NationStates Jolt Archive

Category:Human Rights
Strength:Significant
Proposed by:Myedvedeya

The nations of the World Assembly

RECOGNIZING that the internet has evolved into a medium through which a huge percentage of the world's citizens interact,

REALIZING that private information of many types will undoubtably be transmitted through the internet,

NOTICING that persons, organizations, or governments do not have the right to search an individual's house, car, or other property without a warrant,

TROUBLED BY the idea that a person, government, or organization skilled with computers could access this information without the consent of the individual,

REALIZING that international law does not explicitly provide for this scenario

1. DECLARE that an individual's internet correspondence should be considered exactly the same as standard postal or telephone correspondence in terms of international law.

2. URGE nations to create laws protecting the privacy of their citizens when engaged in internet correspondence.

3. REQUIRE nations/organizations to recognize the need for a search warrant, based on probable cause, to search through the internet correspondence of an individual.

4. DEFINE probable cause as a reasonable amount of suspicion that evidence of crime or contraband would be found in an individual's internet correspondence.

5. ALSO REQUIRE a government planning to search an individual's online correspondence to announce their intention to the individual beforehand.

6. ESTABLISH the deletion of all correspondence after the announcement of a search as tantamount to a confession of guilt, and as legitimate reason for an arrest warrant.

7. RECOGNIZE evidence found during a warranted search of internet correspondence as viable evidence in court.

ALSO RECOGNIZING that some individuals have the technical ability to access the information of others on the internet,

9. INSTITUTE punishments for accessing an individual's private information on the internet without permission, tantamount to breaking and entering their home.

how exactly do i vote on these?

Well, let's take a look.Category:Human Rights
Strength:Significant
Proposed by:MyedvedeyaBoilerplate

The nations of the World Assembly

RECOGNIZING that the internet has evolved into a medium through which a huge percentage of the world's citizens interact,

REALIZING that private information of many types will undoubtably be transmitted through the internet,

NOTICING that persons, organizations, or governments do not have the right to search an individual's house, car, or other property without a warrant,Maybe, it really depends on the nation. After all, I'm sure that there are nations where nobody has a right to privacy.

TROUBLED BY the idea that a person, government, or organization skilled with computers could access this information without the consent of the individual,

REALIZING that international law does not explicitly provide for this scenario

1. DECLARE that an individual's internet correspondence should be considered exactly the same as standard postal or telephone correspondence in terms of international law.Well, since the WA hasn't passed any resolutions regarding privacy of letters or phone conversations, technically this is already the case.

2. URGE nations to create laws protecting the privacy of their citizens when engaged in internet correspondence.

3. REQUIRE nations/organizations to recognize the need for a search warrant, based on probable cause, to search through the internet correspondence of an individual.

4. DEFINE probable cause as a reasonable amount of suspicion that evidence of crime or contraband would be found in an individual's internet correspondence.

5. ALSO REQUIRE a government planning to search an individual's online correspondence to announce their intention to the individual beforehand.

6. ESTABLISH the deletion of all correspondence after the announcement of a search as tantamount to a confession of guilt, and as legitimate reason for an arrest warrant.Deletion=guilt, who's writing this the RIAA?

7. RECOGNIZE evidence found during a warranted search of internet correspondence as viable evidence in court.

ALSO RECOGNIZING that some individuals have the technical ability to access the information of others on the internet,

9. INSTITUTE punishments for accessing an individual's private information on the internet without permission, tantamount to breaking and entering their home.

To be perfectly honest I don't see this going anywhere, there are simply too many nations who either don't have internet or privacy for this to fly.

Bob Flibble
WA Representative

how exactly do i vote on these?

First off, you need to join the WA.

We are distinctly unlikely to be able to support this resolution in this form. The definition it contains for "probable cause" is deeply suspect and will doubtless impede the ability of other resolutions to remedy other law and order issues.

Also we are disturbed by the notion of privacy contained within this statute, privacy does not constitute the same thing in all cultures and societies and this resolution presumes this concept is universally understood in the same way in all places.

Besides the government of the Emperor of Urgench would find this resolution impossible to implement since our control over the Internet within the empire is mediated through the subject government's of our nation's autonomous states and regions.

Yours e.t.c. ,

I'm afraid I've got to agree with Bob. While international law is the only even remotely practical way of dealing with the Internet, we need to establish the right to privacy in general communications before doing it for net traffic. Otherwise your basic premises just aren't true.

I agree with Gobbannaen. I think the idea is good, although general communication must be dealt with first before net traffic. Once a similar proposal involving general communication is made and approved, then your proposal will make more sense. If your proposal was approved, the governments would still be able to everything with phone, etc.

This is a great idea for a proposal, and we've approved it, though more as a show of support than out of genuine desire for it to reach quorum right now. The biggest problem we see is
1. DECLARE that an individual's internet correspondence should be considered exactly the same as standard postal or telephone correspondence in terms of international law.
Such correspondence has no current standing in international law, so this proposal would actually given 'internet correspondence' a special place. It might be better to treat communications privacy in general, or at least to rephrase this proposal to reflect the lack of protections for conversations, letters, telephone message and so forth at present.

-- Samantha Benson
Quintessence of Dust, Delegate of Wysteria

I'm afraid I've got to agree with Bob. While international law is the only even remotely practical way of dealing with the Internet, we need to establish the right to privacy in general communications before doing it for net traffic. Otherwise your basic premises just aren't true.

I also just realized that even if privacy standards existed for those other forms of communication, this proposal wouldn't fly anyways simply because how this is worded would constitute a textbook House of Cards violation.

Bob Flibble
WA Representative