[WSIS CS-Plenary] CS statement on privacy & Internet governance

[Ralf Bendrath]

Hi all,

below find the statement I will make in subcommittee A later this morning 
on behalf of the CS Privacy & Security Working Group.

Best, Ralf

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PrepCom-3, Subcommittee A on Internet Governance
WSIS Civil Society Privacy and Security Working Group
Statement on Internet Governance and Privacy
22 September 2005

Only if everyone can use the Internet freely without fear of constant 
observation, recording and monitoring, can it become an infrastructure 
that leads to a “people-centred, inclusive and development-oriented 
Information Society” that we all envisioned at the first WSIS summit in 
Geneva.

Consequently, we fully support the findings and recommendations of the 
WGIG, with their clear statements on the importance of privacy protection 
in an ever more connected world. We endorse their message that we may 
simultaneously create a secure and free Information Society.

However, the lack of globally enforceable rules continues to be an 
impediment to reaching our goal of adequate privacy protection on the 
Internet. We fully support the WGIG-recommendation to encourage countries 
to develop clear legal frameworks with the participation of all stakeholders.

Last week, the world’s data protection and privacy commissioners convened 
in Montreux and reached the same conclusion. We join them in their 
Montreux Declaration appealing “to the United Nations to prepare a legal 
binding instrument which clearly sets out in detail the rights to data 
protection and privacy as enforceable human rights.”  We also support the 
suggestion of the International Working Group on Data Protection in 
Telecommunications in yesterday’s letter to you, Mr. Chair, calling for a 
global Privacy Forum as a result of the Tunis Summit.

We therefore encourage the Tunis summit to adopt a commitment to develop a 
legal framework that ensures the rights to privacy and data protection for 
all citizens within the Information Society. This echoes commitments taken 
by the Iberoamerican summit of Santa Cruz in 2003, the summit of Countries 
that share French language of Ouagadougou in 2004, and the Declaration on 
Human Rights and the Rule of Law in the Information Society adopted by the 
Council of Europe in 2005. Building from all the work of those who have 
come before, we now have the opportunity to develop a free and democratic 
Internet.

We will submit written language in order to help the subcommittee finalize 
its work on this important part of the Tunis documents.