OSCE Representative Urges Governments to Ensure Privacy Amid Surveillance

Governments should not neglect the importance of judicial oversight in the implementation of surveillance programs, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatovic said Friday at the Global Conference on CyberSpace 2015.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Privacy concerns in Western countries escalated after former US National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden, in a series of high-profile information leaks beginning in 2013, exposed the practices of the NSA and other international spy agencies in gaining access to private data of individuals, corporations and governments, in some cases without prior legal authorization.

Mijatovic stated on her Twitter account that human rights are being seriously undermined by current laws.

We need governments working on laws fostering #humanrights, @OSCE_RFoM says at #GCCS2015

— Dunja Mijatovic (@OSCE_RFoM) 17 апреля 2015

Govts are key in the #privace debate, but they need to show more action, less wonderful words on paper @OSCE_RFoM says at #GCCS2015

— Dunja Mijatovic (@OSCE_RFoM) 17 апреля 2015

The April 16-17 Global Conference on CyberSpace 2015 in the Netherlands' Hague is hosting private sector and civil society representatives. The conference mission is to "promote practical cooperation in cyberspace, to enhance cyber capacity building, and to discuss norms for responsible behaviour in cyberspace," according to its website.