Human Rights Monitoring Institute and the Lithuanian Journalism Center have hosted the meeting with journalists to discuss human rights issues. Upon request by the participants, the fourth meeting of the series of discussions has been focused on data protection and privacy.
Moderators - Algirdas Kuncinas, Director of the State Personal Data Protection Inspectorate, and Henrikas Mickevicius, HRMI Executive Director, explained the concepts of the right to respect for private life and personal data protection, and focused the discussion on restrictions to privacy that are allowed in the name of public interests. Moderators expressed their opinions about the changes in the data protection regime that are imminent as a result of joining the Schengen space, and touched upon the content and consequences of the EU Directive on electronic data retention.
H. Mickevicius noted that right to respect for private life is one of the most pressing human rights topics today as the new technologies increasingly invade human life. It is worrisome that this trend has lately been backed up politically - governments put increasingly resctrictions on privacy in the name of fight against terrorism and organized crime. Privacy and security, however, are not opposites, they can be reconciled within the exisiting human rights framework without improper intrusions.
H. Mickevicius drew attention to the fact that no convincing evidence exists that the launch of the so-called biometric passports, growing surveillance of e-workstations, installation of video-surveillance systems in public places and of similar initiatives have led to increased security. Moreover, these initiatives are often implemented without prior cost-benefit analysis and, most importantly, without detailed legal framework that would include safeguards against misuse of collected personal data.
Algirdas Kuncinas emphasized that nowadays personal data is the most demanded commodity as it may provide it’s possessor commercial advantages and even significant control over the lifes of data subjects. According to State Personal Data Protection Inspectorate, those collecting and processing personal data do not always use it for strictly legal purposes. This matter should become a topic for public discourse so that society is aware of and prudent on issues related data protection.
The discussion was organized within the programme supported by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
See more about the discussion on the news portals Delfi (Delfi1, Delfi2) and Alfa (alfa.lt) (in Lithuanian).
© 2012 Human Rights Monitoring Institute