Today, EPIC & Privacy International launch ‘Privacy and Human Rights 2003, an international survey of privacy laws and developments’. It is a meaty tome that summarises developments in privacy law and policy in 55 countries during the past year.
This year’s review “finds increased data sharing among government agencies, the use of anti-terrorism laws to suppress political dissent, and the growing use of new technologies of surveillance.” Familiar themes to readers of my entries…
It includes an introductory chapter on the war on terror and a country by country guide. Each country entry is a short essay on the key developments with links to many original sources. Within the introductory essays, there is excellent information and analysis to be found on topics like biometrics, airline passenger data, electronic surveillance, WHOIS, Total/Terrorist Information Awareness, and so on. It really is an indispensable guide to a still rather under-reported field, given the massive erosions of personal liberty in the past couple of years.
By way of disclosure – I did the chapter on Ireland and bits and pieces on the UK, EU and electronic surveillance. A great big tip of the hat to Tiffany Stedman who was the law clerk at EPIC working on my chapter, and of course to Cedric Laurant who pulled the whole thing together.
There’ll be a webcast of today’s launch at the National Press Club (1300 ET) on the EPIC home page.