UN pushes for online privacy protections

On November 25, the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a resolution on protecting "online privacy" submitted by Germany and Brazil, urging governments to provide adequate compensation to citizens who are victims of widespread surveillance programs.

Illustrative photo. (Source: AFP/VNA)

The resolution received the approval of 65 supporting countries such as France, Russia, European countries and countries in the "Five Eyes" intelligence alliance including the US, UK, Canada, New Zealand and Australia after many weeks of negotiations.

The resolution states that governments should provide individuals whose privacy is violated by illegal surveillance activities with access to effective security measures.

Accordingly, individuals can access metadata, a data "reservoir" that helps users hide personal information when accessing their email accounts.

The document also urges the Human Rights Council to promptly appoint an envoy on online privacy to ensure the issue remains on the international agenda.

German Ambassador to the United Nations Harald Braun stressed that the use of tracking technology on a large scale would harm the personal privacy of Internet users.

Mr. Braun urged countries to be cautious and restrained when conducting investigations into people's information to ensure that human rights are not violated.

Meanwhile, the Canadian representative stressed the need for a broad-based discussion on this issue with the participation of governments, industry, civil society organizations and the technology community.

Previously, the above resolution was approved by the United Nations Human Rights Committee at the end of November last year after the scandal of the US National Security Agency (NSA) wiretapping the phones and monitoring the emails of many world leaders was exposed, causing a wave of strong criticism of the spying activities of the US intelligence system.

It is expected that the above document will be voted on before the entire United Nations General Assembly next December.

Resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly are usually not binding, but resolutions that receive support from a majority of members can have quite important political influence./.

According to VNA