[governance] Congratulations

Sun Oct 4 23:34:20 EDT 2009

(Abstracts from Privacy & Human Rights Report. A survey of privacy law  
and developments in 78 countries. (forthcoming).

Athens 2004

Greece’s security preparations cost approximately US$ 1.2 billion  
dollars and involved assistance from the Olympic Advisory Group,  
consisting of seven nations.[1] Their foreign expertise related to  
military and counterterrorism capabilities and prior Olympic Games. 
[2]  For example, the United States National Geospatial-Intelligence  
Agency provided satellite imagery of the rapidly changing Athens  
infrastructure prior to the Games.[3] After the Athens Games, the U.S.  
Government Accountability Office recommended that security agencies  
centralize their resources by “collocating intelligence and  
interagency operations centers.”[4]

For the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, law enforcement authorities and  
intelligence agencies used over 1,000 surveillance cameras.[5] The  
Hellenic Data Protection Authority (DPA) allowed the police to use the  
CCTV system only during the Olympics[6] with legal preconditions  
related to location, notice, and data retention.[7] After repeatedly  
approving extensions for CCTV use in public places, in 2006, the DPA  
found that the police breached the terms of use (Decision 57/2006)  
that limited the use of cameras to high traffic roads (Decision  
63/2004).[8]

Also, the DPA fined Vodafone Greece after public reports detailed the  
tapping of prominent Greek leaders’ mobile phones.[9] Vodafone and  
Ericsson, the mobile phone and software providers, respectively,  
revealed that unknown parties intercepted the wireless communications  
from more than 100 mobile phones from the beginning of the Olympics  
until March 2005.[10]

A dispute were held between the Data Protection Authority on one side,  
and the Police plans to use the CCTVs cameras (installed for the  
Athens Olympics to monitor traffic) to monitor public gatherings such  
as protests.[11] In October 2007, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of  
the police’s plan.[12] Furtheremore, an amendment of the Data  
Protection Act that exclude the CCTV cameras from the scope of the  
Data Protection Act was passed.[13]

In 2007, Greek Data Protection Authorities collectively resigned. The  
DPA issued a statement “charging that the police ‘flagrantly violated’  
the Data Protection Law, which require the cameras to be used only for  
monitoring traffic and not people.”[14] The most notable Decision of  
the new DPA (and their members) was reached in March 2008, allowing  
crime prevention authorities to acquire phone records from  
telecommunications operators while carrying out their investigations  
without notifying the individuals concerned.[15]

[1] Government Accountability Office, Olympic Security: U.S. Support  
to Athens Games Provides

Lessons for Future Olympics 5-6, GAO-05-547, May 2005, available at <http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d05547.pdf 
 > (the Olympic Advisory Group consisted of Australia, France, German,  
Israel, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States).

[2] Id.

[3] See id. at 14.

[4] Id. at 22.

[5] “Athens to Be on Full Alert for Games,” The Ottawa Citizen,  
November, 24, 2000.

[6] “Privacy Watchdog Approve Use of Street Camera, But Only During  
Games,” Kathimerini, May 5, 2004.

[7] E-mail from Fereniki Panagopoulou, to Cedric Laurant, Policy  
Counsel, Electronic Privacy Information Center, June 25, 2004 (on file  
with EPIC). See also Hellenic Data Protection Authority, Decision  
28/03.05.2004, available at <http://www.dpa.gr/decs.htm> (in Greek).

[8] Greek DPA website, available at <http://www.dpa.gr/portal/page?_pageid=33,15048&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL 
 >.

[9] Greek Privacy Watchdog Fines Vodaphone Over Wiretapping Scandal,  
International Herald Tribune Europe, December 14, 2006, available at <http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/12/14/europe/EU_GEN_Greece_Wiretaps_Vodaphone.php 
 >.

[10] Id.

[11] Law No.3625/2007.

[12] Christine Pirovolakis, “Greek Privacy Chief Resigns in Protest  
Over Camera Monitoring of Demonstrators,” BNA. Privacy Law & Security,  
Volume 6, Number 47, December 3, 2007, available at <http:// 
www.bna.com>.

[13] Law No.3625/2007.

[14] Christine Pirovolakis, “Greek Privacy Chief Resigns in Protest  
Over Camera Monitoring of Demonstrators,” BNA, Privacy Law & Security,  
Volume 6 Number 47, December 3, 2007, available at <http://www.bna.com>.

[15] Decision No.19/2008.

On Oct 4, 2009, at 11:24 PM, Katitza Rodriguez wrote:

>  (Abstracts from Privacy & Human Rights Report. A survey of privacy  
> law and developments in 78 countries. (forthcoming).
>
> Countries that host the Olympics increasingly ignore privacy  
> considerations in their preparation for the Games and beyond in the  
> name of security and counterterrorism. Violations of individuals’  
> privacy under constitutional, statutory, and international  
> frameworks range from the loss of anonymity in public places to the  
> inability to communicate and associate freely with others. The  
> coverage and capabilities of Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) has  
> risen dramatically from the Games in Athens, Greece to the recent  
> ones in Beijing, China. Technological advances incorporate CCTV  
> surveillance systems with those related to electronic wiretapping,  
> identification systems, and intelligence sharing. These purported  
> counterterrorism measures have been developed and implemented with  
> the assistance of foreign governments, some of which claim to  
> support transparency and democratic values. The record US$ 6.4  
> billion dollars China was spent on surveillance equipment for the  
> Games in Beijing represents a greater than fourfold increase  
> compared to the ones in Athens.[1] The damage to individuals’  
> privacy rights and civil liberties continues beyond the Closing  
> Ceremonies.
>
> (...)
>
>
> [1] Dexter Roberts, “China: Bombings Add to Olympics Terrorism  
> Fears,” BusinessWeek, July 28, 2008, available at <http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/jul2008/gb20080728_898768.htm?campaign_id=rss_daily 
> >; see also Minas Samatas, “Security and Surveillance in the Athens  
> 2004 Olympics”, available at <http://icj.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/17/3/220 
> >
>
>
> On Oct 4, 2009, at 8:21 PM, Carlos A. Afonso wrote:
>
>> Thanks, mate! After Wolf's message, I cannot stop thinking about what
>> the Net and media will be in seven years, and how this will reflect  
>> in
>> the 2016 Olympics.
>>
>> --c.a.
>>
>> Paul Wilson wrote:
>>> Reminds me of ECO '92, UNCED, or the United Nations Earth Summit  
>>> in Rio,
>>> where Carlos Afonso's organisation Alternex was instrumental in  
>>> bringing
>>> in one of the first permanent Internet connections (64kbps I  
>>> think) in
>>> the country. Numerous APC folk, including Ian Peter and myself, were
>>> there to help, promoting the wonders of this new technology to  
>>> delegates
>>> at the Summit.
>>>
>>> It's nice to see we've come a little way since then.
>>>
>>> Paul
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --On 2 October 2009 8:56:49 PM +0200 "\"Kleinwächter, Wolfgang\""
>>> <wolfgang.kleinwaechter at medienkomm.uni-halle.de> wrote:
>>>
>>>> To all our Barzilian members:
>>>>
>>>> Congratulations to the 2016 Olympics in Rio. This will be Olympic  
>>>> Games
>>>> which can be followed not only by TV and radio but by billions of
>>>> Internet Users worldwide. Lets waoit and see how Rio comes with new
>>>> Internet innovations until 2016. :-)))
>>>> Wolfgang
>>>> ____________________________________________________________
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>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> ________________________________________________________________________
>>> Paul Wilson, Director-General, APNIC                      <dg at apnic.net 
>>> >
>>> http://www.apnic.net                            ph/fx +61 7 3858  
>>> 3100/99
>>>
>>> ____________________________________________________________
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>>
>> -- 
>>
>> Carlos A. Afonso
>> CGI.br (www.cgi.br)
>> Nupef (www.nupef.org.br)
>> ====================================
>> new/nuevo/novo e-mail: ca at cafonso.ca
>> ====================================
>> ____________________________________________________________
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>
> ____________________________________________________________
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