back to article The UN made privacy a human right – but that's not good enough for Team Snowden

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden has backed calls to make privacy a basic human right. Y'know, Article 12 of the United Nations' declaration of human rights states that "no one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy," but whatever. It seems Snowden wants all governments, including those not in the UN, to …

  1. IT Hack

    Article 12

    So you are advocating that Article 12 is enough? Have to applaud your optimism.

    1. Graham Marsden
      Devil

      Re: Article 12

      Well you know just how good countries (especially ones like the UK and the USA) are at protecting people's Rights and Liberties according to the Conventions they've signed up to...

      ...or, at least, protecting the Rights and Liberties of people they like and agree with...

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Article 12

      So you are advocating that Article 12 is enough? Have to applaud your optimism.

      Indeed. A Saudi diplomat has just been appointed as the Head of the United Nations Human Rights Council panel. A representative of a country where people are beheaded for homosexuality and sorcery, and women aren't allowed to drive. How does that work?

  2. Tom Chiverton 1

    KARMA POLICE wasn't "arbitrary" (from a certain point of view). They knew exactly what they were doing.

  3. Mark 85

    Irony alert.

    "What's happening here happens in France, it happens in the UK, it happens in every country, every place, to every person." says he, from a country well-known for privacy invasion.

    1. Robert Helpmann??
      Childcatcher

      Re: Irony alert.

      Yes, the irony is delicious, but the comment is no less true for all of that. One may lionize or condemn the man while still affording critical consideration to his ideas.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Joke

        Re: Irony alert.

        Well, the NSA could simply send a dentist to take care of him.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Childcatcher

      Re: Irony alert.

      "says he, from a country well-known for privacy invasion."

      Which one is that then: France, UK or US? Here in the UK we have RIPA and friends enshrined in law: They are not exactly a shining beacon of freedom. Funny how you get used to being spied upon and how your civil liberties dribble away.

      Non UK commentards or those from the UK who haven't noticed: Try taking a Google earth (or similar) drive along the M42 south of Birmingham from say here: 52.382248, -1.784587 Northbound (we drive on the left here). Look out for the cameras. There are loads of ordinary lampposts which are inverted L shaped but look for the inverted J shaped posts and the rest, those are cameras (you'll miss many of them). There are rather a lot of them - far more than is needed for traffic safety or flow monitoring. I estimate one per quarter mile. I find it a little intimidating to be honest, but hey I've got nothing to hide so I don't know why I feel a little paranoid driving along there.

      1. Fraggle850

        Re: Irony alert.

        I was working in a highways control centre in Birmingham as they rolled out the M42 Active Traffic Management pilot scheme (the variable speed limit gantries with average speed cameras and hard shoulder peak flow usage that was later deemed successful and rolled out on the M6 and presumably elsewhere). We had access to motorway cameras and saw these new ones come online. From an incident management perspective the increase in coverage is useful, especially so in the context of ATM where the hard shoulder becomes an active lane during peak periods. The intended use is innocuous, although if you are doing something illegal then it is in full view of the police.

        People do engage in dangerous activities on the motorway and can put others in danger too. Heading off problems before they become incidents is a good thing in this case.

        That's not to say that they don't have the potential for misuse though. I don't know whether they are integrated with ANPR, would make sense to do so if you're installing the kit. Probably best to assume that if you are in a car you can be tracked. Such systems exist in urban environments too.

        1. DocJames

          Re: Irony alert.

          @Fraggle850 and AC:

          this is why I read the comments: great information. Glad (some) of the paranoia is not required...

          1. Fraggle850

            Re: Irony alert.

            Cheers but I wouldn't suspend paranoia, they may be ostensibly innocuous but any technology is open to abuse. If I was the mayor of spooksville I'd want to be able to access these cameras. I don't doubt for a second that if you were deemed of sufficient interest then you could be automatically tracked whenever you passed an ANPR connected camera. As to whether these are connected, I guess that depends on how joined up government thinking is.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Irony alert.

        Those cameras are along the section of motorway where hard-shoulder running is used during peak periods. They are used to ensure the hard shoulder is clear before it is opened for the avoidance of 'hilarious consequences' - a totally innocuous use I'm afraid. There are a lot of them so the entire hard shoulder can be seen at all times.

      3. Mark 85

        Re: Irony alert.

        Which one? Take your pick... he's from the US and living in Russia. I intentionally didn't name a country since those two seem hell-bent on digging into everyone's privacy. The others you mention could apply as well but he's not "from" there, nor speaking "from" there.

  4. crayon

    Getting countries to sign up to a new treaty is the easy part. Getting them to abide by it is somewhat harder. If countries can redefine torture as "enhanced interrogation", then the invasion of privacy can also be redefined to sound more friendly and less threatening.

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like