The United States is silently watering down the text of an anti-spying UN resolution introduced by Germany and Brazil in order to ensure any extra-territorial violation of online privacy remains legal, according to a document obtained by The Cable.
According to a government document obtained by the publication, the US has circulated a confidential communique entitled “Right to Privacy in the Digital Age – U.S. Redlines.”
In it, Washington highlights the US objectives in negotiations currently underway at the United Nations and calls for changing the Brazilian and German text so “that references to privacy rights are referring explicitly to States’ obligations under ICCPR and remove suggestion that such obligations apply extraterritorially.”
Washington is also calling for its allies to support amendments that would weaken a UN draft resolution by Brazil and Germany aimed at constraining internet surveillance by the National Security Agency and other intelligence agencies.
The United States claims that it wants to limit the focus to illegal surveillance.
“Recall that the USG’s [U.S. government’s] collection activities that have been disclosed are lawful collections done in a manner protective of privacy rights,” the document states. “So a paragraph expressing concern about illegal surveillance is one with which we would agree.”
Diplomatic sources have also told The Cable that Washington is worried that extraterritorial human rights could hinder the US effort to pursue international terrorists.
There is no extraterritorial obligation on states “to comply with human rights,” one diplomatic source told The Cable. “The obligation is on states to uphold the human rights of citizens within their territory and areas of their jurisdictions.”
Source: RT