Committee on Culture, Science, Education and Media, Recommendation 2041 (2014) - Improving user protection and security in cyberspace - (Assembly debate on 9 April 2014 (14th Sitting), Rapporteur: Mr. Axel E. Fischer, Doc. 13451,Reply from the Committee of Ministers in January 2015)
Web users are growing increasingly alarmed at the many intrusions into their privacy, and the increasingly sophisticated use of their personal data, whether by companies or by governments. Widely publicised examples include recent revelations of mass surveillance by spying agencies, the growth of ever-more sophisticated hacking, the “profiling” of individuals through their net use, and questionable use of commercial data-mining techniques. The net result is that users’ trust is being deeply undermined. What is urgently needed is a global initiative – since there are no frontiers in cyberspace – to improve user protection and security in which governments and industry work together. States need to draw up and enforce powerful laws to ensure data is moved, stored or intercepted only in ways which are compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights – which has long protected each person’s “private life and correspondence. Encryption, filtering, virus-protection and authentication tools should be automatic in new devices and services. Providers of “cloud” services or Wi-Fi hotspots should face special oversight. Service providers need to be identifiable, transparent and up-front about their policies. Employers should be expected to respect their employees’ data. Finally, Internet governance needs to move towards greater equality between all stakeholders, including governments, with technical standards laid down by the International Telecommunications Union that are based on United Nations and Council of Europe standards.
Publication type:
project report
Publication language:
English
Publication date:
2015
Publication URL:
http://assembly.coe.int/nw/xml/XRef/Xref-XML2HTML-en.asp?fileid=20869&lang=en
Institute:
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) (PACE)
Country:
EU
Project:
Improving user protection and security in cyberspace (PACE)

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