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EFF, European Digital Rights (EDRi), the Samuelson-Glushko Canadian Internet Policy & Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC), and other civil society organizations have worked closely on recommendations to strengthen human rights protections in a flawed international cross border police surveillance treaty drafted by the Council of Europe (CoE). At a virtual hearing today before the CoE Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, EFF Policy Director for Global Privacy Katitza Rodriguez presented a summary of the concerns we and our partners have about the treaty’s weak privacy and human rights safeguards.
There is much at stake, as the draft Second Additional Protocol to the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime will reshape cross-border law enforcement data-gathering on a global scale. The Protocol’s objectives are to facilitate cross-border investigations between countries with varying legal systems and standards for accessing people’s personal information. In her testimony, the text of which is published in full below, Rodriguez highlighted key shortcomings in the Protocol, and recommendations for fixing them.
EFF Testimony and Statement to Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, Parliamentary Assembly, Council of Europe
At the highest level, the current Protocol should establish clear and enforceable baseline safeguards in cross-border evidence gathering, but fails to do so. Though new police powers are mandatory, corresponding privacy protections are frequently optional, and the Protocol repeatedly defers to harmonised safeguards in an active attempt to entice states with weaker human rights records to sign on. The result is a net dilution of privacy and human rights on a global scale. But the right to privacy is a universal right. International law enforcement powers should come with detailed legal safeguards for privacy and data protection. When it comes to data protection, Convention 108+ should be the global reference. By its recommendations to the Counc
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Read the original article: EFF and Allies Urge Council of Europe to Add Strong Human Rights Safeguards Before Final Adoption of Flawed Cross Border Surveillance Treaty