UNESCO Report Backs Right To Encryption In ‘Golden Age Of Surveillance’

The United Nations Economic, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has released a report on encryption, taking the perspective of human rights.

“What ultimately matters, from a human rights perspective, is that cryptographic methods empower individuals in their enjoyment of privacy and freedom of expression, as they allow for the protection of human-facing properties of information, communication and computing. These properties include the confidentiality, privacy, authenticity, availability, integrity and anonymity of information and communication,” the report said in its recommendations.

Among issues addressed in the report is protection of metadata, by which a person’s behaviour on the internet is trackable, and ensuring strong encryption without backdoors in a “golden age of surveillance” brought about by the internet.

The report includes a long list of recommendations, both general (such as strengthening the human rights component, safeguards, and transparency requirements) and specific for states, private sector and civil society.

The 85-page report, entitled, “Human Rights and Encryption” and funded by the German government, is available here [pdf].