amicus European Court of Human Rights
European Court of Human Rights Hears Key Surveillance Challenge
European Court of Human Rights has heard 10 Human Rights Organizations v. UK, a legal challenge which will impact surveillance practices around the world. The organizations who brought the case argue that surveillance by UK and US intelligence services violated their fundamental rights. In today's hearing, the groups' legal representative characterized the government's position as "trust us and we will keep you safe." Instead, she called for a "framework to ensure...public authorities are doing no more than is truly proportionate and are only using these very intrusive powers when they're necessary." EPIC filed a brief in the case explaining that the NSA's "technological capacities" enable "wide scale surveillance" and that U.S. statutes do not restrict surveillance of non-U.S. persons abroad. EPIC casebook Privacy Law and Society explores a wide range of privacy issues, including recent decisions of the European Court of Human Rights.