UN Passes Internet Privacy Resolution Recognising Human Rights Online

The UN General Assembly's Human Rights Committee has announced that a draft resolution sponsored by Brazil and Germany, 'The Right To Privacy in the Digital Age,' has been unanimously approved.

The resolution recognises that rapid technological development has created new opportunities for governments and organisations to undertake surveillance and interception in violation of an individual's right to privacy under article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The resolution expresses a deep concern about the negative impact that surveillance on a mass scale may have on the exercise of an individual's human rights. The resolution therefore reaffirms the right to privacy, especially an individual's right to be free from arbitrary or unlawful interference online. Brazil's Ambassador Antonio de Aguiar Patriota commented, "the resolution establishes for the first time that human rights should prevail irrespective of the medium and therefore needs to be