Attacks Yield New Surveillance Laws

WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) -- Governments worldwide have made it easier for authorities to augment citizen databases and eavesdrop on telephone and online conversations in order to fight terror, according to a survey of privacy regulations released Tuesday.

The report, written by privacy activists Electronic Privacy Information Center and Privacy International, show the United States was not alone in passing new laws that value increased security over personal privacy.

"It's a general theme toward total identification," said Sarah Andrews, an author of the report. "When you're outside in public or when you're online, you can be identified."

That dismays privacy groups, who worry about free speech restrictions and abuses of power. They have fought new laws like the U.S. anti-terror legislation that lowered the bar on surveillance requirements by authorities.

"They haven't been backed up by evidence that law enforcement and intelligence agencies were hampered before because they didn't have these powers," Andrews said.

Stewart Baker, a former general counsel for the National Security Agency, said increased data sharing might have helped identify the Sept. 11 hijackers.

He said many surveillance proposals were already moving toward passage, and speeded up by legitimized fears of a terrorist threat.

"They're really complaining about changes in the world rather than changes in the law," said Baker, now a lawyer with Steptoe & Johnson in Washington.

In addition to the United States, the report listed new anti-terrorism legislation in Australia, Austria, Britain, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Singapore and Sweden.

In June of this year, the European Union allowed its member states to require that Internet providers retain traffic and location data of all people using any electronic communications device, like mobile phones, faxes, e-mails, chat rooms or the Internet.

The Russian internal security service recently tried to order all Internet providers to install surveillance software, at the company's cost, so that police could perform instant searches without a warrant. After an Internet company sued, a Russian court decided the rule was unconstitutional.

There also is increased interest in personal surveillance through biometric technology and spy cameras. The report lists the use of cameras at the Super Bowl in Tampa, Fla., to search for suspected terrorists. Perhaps no country likes such cameras more than Britain, where an estimated 1.5 million cameras watch public streets and parks.

The report found that governments also want to merge their existing databases, such as those for social programs and traffic infractions, to create profiles to catch suspected terrorists.

Many of the proposals, the report notes, had been proposed and rejected for years. Only after the terror attacks, it said, did they gain acceptance.

"The environment was ripe for these things to go through without the necessary debate," Andrews said. "People weren't asking the same questions anymore."

The report doesn't just show invasions of privacy, however. Several countries in Eastern Europe, Asia and Latin America have new laws to protect personal data from unauthorized disclosure. Finland, Sweden and Russia are working on regulations to protect privacy in the workplace.

The United States recently has brought action against companies that inadvertently leak personal information.

Magazine publisher Ziff-Davis last month agreed to pay three states a total of $100,000 after an Internet security breach that exposed subscriber information, and Microsoft recently made changes to its Internet services after the Federal Trade Commission worried that its security was too loose to protect customer data.

"Before, people were barely held to account for things they were doing deliberately," Andrews said. "Now, there is more accountability for even accidental disclosures."

Copyright 2002. Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
KW