Civil society letter to United States Congress on Internet and telecommunications surveillance

Members of US Congress:

We write as a coalition of civil society organizations from around the world to express our serious alarm regarding revelations of Internet and telephone communications surveillance of US and non-US citizens by the US government. We also wish to express our grave concern that US authorities may have made the data resulting from those surveillance activities available to other States, including the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Canada, Belgium, Australia and New Zealand.¹ Many US-based Internet companies with global reach also seem to be participating in these practices.²

The introduction of surveillance mechanisms at the heart of global digital communications severely threatens human rights in the digital age. These new forms of decentralized power reflect fundamental shifts in the structure of information systems in modern societies.³ Any step in this direction needs to be scrutinized through ample, deep and transparent debate. Interference with the human rights of citizens by any government, their own or foreign, is unacceptable. The situation of a citizen unable to communicate private thoughts without surveillance by a foreign state not only violates the rights to privacy and human dignity, but also threatens the fundamental rights to freedom of thought, opinion and expression, and association that are at the center of any democratic practice. Such actions are unacceptable and raise serious concerns about extra-territorial breaches of human rights. The inability of citizens to know if they are subject to foreign surveillance, to challenge such surveillance, or to seek remedies is even more alarming.⁴

The contradiction between the persistent affirmation of human rights online by the US government and the recent allegations of what appears to be mass surveillance of US and non-US citizens by that same government is very disturbing and carries negative repercussions on the global stage. A blatant and systematic disregard for the human rights articulated in Articles 17 and 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which the United States is signatory, as well as Articles 12 and 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is suggested. Bearing in mind that the US must engage in a long overdue discussion about how to update and modernize its policy to align with its own founding documents and principles, what happens next in legislative and Executive Branch oversight in the US will have huge and irreversible consequences for the promotion and protection of the human rights of people around the world.

It is also notable that the United States government supported the United Nations Human Rights Council Resolution 20/8, which “[a]ffirms that the same rights that people have offline must also be protected online, in particular freedom of expression …”⁵ and, just a few days ago, on June 10, the US was part of a core group of countries that drafted a cross regional statement, which correctly emphasized “that when addressing any security concerns on the Internet, this must be done in a manner consistent with states’ obligations under international human rights law and full respect for human rights must be maintained.”⁶ That was apparently not the case with the latest practices of the US Government. Besides representing a major violation of fundamental human rights of people worldwide, the incoherence between practices and public statements by the US also undermines the moral credibility of the country within the global community that fights for human rights, as they apply to the Internet and fatally impacts consumers’ trust in all American companies that provide worldwide services.

On 10 June, 2013 many signatories to this letter joined together to raise our concerns to the United Nations Human Rights Council.⁷ We did so against the background of the recent report of the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression, Mr. Frank La Rue.⁸ This report detailed worrying trends in state surveillance of communications with serious implications for the exercise of the human rights to privacy and to freedom of opinion and expression. We note that US-based stakeholders have also written a letter to Congress to express their concerns about the compliance of the current national surveillance program with domestic law.⁹

We are also extremely disappointed that, in all the post ‘disclosures’ statements, US authorities have only insisted that there was no access obtained to content related to US citizens, and just their communication meta-data was collected. There has not been a word on the issue of large-scale access to content related to non US citizens, which constitute an almost certain human rights violation. The focusing of the US authorities on the difference between treatment of US citizens and non-citizens on an issue which essentially relates to violation of human rights is very problematic. Human rights are universal, and every government must refrain from violating them for all people, and not merely for its citizens. We strongly advocate that current and future legal provisions and practices take this fact into due consideration.

We therefore urge the Obama administration and the United States Congress to take immediate action to dismantle existing, and prevent the creation of future, global Internet and telecommunications based surveillance systems. We additionally urge the US Administration, the FBI and the Attorney General to allow involved or affected companies to publish statistics of past and future Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) requests they have received or may receive.¹⁰ We further call on the US Congress to establish protections for government whistleblowers in order to better ensure that the public is adequately informed about abuses of power that violate the fundamental human rights of the citizens of all countries, US and other.¹¹ We also join Humans Rights Watch in urging the creation of an independent panel with subpoena power and all necessary security clearances to examine current practices and to make recommendations to ensure appropriate protections for the rights to privacy, free expression, and association. The results of this panel should be broadly published.

[1] http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d0873f38-d1c5-11e2-9336-00144feab7de.html, https://www.bof.nl/2013/06/11/bits-of-freedom-dutch-spooks-must-stop-use-of-prism/ and http://www.standaard.be/cnt/DMF20130610_063.
[2] Including Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube, and Apple: http://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/us-intelligence-mining-data-from-nine-us-internet-companies-in-broad-secret-program/2013/06/06/3a0c0da8-cebf-11e2-8845-d970ccb04497_story.html
[3] http://www.state.gov/statecraft/overview/
[4] (A/HRC/23/40)
[5] http://ap.ohchr.org/documents/dpage_e.aspx?si=A/HRC/RES/20/8
[6] http://geneva.usmission.gov/2013/06/10/internet-freedom-5/
[7] http://bestbits.net/prism-nsa
[8](A/HRC/23/40)
[9] Asking the U.S. government to allow Google to publish more national security request data http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2013/06/asking-us-government-to-allow-google-to.html
[10] https://www.stopwatching.us/
[11] The just-released Global Principles on National Security and Freedom of Information (the Tshwane Principles) which address the topic of Whistleblowing and National Security provide relevant guidance in this regard: http://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/sites/default/files/Global%20Principles%20on%20National%20Security%20and%20the%20Right%20to%20Information%20%28Tshwane%20Principles%29%20-%20June%202013.pdf.

Organisational endorsements

89		Ligue des Droits de l'Homme	France	Jun 29, 2013
88		AEDH - European association for the defence of human rights	Belgium	Jun 28, 2013
87		Fundación Puerto Rico en Marcha, Inc.	Puerto Rico	Jun 24, 2013
86		Idec - Brazilian Institute for Consumer Defense	Brazil	Jun 24, 2013
85		US-JAPAN-CHINA COMPARATIVE POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE	USA	Jun 24, 2013
84		CEO Pipe Organs/Golden Ponds Farm	USA	Jun 22, 2013
83		ASOCIACIÓN PRO DERECHOS HUMANOS DE ANDALUCIA (APDHA)	España	Jun 21, 2013
82		Centrum Cyfrowe Projekt: Polska	Poland	Jun 20, 2013
81		Partido Nacionalista de Puerto Rico	Puerto Rico	Jun 19, 2013
80		LDH Autun-Morvan	France	Jun 19, 2013
79		COMPLUTENSE UNIVERSITY MADRID	ESPAÑA	Jun 19, 2013
78		Creative Commons Korea	South Korea	Jun 19, 2013
77		Foundation for Media Alternatives	Philippines	Jun 19, 2013
76		Citoyen	France	Jun 18, 2013
75		GLOBAL ILLUMINATORS INTERNATIONAL	Malaysia	Jun 18, 2013
74		Ligue française des Droits de l'Homme	FRANCE	Jun 18, 2013
73		CreeperHost LTD	England	Jun 18, 2013
72		ISOC-CAT, Catalan Chapter of the Internet Society		Jun 18, 2013
71		People Who	USA	Jun 18, 2013
70		SONTUSDATOS	Mexico	Jun 18, 2013
69		World Wide Web Foundation		Jun 18, 2013
68		Electronic Frontiers Australia	Australia	Jun 18, 2013
67		Global Partners Digital	UK	Jun 18, 2013
66		Internet Society - Catalan Chapter	Catalonia (Spain)	Jun 18, 2013
65		SARANGBANG Group for Humna Rights	SOUTH KOREA	Jun 18, 2013
64		Right2Know Campaign	South Africa	Jun 18, 2013
63		Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore	India	Jun 18, 2013
62		Software Freedom Law Centre	India	Jun 18, 2013
61		GreenNet	United Kingdom	Jun 17, 2013
60		Centre for Communication Governance, National Law University, Delhi	India	Jun 17, 2013
59		Public Knowledge	USA	Jun 17, 2013
58		Initiative für Netzfreiheit	Austria	Jun 17, 2013
57		Liga voor Mensenrechten	Belgium	Jun 17, 2013
56		ICT4 Development Consulting	St Vincent and the Grenadines	Jun 17, 2013
55		Tol Ardor	France	Jun 17, 2013
54		Digitale Gesellschaft	Schweiz	Jun 17, 2013
53		Internet Governance Forum of Pakistan	Pakistan	Jun 17, 2013
52		Thai Netizen Network	Thailand	Jun 17, 2013
51		Center for Technology and Society (CTS/FGV)	Brazil	Jun 17, 2013
50		Civil Society Internet Governance Caucus		Jun 17, 2013
49		European Digital Rights (EDRi)	Belgium	Jun 17, 2013
48		Media	Germany	Jun 17, 2013
47		Electronic Frontier Foundation		Jun 17, 2013
46		University of Costa Rica	Costa Rica	Jun 17, 2013
45		Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice	South Korea	Jun 17, 2013
44		SIMENTOR AD & KOI SARLAU ( ADVERTISING AGENCY )	MOROCCO	Jun 16, 2013
43		Internet Rights & Principles Coalition (UN IGF)		Jun 16, 2013
42		Asia Pacific Workers Solidarity Links Corea	KOREA	Jun 15, 2013
41		Bytes for All, Pakistan	Pakistan	Jun 15, 2013
40		Citizens' Action Network	South Korea	Jun 15, 2013
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Individual endorsements

283		Sylvie Morse		Jun 29, 2013
282		Knut Albrecht	Germany	Jun 29, 2013
281		Serge Garcia Lang	Luxembourg	Jun 29, 2013
280		Norbert Ehlinger	Luxembourg	Jun 28, 2013
279		jean wittmer	france	Jun 28, 2013
278		Gerard MOINE	France	Jun 28, 2013
277		Rossana Valentini	Luxembourg	Jun 28, 2013
276		Paul MORSE		Jun 28, 2013
275		Raymond KERPEDRON	FRANCE	Jun 28, 2013
274		serge kollwelter	Luxembourg	Jun 28, 2013
273		dupong chantal	Luxembourg	Jun 28, 2013
272		elise kastner	france	Jun 27, 2013
271		Howard Chu	Canada	Jun 27, 2013
270		Mihai Dragan	Romania	Jun 27, 2013
269		l'hostis isabelle	france	Jun 26, 2013
268		philippe gigout	france	Jun 25, 2013
267		Annie RICHARD	France	Jun 25, 2013
266		laurence masliah	France	Jun 25, 2013
265		Isabelle MANGINI	France	Jun 25, 2013
264		Carri Wacyk	France	Jun 25, 2013
263		Jean-Michel AMILLARD	France	Jun 25, 2013
262		Pierre-Yves Pirolet	France	Jun 24, 2013
261		François Rancillac	France	Jun 24, 2013
260		Miguel Antonio Reyes Walker	Puerto Rico	Jun 24, 2013
259		anne-marie LOZANO	France	Jun 24, 2013
258		Frederic Rebotier	France	Jun 24, 2013
257		Jean-Christophe Aguas	France	Jun 24, 2013
256		Anne marie mabon	France	Jun 23, 2013
255		Harold Conde	USA	Jun 23, 2013
254		Michèle PASTORELLI	France	Jun 23, 2013
253		Henri Rossi	France	Jun 23, 2013
252		Scott Galloway	United States of America	Jun 23, 2013
251		Armand BIBAUD	France	Jun 23, 2013
250		jacqueline BASSET	FRANCE	Jun 23, 2013
249		Axel Trinon	Mexico	Jun 22, 2013
248		Elodie Vaillant		Jun 22, 2013
247		Robin EL MOUAHIDINE	France	Jun 22, 2013
246		Philippe LEQUESNE	FRANCE	Jun 22, 2013
245		Jean LOISON	France	Jun 22, 2013
244		anne-marie CEDIEY	FRANCE	Jun 22, 2013
243		Peter Michanek	Sweden	Jun 22, 2013
242		Giorgiana Dragos	Romania	Jun 22, 2013
241		aurore faivre	France	Jun 22, 2013
240		Jonas Golland	United Kingdom	Jun 21, 2013
239		Brandon Jarvinen	US	Jun 21, 2013
238		Mario Mayer	Austria	Jun 21, 2013
237		ghobrini hannane	france	Jun 20, 2013
236		Robert Hinz	USA	Jun 20, 2013
235		Álvaro Gutiérrez	Spain	Jun 20, 2013
234		Nathalie Robisco	France	Jun 20, 2013
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