Search

Reports Of The Death Of Communications Privacy Are Greatly Exaggerated: Reflections On The Recent UN Human Rights Committee Findings On South Africa

19th April 2016

This guest piece was written by Jane Duncan of the Right2Know Campaign. It does not necessarily reflect the views or position of Privacy International. On 23rd March the United Nations Human Rights Committee released its assessment on South Africa’s compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The report includes a blistering attack on the Government for failing to respect the privacy of the communications of users and makes recommendations to reform the…

Content type: Press release

European Court invalidates Data Retention Directive, says mass surveillance of metadata interferes with right to privacy

8th April 2014

The ruling today from the European Court of Justice, invalidating the European Union’s 2006 Data Retention Directive policy, was strong and unequivocal: the right to privacy provides a fundamental barrier between the individual and powerful institutions, and laws allowing for indiscriminate, blanket retention on this scale are completely unacceptable. As the Court states, it is not, and never was, proportionate to spy on the entire population of Europe. The types of data retained under this…