In a report released on September 16, the UN looks into the issue of the misuse of intrusive hacking tools (“spyware”) by public authorities. The United Nations also highlights the key role of strong encryption methods in protecting human rights online, and the negative impacts of widespread digital surveillance of public spaces, both offline and online.
Smartphones and public space surveillance endanger people’s privacy
Today, all smartphones are used by surveillance companies to set up Pegasus-type spyware. The UN report describes how such spyware is used to endanger democratic systems by suppressing critical opinions. The old practical limits to the scope of monitoring have been swept away by “the automated collection and analysis of large-scale data”, as well as new digitized identity systems and vast biometric databases that compound the scale of these surveillance measures. The report calls for limiting the retention period of data and immediately restricting the use of biometric recognition systems in public spaces.
A lack of information about monitoring mechanisms
The UN highlights the lack of public awareness of how these technologies work. Among other protective measures, the report suggests that governments take immediate steps to effectively increase transparency in the use of surveillance technologies, including by providing appropriate information to the public, affected individuals and communities, and providing regular relevant data for the public to assess their effectiveness and impact on human rights.