UK Digital Surveillance and Human Rights
This session will cover current efforts to litigate and reform the UK’s surveillance practices. The Snowden disclosures revealed the vast extent of the UK intelligence agencies’ surveillance activities. They also demonstrated that the UK’s legislative framework and oversight system are inadequate. Open Rights Group is one of the claimants in the ‘privacy not prism’ case in the European Court of Human Rights, which seeks to demonstrate that the UK government is in breach of its international human rights obligations. As part of the Don’t Spy on Us coalition Open Rights Group has also developed a platform of demands for surveillance reform to bring the UK in line with its human rights commitments. This talk will outline how the UK’s current activities violate the right to privacy and the reforms that could rectify the problem.
