[governance] Congratulations

Mon Oct 5 03:53:05 EDT 2009

Dear Katitza

Many thanks for these very interesting comments that focus on reality and needs of the people concerned as well as their scorned civil rights. Even in Europe (cf Athens). We should also add all the corruption that prevails in the course of the Olympic Games, from the site selection through the construction of the sport places to the doped medal distribution.

IMHO there are other priorities in Brazil -as there are others in South Africa before the Football World Championship- but those who are directly concerned, i.e. the people and their organisations, just have to be the spectators ... at the TV sets. 

Remember : "Panem et Circenses" is still a hit, even (especially ?) in our .com societies. In these cases an opium for the people.

Best regards
Jean-Louis Fullsack 

> Message du 05/10/09 05:35
> De : "Katitza Rodriguez" 
> A : governance at lists.cpsr.org, "Katitza Rodriguez" 
> Copie à : "Carlos A. Afonso" , "Paul Wilson" 
> Objet : Re: [governance] Congratulations
> 
> 
(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 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  (in Greek).
[8] Greek DPA website, available at .
[9] Greek Privacy Watchdog Fines Vodaphone Over Wiretapping Scandal, International Herald Tribune Europe, December 14, 2006, available at .
[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 .
[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 .
[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 ; see also Minas Samatas, “Security and Surveillance in the Athens 2004 Olympics”, available at 

> 
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\""
> 
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 
> 
http://www.apnic.net ph/fx +61 7 3858 3100/99
> 

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> -- 
> 
> Carlos A. Afonso
> CGI.br (www.cgi.br)
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