[Privsec] Privacy and Human Rights as an Enabler to the Information Society

[Robert Guerra]

We need a max 3 to 5 min intervention that will be spoken on 
Thursday  as part of the CS  internet governance input.

The latest draft is below and @ the wiki . if you have any suggested 
revisions please make then on the wiki. deadline  is Tomorrow 
afternoon.


regards

Robert


http://wiki.digitaldivide.net/wiki/index.php/Drafting_Space_for_WGIG_Input


 From Digital Divide Wiki

Privacy and Human Rights as an Enabler to the Information Society

We would like to draw privacy and human rights to the attention of 
those involved in the WSIS process and the Working Group on Internet 
Governance.

Privacy is an essential human right, and is enshrined in the UN 
Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant of 
Political and Civil Rights. Its importance as a basis for the 
development of a democratic society is stressed time and again by the 
UN Human Rights Committee and by the UN High Commissioner for Human 
Rights. It has also been emphasized by regional instruments such as 
the European Court of Human Right or the OECD.

In an ŒInformation Society¹, where almost all attributes of an 
individual can be known, all interactions mapped, and all intentions 
assumed based on records, the need for protection of privacy is 
crucial to retain a sense of freedom.

Privacy encourages co-operation and trust. Whether in support groups 
on-line, or in consultations with doctors and counsellors, or within 
the marketplace, such interactions are supported by privacy.

Following from the WSIS declaration in Geneva in 2003 and the work of 
the WGIG, we insist that privacy is not only protected offline, but 
also on the internet.

     * One detailed example is the next generation internet protocol, 
IPv6. The the right-most 64 bits of the address field contain EUI-64 
Ethernet information, which is normally not transmitted outside the 
local network. Included in this are information on the manufacturer 
of the network card and the user's Ethernet address. That means: 
Every packet you send out onto the public Internet using IPv6 has 
your fingerprints on it. And unlike your IP address under IPv4, which 
you can change and that can be assigned dynamically, this address is 
embedded in your hardware permanently. Therefore fully anonymous 
internet access will no longer be possible.

Other examples we just briefly want to mention:

     * Access policies that include marketing and advertising regimes, 
or policies that promote the creation of web-services that do not 
adequately protect users' privacy will create inequalities in the 
protection of fundamental human rights.
     * Voice-over IP policies and standards that promote surveillance 
over confidentiality of communications may inhibit the growth 
potential of this technology.
     * Initiatives on unlawful speech and measures to protect 
intellectual property may cast wide nets through the collection of 
personal information, which will in turn chill free expression.
     * Requirements to disclose your identity prior to speak, whether 
through policies on domain names or through authentication protocols, 
will unnecessarily hamper free expression.
     * Agreements, standards and protocols on network security that do 
not first protect the privacy of individuals will affect all conduct 
within the Information Society.
     * We must consider policies on education that remind us all of 
the importance of human rights, not merely as something that we would 
like, but as necessities.

Privacy and other human rights protect the greatest social value: 
human dignity. We have seen far too many times the gross 
mis-carriages of justice that were enabled through vast surveillance 
and curtailment of other human rights. These mis-carriages are not 
only blights upon our legal systems but they reflect negatively upon 
our societies and our sense of humanity.

Privacy protects individual autonomy and human agency. Knowing 
everything about someone reduces that person to a set of known facts, 
controllable and manipulatable. As long as a zone of autonomy exists 
around the individual, the opportunities for abuse and oppression are 
lessened. Privacy provides a core pre-condition to participation, a 
most basic civil liberty. Privacy is thus a fundamental component to 
freedom.
-- 
###
Robert Guerra <rguerra at privaterra.org>
Privaterra - <http://www.privaterra.org>