[bestbits] [Publication] Upping the Ante on Bulk Surveillance: An International Compendium of Good Legal Safeguards and Oversight Innovations

[Thorsten Wetzling I Stiftung Neue Verantwortung]

Maybe of interest to some of you? 
Kind regards, 
Thorsten and Kilian

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Many people question the efficiency of bulk surveillance practices and their compatibility with fundamental rights. Others worry about its effect on the social fabric of democratic societies. Yet, most parliaments have expanded, rather than curtailed, surveillance powers in recent intelligence reforms. What is more, the European Court of Human Rights recently upheld the Swedish regime for bulk interception of foreign communications and called the practice a «valuable means» of counterterrorism in its Big Brother Watch decision.

One may, therefore, assume that the practice of bulk communications surveillance is here to stay. If that is the case, then it is high time to subject national legal frameworks and their corresponding oversight systems to a comparative review and to identify good practices. In an attempt to fill a gap, Kilian Vieth and I have compared legal safeguards and oversight practices in 13 different democracies. Our compendium (PDF),

<https://www.stiftung-nv.de/en/publication/upping-ante-bulk-surveillance-international-compendium-good-legal-safeguards-and>

commissioned by the Heinrich Böll Foundation, and published yesterday, features 64 promising examples, that, we believe, increase the legitimacy and effectiveness of bulk surveillance governance.

--
Dr. Thorsten Wetzling
Head of Research
Surveillance and Democratic Governance 

+49(0)30 8145037880
Twitter @twetzling
twetzling at stiftung-nv.de

PGP: 98E7 F025 A140 6017 E309 7FC1 110C DA14 78AD 374C

Stiftung Neue Verantwortung e.V.
Berliner Freiheit 2
10785 Berlin

Amtsgericht Charlottenburg: VR 27918 B
Vorstand: Anna Wohlfarth, Dr. Stefan Heumann, Dr. Ben Scott