This has implications for Australia.
Germany and Brazil have drafted a new version of an anti-surveillance resolution that the United Nations adopted late last year, this time describing the collection of metadata as a “highly intrusive act.”
The earlier resolution was also the product of German and Brazilian anger over the mass surveillance revelations of NSA leaker Edward Snowden (well, specifically their anger at their leaders being personally spied upon, but we’ll take righteous outrage where we can find it).
However, while it described the monitoring and collection of communications and personal data as a threat to human rights, it didn’t talk about metadata – the logs of who contacted whom and when, or which webpages people visit, as opposed to the contents of those communications and webpages. These details also paint a vivid picture of a person’s activities and networks.
According to a Thursday Reuters report, the new draft says that arbitrary surveillance…
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