  So we could perhaps write our statement as a letter to the United Nations Human Rights Council (particularly in the light of Frank La Rue's latest report, http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/RegularSession/Session23/A.HRC.23.40_EN.pdf).  Or are there other international processes that people think would be an appropriate target for such an intervention?

Agreed that this is very important, but I just want to make sure we don't issue a statement into the ether that will have zero impact.

-- 
Dr Jeremy Malcolm
Senior Policy Officer
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