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Report

Mass surveillance

  • Doc. 13734
  • 18/03/2015
  • Download en html, en version pdf
  • Photo de l'auteur  Author OMTZIGT, Pieter   Netherlands
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Committee
Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Session
2015 - Second part-session
  • Motion for a resolution 
  • Report 
  • Committee Opinion 
    • Amendment(s) -> Report
  • Resolution  N° 2045 
  • Recommendation  N° 2067 
  • Reply to Recommendation 
Summary

The Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights is deeply concerned about mass surveillance and large-scale intrusion practices disclosed since June 2013 by Mr Edward Snowden. The disclosures have provided compelling evidence of the existence of far-reaching, technologically advanced systems put in place by US intelligence services and their partners in certain Council of Europe member States to collect, store and analyse communication data, including content, location and other metadata, on a massive scale. In several countries, a massive “Surveillance-Industrial Complex” has evolved, which risks escaping democratic control and accountability and threatens the free and open character of our societies.

The surveillance practices disclosed endanger fundamental human rights, including the rights to privacy (Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights), freedom of information and expression (Article 10), and the rights to a fair trial (Article 6) and freedom of religion (Article 9). The committee is also deeply worried about threats to Internet security by the practice of certain intelligence agencies of seeking out systematically, using and even creating “back doors” and other weaknesses in security standards and implementation, which could easily be exploited also by terrorists and cyberterrorists or other criminals.

The committee also recognises the need for transatlantic co-operation in the fight against terrorism and other forms of organised crime. But it considers that such co-operation must be based on mutual trust based on respect for human rights and the rule of law. In order to rebuild trust, a legal and technical framework must be put in place at the national and international level which ensures the protection of human rights, especially that which secures the right to privacy. An effective tool for the enforcement of such a legal and technical framework, besides enhanced judicial and parliamentary scrutiny, is credible protection extended to whistle-blowers who expose violations.

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