PrepCom-3, Subcommittee A on Internet Governance
WSIS Civil Society Privacy and Security Working Group 
Statement on Internet Governance and Privacy
22 September 2005

We thank the WGIG for their clear statements on the importance of privacy protection in an ever more connected world. While fully supporting the findings and recommendations, especially paragraph 83, we want to stress some areas of concern to civil society.

A crucial issue in the global information society will be the incorporation of privacy protection into all efforts related to the Internet. Only if everyone can use the internet freely, without fear of constant observation and monitoring,  can it be an open and public infrastructure leading to a “people-centred, inclusive and development-oriented Information Society” that we all envisioned at the first WSIS summit in Geneva. 

To reach this goal, we recommend that privacy capacity-building be integrated  in all programs to expand the use and improve governance of the Internet. Privacy impact assessments also should be mandatory for all projects in this area.

We agree with the WGIG report  thet  there is a lack of globally enforceable standards and legislation for privacy protection on the Internet. We fully support its recommendation to encourage countries that have no legal tradition in this field to develop clear rules and legal frameworks with the participation of all stakeholders. We also strongly agree that efforts to create arrangements and procedures between national law enforcement agencies have to be consistent with the protection of privacy and other human rights.

Just a few days ago , the world’s data protection and privacy commissioners convened in Montreux. We join them in their Montreux Declaration in appealing “to the United Nations to prepare a legal binding instrument which clearly sets out in detail the rights to data protection and privacy as enforceable human rights.”

In line with the declaration, we also encourage the Tunis summit to adopt a commitment to develop a legal framework that ensures the rights to privacy and data protection for all citizens within the Information Society. This echoes the commitment taken by the Iberoamerican summit of Santa Cruz in November 2003 and the summit of Countries that share French language of Ouagadougou in November 2004.

We support the WGIG report recommendation that “the broad set of privacy-related issues described in the WGIG Background Report should be discussed in a multi-stakeholder setting”. We also support the suggestion of the International Working Group on Data Protection in Telecommunications in yesterday’s letter to you, Mr. Chair, to create a global Privacy Forum as a result of the Tunis Summit.

We will submit written language in order to help the subcommittee finalize its work on this important part of the Tunis documents.

PrepCom-3, Subcommittee A on Internet Governance
WSIS Civil Society Privacy and Security Working Group 
Statement on Internet Governance and Privacy
22 September 2005

We thank the WGIG for their clear statements on the importance of privacy protection in an ever more connected world. While fully supporting the findings and recommendations, especially paragraph 83, we want to stress some areas of concern to civil society.

A crucial issue in the global information society will be the incorporation of privacy protection into all efforts related to the Internet. Only if everyone can use the internet freely, without fear of constant observation and monitoring, can it become an open, public infrastructure leading to a “people-centred, inclusive and development-oriented Information Society” that we all envisioned at the first WSIS summit in Geneva. 

To reach this goal, we recommend that privacy capacity-building be integrated in all programs to expand the use and improve governance of the Internet. Privacy impact assessments also should be mandatory for all projects in this area.

We agree with the WGIG report  that  there is a lack of globally enforceable standards and legislation for privacy protection on the Internet. We fully support its recommendation to encourage countries that have no legal tradition in this field to develop clear rules and legal frameworks with the participation of all stakeholders. We also strongly agree that efforts to create arrangements and procedures between national law enforcement agencies be consistent with the protection of privacy and other human rights.

Just a few days ago, the world’s data protection and privacy commissioners convened in Montreux. We join them in their Montreux Declaration appealing “to the United Nations to prepare a legal binding instrument which clearly sets out in detail the rights to data protection and privacy as enforceable human rights.”

In line with the declaration, we also encourage the Tunis summit to adopt a commitment to develop a legal framework that ensures the rights to privacy and data protection for all citizens within the Information Society. This echoes the commitment taken by the Iberoamerican summit of Santa Cruz in November 2003 and the summit of Countries that share French language of Ouagadougou in November 2004.

We support the WGIG report recommendation that “the broad set of privacy-related issues described in the WGIG Background Report should be discussed in a multi-stakeholder setting”. We also support the suggestion of the International Working Group on Data Protection in Telecommunications in yesterday’s letter to you, Mr. Chair, to create a global Privacy Forum as a result of the Tunis Summit.

We will submit written language in order to help the subcommittee finalize its work on this important part of the Tunis documents.