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Switzerland's data protection commissioner says the US war
on terror is undermining personal privacy
01 July 2003
- Washington has stepped up security at airports since the September 11 attacks
(Keystone)
- The head of Switzerland's data protection commission says the United States' war on
terror is undermining personal privacy
- Hanspeter Thür has called for tighter controls on the campaign against terrorism and for
more money to safeguard individual rights
(swissinfo with agencies)
Alarm sounded over data protection abuse
He accused the Bush administration of pursuing a repressive policy which placed little value
on data protection. The unusually outspoken comments are contained in a new report to
mark the tenth anniversary of Switzerland's data protection commission.
In particular, Thür cited US requirements for incoming airlines to supply personal details of
all passengers, including their religion, dietary preferences and credit card numbers. This
regulation was forcing airlines such as Swiss to break Switzerland's own laws on data
protection, Thür said. He added that the measures being demanded by Washington reduced
US commitment to data protection to the level of many developing countries.
A spokesman for the US embassy in Bern declined to comment on Thür's remarks.
There should always be a balance between the right to security... and the right to privacy.
Kosmas Tsiraktsopulos, commission spokesman
Human rights
But the Swiss branch of the human rights organisation, Amnesty International, welcomed the
commission's report. "Since the attacks of September 11th, the US has cared little for
personal privacy," Amnesty spokesman Jürg Keller told swissinfo. "We've already said this,
and we're pleased someone else is saying the same thing."
At a press conference to launch the report, commission spokesman Kosmas Tsiraktsopulos
justified the criticism against Washington and denied that Switzerland opposed the war on
terror.
"It's not true that we are against fighting terrorism," he told swissinfo. "We just want to have
a constitutional situation where the state can do its job and, from the other side, the
individual knows where his data is going." There should always be a balance between the
right of security, which is also a constitutional right - and the right of privacy.?
Hi-tech threat
The report also expresses concern that new technologies may threaten the privacy of the
individual. Thür cited electronic insurance and health cards as potentially problematic, as
well as new biometric methods of identifying people. The latest mobile phones with inbuilt
cameras should also be monitored, he said, because of the ease and secrecy with which
pictures can be taken, and then sent on quickly to others.
The report was critical of the growth in unsolicited emails, and the lack of transparency
among companies which share personal data such as email addresses and credit card lists.
The technical innovations of the last ten years have substantially increased the work of the
data protection service, Thür said. This meant there was an urgent need for more funding
and more staff, in order to ensure that the service can do its job efficiently.
On a positive note, the report says that, over the last ten years, awareness among the Swiss
population about issues of data protection has risen substantially.
swissinfo with agencies
Source: Felix Rauch, Vice president SIUG / Vizepraesident SIUG, felix.rauch@siug.ch
SIUG -- Swiss Internet User Group: http://www.siug.ch/