Enrique Piracés’ Cyber Dialogue Op-Ed on Human Rights Technology in the Age of Hyper-Surveillance

After Snowden, Whither Internet Freedom? This is the theme set for the fourth annual Cyber Dialogue conference on March 30-31, 2014, where VP of Human Rights Enrique Piracés will be speaking. To preview his discussion, Enrique has published an op-ed on human rights technology in the age of hyper-surveillance on the Cyber Dialogue blog.

“As we start to grasp the scope and scale of unchecked surveillance,” writes Enrique, it is important to underscore the need to understand its potential long-term consequences for human rights organizations and the development of free media. In the context of human rights documentation and journalistic work, the implications of technically advanced surveillance can be tremendous.”

Enrique argues that large-scale surveillance programs are likely to undermine the credibility of the capacity-building and technology-transfer organizations that have long supported partners around the world, thus putting them in harm’s way. “We need an immediate action to counter the effects of surveillance,” he exhorts, “as the right to privacy is not only yours and mine, but ours.”

At the Cyber Dialogue conference, Enrique is joining a select group of global leaders from government, civil society, academia, and private enterprise who will discuss the implications of surveillance for rights, security, and openness. The conference is convened by the Canada Centre for Global Security Studies at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto.

Read Enrique’s complete op-ed on the Cyber Dialogue’s website and follow the conversation at @CyberDialogue @EPiraces #CD14.