UN Photo / Jean-Marc Ferré

Obama Needs to Use This U.N. Meeting to Back Privacy as a Human Right

As the U.N. meets this week to review the U.S.’s human rights record and NSA spying, President Obama should heed his rhetoric. By Steven Watt

Since the summer, Americans have learned that the National Security Agency has routinely violated their right to privacy for more than a decade. The world, however, learned they had no such right, whatsoever—at least in so far as the U.S. is concerned—as more and more of the NSA’s worldwide surveillance apparatus was revealed. Months later, the global uproar over NSA surveillance, fueled by stories of the NSA tapping German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s personal cell phone, led President Barack Obama to concede that everyone should be afforded some level of privacy from U.S. spying.

“[U.S.] intelligence activities must take into account that all persons should be treated with dignity and respect, regardless of their nationality or wherever they might reside,” the president said in January, “and that all persons have legitimate privacy interests in the handling of their personal information.”

President Obama’s recognition of privacy as a human right, however deficient, isn’t new. It’s actually the law. In 1992, the U.S. ratified the United Nations’ International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, a human rights treaty that guarantees privacy rights. More specifically, Article 17 protects everyone from arbitrary or unlawful interferences with their “privacy, family, home or correspondence.” 

What these protections mean today in our digital age of mass surveillance by the NSA and other intelligence agencies has been one of the many issues considered in Geneva this week, as the U.N. Human Rights Committee –a group of independent human rights experts tasked with overseeing compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights—reviews the U.S.’s human rights record, both at home and overseas. Indeed, the right to privacy, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, is one of the most pressing issues facing the committee during its 110th session.

To assist the review of the U.S.’s compliance with the human right to privacy, the ACLU released today a report that provides a framework for the proper interpretation of Article 17’s privacy protections in the digital age. Although today’s powerful and sophisticated technologies can allow us greater enjoyment of our human rights, they are dual-use. When placed in the wrong hands, these technologies undermine the human right to privacy as well as threaten other rights, such as freedom of speech, assembly, and association.

As President Obama’s Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies has acknowledged, “[i]f people are fearful that their conversations are being monitored, expressions of doubt about or opposition to current policies and leaders may be chilled, and the democratic process itself may be compromised.”  

Democracy building through promotion of Internet freedom is a stated aim of U.S foreign policy, however hypocritical that seems when the NSA’s mission is to defeat the very concept of privacy outside of U.S. borders. Inadequate privacy protections seriously undermine this goal.  

This is just one of the reasons why Article 17, particularly as it relates to our online lives and the digital data we produce each day, should encompass broad privacy protections and very limited restrictions. For example, protections for the “home” should extend not only to the physical spaces we inhabit but also those virtual spaces, such as Facebook and the cloud, where our time is increasingly spent. Our “home” should also include the personal devices such as computers and smart-phones that we use to access these virtual spaces.

Article 17 should also take a common sense approach to metadata, such as what numbers people call, the websites they visit and the location data their devices generate. While our government has argued in U.S. courts that metadata has few constitutional protections, the information couldn’t be more revealing, especially when aggregated over time. Since metadata can reveal the most intimate details of our daily lives and routines, privacy rights protected by Article 17 recognize it as a form of communication that should be shielded from the prying eyes of governments. When interpreted correctly, the human right to privacy should draw no artificial or spurious distinctions between metadata and the contents of our communications.

Privacy rights, however, are not absolute. Governments can legitimately interfere with a person’s privacy under narrow circumstances, such as during emergencies or threats to national security. These circumstances, however, do not provide the government with a license to run roughshod over people’s privacy rights. 

Instead, governments must justify their actions and show that any interference with privacy, such as surveillance powers, is established in laws and regulations, which are clear and precise, necessary to achieve legitimate government objectives, and proportionate to achieving those limited goals. Privacy also requires an independent, impartial, and competent judicial or administrative tribunal to oversee the government’s conduct. And when abuse and mistakes occur, government officials and others responsible must be held accountable.

The NSA’s mass surveillance programs fail to meet these exacting standards. And in doing so, they violate the United States’ international human rights obligation to respect and ensure the privacy rights of U.S. and non-U.S. citizens, both inside and outside the United States, alike. 

This year, President Obama singled out China and Russia as countries that fail to discuss their surveillance programs or the privacy concerns of their citizens and others.  He also announced that our government should be “held to a different standard precisely because we have been at the forefront of defending personal privacy and human dignity.” Unfortunately, the United States record on privacy belies this rhetoric.  To start regaining its human rights leadership role, the United States should recognize, without equivocation, that privacy is a human right.

Steven Watt is a senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union’s Human Rights Program. 

NEXT STORY: What Would Jimmy Carter Do?

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.