Global Government Observation Reform
Today, the world's leading agencies published the news that the largest US IT corporations sent a letter to Congress demanding to change the current provisions in the laws regarding state monitoring of citizens, gathering information and creating a system that controls the activities of special services in this matter. The letter was accompanied by a link to the Global Government Observation Reform website, where these requirements are formulated in a more detailed form and are accompanied by statements by the leaders of the subscribing corporations. Below is a translation of the text posted on this page.
The undersigned companies believe that it is time for world governments to carefully consider the methodologies and legal norms governing state supervision of citizens, as well as the collection and access to their private information. While these companies understand that the government must take measures to protect the safety of its citizens, they firmly believe that current laws and practices must be reformed.
In accordance with established global standards of freedom of speech and privacy, and in order to ensure that law enforcement and intelligence services are subject to strict rules, severely restricted, transparent and subject to civilian oversight, companies are calling on governments to the reforms that will bring these principles into action.
Governments must create a system of rational restrictions on the ability to compel providers to disclose user data. This system should balance the need for access to personal data in individual cases, the reasonable interests of the privacy of users and take into account the effect of gathering information on the general trust on the Internet. In addition, governments should limit themselves to observing only certain users in order to enforce the law and should not attempt to collect the entire amount of user data on the network.
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Intelligence agencies claiming to collect information or influence its distribution should do so in accordance with a clear legislative framework in which the executive branch is governed by a system of strong checks and balances. These supervisors must be independent and have an adversarial aspect, they must resist the activities of agencies, and governments must promptly publish all the important legal provisions relating to state surveillance of user information, so that supervisors can report to citizens.
Transparency is necessary for the discussion of government powers and for the establishment of boundaries for the use of the necessary means of observation in accordance with these powers. Governments should allow companies to publish the number and nature of government requirements for providing user information, and in addition, governments should immediately make this data public.
A free, regardless of state borders, the flow of information and access to them is crucial for a reliable global economy of the 21st century. Governments should allow data transfer and they should not prevent companies or individuals from accessing any legal information stored outside the country. Governments should not require providers to isolate IT infrastructure within a country or work locally, at the local level.
In order to avoid contradictions between the legal acts of individual states, a reliable, stable and transparent structure should be created for managing legal requests for data between states, based on such acts as the “Improved Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty”. In the same place where the laws of one jurisdiction conflict with the laws of another, the resolution of the issue lies with the government bodies acting jointly.
Tim Armstrong, Chairman and CEO of AOL:
Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook CEO:
Larry Page, Google CEO:
Erica Rottenberg, General Counsel for LinkedIn:
Brad Smith, General Counsel and Executive Vice President, Legal and Corporate, Microsoft:
Dick Costolo, CEO, Twitter:
Marissa Mayer, CEO, Yahoo:
Dear Mr. President and members of Congress.
We understand that governments have a responsibility to protect their citizens. But the revelations of this summer stressed the urgent need to reform the methods of state observation throughout the world. The balance in many countries has deviated too far in favor of the state and does not care at all about respecting the rights of the individual — the rights that are enshrined in our Constitution. It undermines the freedom we all cherish. The time has come for a change.
For our part, we are currently focused on keeping user data safe — we are deploying the latest encryption technology to prevent unauthorized monitoring in our networks, and reject government requests to make sure that requests are legitimate and reasonable in scope.
We demand that the US government take the initiative and carry out reforms that will ensure that government monitoring:
To see the full set of principles we support, we suggest visiting ReformGovernmentSurveillance.com
Respectfully,
AOL, Apple, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Twitter, Yahoo
The undersigned companies believe that it is time for world governments to carefully consider the methodologies and legal norms governing state supervision of citizens, as well as the collection and access to their private information. While these companies understand that the government must take measures to protect the safety of its citizens, they firmly believe that current laws and practices must be reformed.
In accordance with established global standards of freedom of speech and privacy, and in order to ensure that law enforcement and intelligence services are subject to strict rules, severely restricted, transparent and subject to civilian oversight, companies are calling on governments to the reforms that will bring these principles into action.
Principles of reform
1 Restriction of the government’s authority to receive private information
Governments must create a system of rational restrictions on the ability to compel providers to disclose user data. This system should balance the need for access to personal data in individual cases, the reasonable interests of the privacy of users and take into account the effect of gathering information on the general trust on the Internet. In addition, governments should limit themselves to observing only certain users in order to enforce the law and should not attempt to collect the entire amount of user data on the network.
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2 Supervision and accountability
Intelligence agencies claiming to collect information or influence its distribution should do so in accordance with a clear legislative framework in which the executive branch is governed by a system of strong checks and balances. These supervisors must be independent and have an adversarial aspect, they must resist the activities of agencies, and governments must promptly publish all the important legal provisions relating to state surveillance of user information, so that supervisors can report to citizens.
3 Transparency of government requirements
Transparency is necessary for the discussion of government powers and for the establishment of boundaries for the use of the necessary means of observation in accordance with these powers. Governments should allow companies to publish the number and nature of government requirements for providing user information, and in addition, governments should immediately make this data public.
4 Respect for the free flow of information
A free, regardless of state borders, the flow of information and access to them is crucial for a reliable global economy of the 21st century. Governments should allow data transfer and they should not prevent companies or individuals from accessing any legal information stored outside the country. Governments should not require providers to isolate IT infrastructure within a country or work locally, at the local level.
5 Avoiding Conflict Between Governments
In order to avoid contradictions between the legal acts of individual states, a reliable, stable and transparent structure should be created for managing legal requests for data between states, based on such acts as the “Improved Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty”. In the same place where the laws of one jurisdiction conflict with the laws of another, the resolution of the issue lies with the government bodies acting jointly.
“Voice of Reforms”
Tim Armstrong, Chairman and CEO of AOL:
AOL is committed to maintaining the confidentiality of our customers' information, while respecting the right of the government to demand information about specific users for legitimate purposes. AOL proudly teams up with other leading Internet companies to act on behalf of our users.
Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook CEO:
State surveillance reports have shown that there is a real need to make it much more open, and to introduce new restrictions on how the government collects information. The US government should take this opportunity to lead the driving force of this reform and put everything in its place.
Larry Page, Google CEO:
The security of user data is crucial, which is why we have invested so much in data encryption and are fighting for the transparency of government requests for information. Many governments around the world have been attacked by allegations of wholesale data collection about users occurring in secret and without independent control. The time has come for reform, and we urge the US government to be ahead.
Erica Rottenberg, General Counsel for LinkedIn:
These principles embody LinkedIn’s fundamental commitment to transparency, and ensure that the necessary government monitoring measures will respect the expectations of our users.
Brad Smith, General Counsel and Executive Vice President, Legal and Corporate, Microsoft:
People will not use technology that they do not trust. Governments put this trust at risk, and that means governments must help rebuild it.
Dick Costolo, CEO, Twitter:
Twitter is committed to protecting and protecting the voices of our users. The unlimited, hidden conditions of government surveillance suppresses the free flow of information and limits this voice. The principles that we propose today will help to reform the existing system so as to appropriately balance the needs of both security and confidentiality, while maintaining the necessary human right to free expression of thoughts.
Marissa Mayer, CEO, Yahoo:
Protecting the privacy of our users is extremely important for Yahoo. Recent exposures of government surveillance have shaken the trust of our users, and it is time for the US government to act to restore the trust of citizens around the world. Today, we are joining our IT industry colleagues calling on the United States Congress to change the laws on observation, in order to ensure transparency and accountability for the actions of government agencies.
Open letter to washington
Dear Mr. President and members of Congress.
We understand that governments have a responsibility to protect their citizens. But the revelations of this summer stressed the urgent need to reform the methods of state observation throughout the world. The balance in many countries has deviated too far in favor of the state and does not care at all about respecting the rights of the individual — the rights that are enshrined in our Constitution. It undermines the freedom we all cherish. The time has come for a change.
For our part, we are currently focused on keeping user data safe — we are deploying the latest encryption technology to prevent unauthorized monitoring in our networks, and reject government requests to make sure that requests are legitimate and reasonable in scope.
We demand that the US government take the initiative and carry out reforms that will ensure that government monitoring:
- has clear legal boundaries;
- in proportion to the risks;
- completely transparent;
- subject to independent supervision.
To see the full set of principles we support, we suggest visiting ReformGovernmentSurveillance.com
Respectfully,
AOL, Apple, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Twitter, Yahoo
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/205390/
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