‘Communications industry must protect clients against snooping’

Communications businesses must protect clients against increasing government mass snooping, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said on Wednesday in Geneva.

She warned that companies risk becoming complicit in human rights violations.

The recommendation was part of a report on digital privacy that the UN General Assembly had requested Ms. Pillay to draw up, in reaction to the US National Security Agency spying scandal.

“There is strong evidence of a growing reliance by governments on the private sector to conduct and facilitate digital surveillance,” said Ms. Pillay.

She urged internet and communications businesses to interpret government requests as narrowly as possible, to seek court rulings before handing over data, and to tell customers that their private data may not be safe.

Ms. Pillay also criticised the fact that many countries do not have oversight mechanisms to rein in mass surveillance, even though this form of spying is “emerging as a dangerous habit rather than an exceptional measure.”