European Rights Body Again Rejects Mass Surveillance

Europe’s top rights body, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), has crystalized its censure of mass surveillance as a threat to fundamental human rights and to democracy itself by adopting a draft resolution in which it reiterates deep concerns over the practice of intelligence agencies systematically harvesting untargeted communications data, without adequate legal regulation or technical protection.

European Rights Body Again Rejects Mass Surveillance Europelitup-e1427462133676

European Rights Body Again Rejects Mass Surveillance Europelitup-e1427462133676

“Mass surveillance does not appear to have contributed to the prevention of terrorist attacks, contrary to earlier assertions made by senior intelligence officials. Instead, resources that might prevent attacks are diverted to mass surveillance, leaving potentially dangerous persons free to act,” PACE warned yesterday.
“These powerful structures risk escaping democratic control and accountability and they threaten the free and open character of our societies,” it added.
The Council took evidence from NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden last year as part of its investigation into mass surveillance — going on to publish a lengthy report back in January.
That report also included concerns about intelligence agencies seeking to systematically perforate Internet security — a topical concern, given the U.S. secretary of Homeland Security was only yesterday speaking out against the ‘dangers’ of pervasive encryption. PACE’s draft resolution includes the same “deep” worries about threats to Internet security from “certain intelligence agencies”.
PACE’s new draft resolution is based on the findings from its earlier report, and contains a series of specific recommendations — including that:

court orders granted on the basis of reasonable suspicion should be required for without-consent collection and analysis of personal data (including metadata)
better judicial and parliamentary control of intelligence services
an “intelligence codex” defining mutual obligations that secret services could opt into
“credible, effective protection” for whistle-blowers exposing unlawful surveillance
further development of user-friendly (automatic) data protection techniques capable of countering mass surveillance and any other threats to Internet security
refrain from exporting advanced surveillance technologies to authoritarian regimes

http://techcrunch.com/2015/04/22/european-rights-body-again-rejects-mass-surveillance/

European Rights Body Again Rejects Mass Surveillance

European Rights Body Again Rejects Mass Surveillance

Anarcho-Capitalist Categorical Imperatives

AnCaps On Rights, Individualism & Lifestyles