Siberian Federal University

Issue

Journal of Siberian Federal University. Humanities & Social Sciences. 2020 13 (10)

Authors

Oganesian, Tigran D.

Contact information

Oganesian, Tigran D.:Institute of Legislation and Comparative Law under the Government of the Russian Federation Moscow, Russian Federation: ; ORCID: 0000-0001-8239-694X

Keywords

European court of human rights; Council of Europe; data protection; personal data processing; mass surveillance; right to respect for private life

Abstract

The article considers the legality of mass surveillance and protection of personal data in the context of the international human rights law and the right to respect for private life. Special attention is paid to the protection of data on the Internet, where the personal data of billions of people are stored. The author emphasizes that mass surveillance and technology that allows the storage and processing of the data of millions of people pose a serious threat to the right to privacy guaranteed by Article 8 of the ECHR of 1950. Few companies comply with the human rights principles in their operations by providing user data in response to requests from public services. In this regard, States must prove that any interference with the personal integrity of an individual is necessary and proportionate to address a particular security threat. Mandatory data storage, where telephone companies and Internet service providers are required to store metadata about their users’ communications for subsequent access by the law enforcement and intelligence agencies, is neither necessary nor proportionate. The author analyses the legislation of some countries in the field of personal data protection, as well as examples from practice. Practice in many States is evidence of the lack of adequate national legislation and enforcement, weak procedural safeguards and ineffective oversight, which contributes to widespread impunity for arbitrary or unlawful interference with the right to privacy. In conclusion, we propose a number of measures aimed at improving the level of personal data protection in accordance with the international standards. In order to provide guarantees and a minimum level of adequate data protection in the face of new challenges to human rights in an ever-changing digital environment, the author proposes to solve a number of pressing issues. Firstly, States should not have the right to ask companies for and have absolute access to user data without a court order. Secondly, the process of sending a request and receiving data from a telecommunications company should be regulated in detail and transparent. The availability of specialized judges with technical expertise shall be valuable

Pages

1576–1589

DOI

10.17516/1997-1370-0664

Paper at repository of SibFU

https://elib.sfu-kras.ru/handle/2311/137537

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).