The United Nations Ad Hoc Committee is just weeks away from
finalizing a too-broad Cybercrime Draft Convention. This draft would
normalize unchecked domestic surveillance and rampant government
overreach, allowing serious human rights abuses around the world.
The
latest draft of the convention—originally spearheaded by Russia but
since then the subject of two and a half years of negotiations—still
authorizes broad surveillance powers without robust safeguards and fails
to spell out data protection principles essential to prevent government
abuse of power.
As the August 9 finalization date approaches,
Member States have a last chance to address the convention’s lack of
safeguards: prior judicial authorization, transparency, user
notification, independent oversight, and data protection principles such
as transparency, minimization, notification to users, and purpose
limitation. If left as is, it can and will be wielded as a tool for
systemic rights violations.
Countries committed to human rights
and the rule of law must unite to demand stronger data protection and
human rights safeguards or reject the treaty altogether. These domestic
surveillance powers are critical as they underpin international
surveillance cooperation....<<<Read More>>>...