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The Global Status Of Privacy Rights
by William New
A new report on privacy and human rights in 55 countries shows that powers for law enforcement and national security agencies have been increased at an unprecedented rate worldwide since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The annual report by the Electronic Privacy Information Center and Privacy International outlines legal protections for privacy and highlights key issues and events on privacy and surveillance.
In response to the Sept. 11 attacks, many countries have adopted policies that "tend to increase the surveillance of communications and search and seizure powers for law enforcement and national security agencies, weaken data-protection regimes, intensify data sharing, and increase profiling and identification schemes," the report said. "While none of the above trends are necessarily new, the novelty is the speed in which these policies gained acceptance, and in many cases became law." But the report also notes more public opposition to broader police powers.
Countries with more powers to intercept communications include Australia, France, New Zealand, South Africa and Switzerland. Their laws make it easier for law enforcement to obtain customer data from Internet service providers and telecommunications companies.
Another phenomenon identified in the report is "function creep," in which laws against terrorism are extended beyond their primary goal. Denmark and New Zealand have new anti-terrorism laws that also give new powers against criminal activities not related to terrorism. Russia also has a bill that could be applied beyond terrorism.
Governments also have shown a greater interest in new surveillance technologies to help prevent terrorist attacks or fight crime. The technologies include video surveillance, "smart cards" coded with data such as fingerprints, traveler-profiling mechanisms, facial recognition and biometrics, the report said. Governments are using the technologies along borders despite their unproven effectiveness, the report argued, and companies are beginning to profile their customers.
Countries such as Belgium and Germany are tracking the origins of mobile phone calls, and some new laws, such as in South Korea, get companies to put the technologies in every mobile phone. And Australia and the Slovak Republic are constructing new DNA databases.
Finland has developed radio-frequency identification tags for tracking purposes and proposed installing them on euro currency and in consumer products. Many countries are developing identification and authentication systems. For instance, Austria is implementing a social-security smart card, and Belgium is the first European country to embed a digital signature in an identity card for e-government and commercial transactions. Singapore, Germany, Malaysia, the Netherlands and Spain also have developed or are developing ID systems.
The report also catalogs successful opposition to laws and advocacy by civil-liberties groups.
European Copyright Fees May Quintuple
The Business Software Alliance (BSA) on Tuesday released a study that predicts that fees on digital media and equipment in the European Union will rise 500 percent from 2002 to 2006. The study predicts that the fivefold increase in the amounts collected in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain as a result of implementation of a European Union copyright directive.
At a Monday conference on anti-piracy efforts in Brussels, Belgium, the headquarters of the European Union, industry issued a "call to action" to the European Commission, which is the EU regulatory arm. "Industry sees the commission's role as vital to ensuring competitiveness in a crucial sector and reflecting technological advances on how new levies schemes are being enacted," BSA said in a release. "The study paints a particularly dismal picture for consumers and industry in Germany," where projected growth is sevenfold, it added.
Francisco Mingorance, BSA's European director, said the rapid rise in levies undercuts the European goal of being the world's top knowledge-based economy by 2010. "How will Europe plan on being the number one knowledge-based economy in 10 years if we sandbag the technology sector with levies -- costs for companies and consumers alike?" he said.
BSA argues that the findings make a case for Europe to consider anti-piracy technologies like those used in the United States. The group said such systems offer a "modern, consumer-friendly technological solution to paying authors for use of their content and complement the important role of collecting societies in the protection of authors' rights."
According to the study, levies collected on digital media and equipment in 2006 could exceed losses due to piracy by the content industries in 2002. Mingorance warned that extending copyright levies could confuse consumers and lead them to believe that the multiple fees they pay on their equipment allows them to copy products and engage in illegal file sharing.
The study was prepared for BSA by Rightscom, and looked at five European countries where levy regimes are either well established or in development. The study analyzes market data for 2001 and 2002 and makes projections for 2003 through 2006. The levies identified in the report reflect current legislation, as well as legislation that may be enacted in Germany and Italy.
European Firms Wary Of Broadband Idea
At a Sept. 3-5 meeting of European telecommunications ministers in Viterbo, Italy, officials reviewed policy measures designed to promote the spread of high-speed Internet access to all parts of Europe. One measure calls for the use of EU structural funds to develop broadband infrastructure, which raised industry concerns about interference with market competition.
The European Telecommunications Network Operators Association (ETNO) issued a statement cautioning governments to use such funds under "clear, fair and equitable conditions," as one way to develop broadband, particularly in rural areas. But ETNO Director Michael Bartholomew added that such spending should happen "only when this cannot be achieved by market forces."
"Such money should be strictly reserved for cases where commercial offers are not viable under market conditions in order to safeguard competition-based development and avoid market distortions," he said. ETNO represents 39 companies from 34 European countries.
A Can-Do Attitude For Cancun Talks
European companies, like their U.S. counterparts, are closely watching for progress at this week's World Trade Organization ministerial in Cancun, Mexico. The European Services Forum last week called on WTO governments to "make the utmost effort to ensure success" at the meeting.
The group said the world economy, especially in Europe, "cannot afford bad news on the international trade front." "Cancun must deliver a positive message," the association said. "Failure to do so will undoubtedly worsen the economic crisis. It will also put the multilateral trading system at risk."
Most agree that progress on the agricultural front is necessary to foster negotiations in other areas. The services group urged ministers to show flexibility in agriculture, noting that "in economic terms, services are significantly more important than agriculture."
"Do not let progress in the WTO services negotiations become a hostage to agriculture," ETNO said. The association also called for a launch of talks on other issues, including competition policy, investment, and "trade facilitation," such as streamlined customs procedures.
In other European news, the registry that manages European-related Internet addresses ending in .eu has announced that it is accepting registrations. The .eu domain was approved by the European Commission and will go live late this year or early in 2004, the registry said in a release.
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