UN Rapporteur on Privacy, Cannataci to EF on Issues for 2016 UN General Assembly+Heads of State/Gov.

*Strasbourg/CoE/Angelo Marcopolo/- 3 Years After Snowden's revelations on Mass Surveillance at the Internet, SmartPhones, etc, UNO's new Special Rapporteur on the Right to Privacy, Professor Joe Cannataci, speaking to "Eurofora", highlighted the main Issues that he intends to raise at New York's Autumn 2016 General Assembly's session of the International Organisation, where use to participate most Heads of State/Government from all over the World :

"Eurofora" asked Cannataci about "the main Substance of this Years' Issues that (his) forthcoming Report will raise at the Autumn 2016 UN General Assembly", (i.e. shortly before the December 2016 IGF in Mexico).

 -"My (2016) Report will mostly deal with 2 main Points :", he Started to Reply from the outset.  

- "The First will deal with a Set of 5 Priorities of joint Actions to identify".

 - These "Include Security and Surveillance, of course. But it also includes Medical Data". Even "Big Data, Open Data", and "Personal Data by Cooperations, as well as "the subject of Privacy and a Better Understanding of it".

- This Last Issue is included"Specifically Because, although More than 163 Countries have Signed up to the Right of Privacy, we doN't have a Definition of that Right !", he criticized.

- "It's a Huge Challenge...  Since there is No Definition", then, "we have a Situation where <<Privacy>> is Meaning Different things, to Different People, and, yet, we have 1 Internet !"...

=>  Therefore, "we have a Number of Situations, where, clearly, you can come in front of Poor Values about Privacy, with Some Different Understandings about what it means", he denounced.

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+ "The Second Point of the (2016 UNO) Report has to do with Surveillance, and some (Recent) Developments which have taken place with Surveillance, Encryption, and so on", he added.

- "And I leave you to Think about what Direction the Report will take when it comes f.ex.  to SmartPhones...", he joked, with a keen sense of Black Humour on such a notoriously Thorny Issue, particularly after so Many recent Scandals revealed, at a quite Fast pace, one after another.

In this regard, UNO's Rapporteur told "Eurofora" that he was Aware, f.ex., from World Famous Whistle-Blower Eduard Snowden's current effort, in Partnership with an MIT Student Expert, to prepare a Phone that might Not be Spied, resilient to attempts for Geo-Localisation and other Privacy-affecting threats.

However, "even if you succeed to inspire some Good Legal Rules for protecting Privacy, nevertheless, it will still remain an Open Question on How to Apply that in Real Practice", particularly since it seems to be a Quasi-Monopoly" on SmartPhones globally, "Eurofora" reacted.       

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 But, "Technically speaking, it looks very Difficult", Perhaps, "there might be some Suggestions", on how to overcome that Problem in real Practice ?, we asked.

- "That's Difficult, but Not Impossible". Already, "there are Some SmartPhones which are More Secure than Others", UNO's New Rapporteur on Privacy pointed out, in a quite Optimist Reply to "Eurofora"s  query.

-"Switch this Off, and I'll Show you !", he kindly offered us...

(NDLR : => The Rest of this Story is - Exceptionaly - Stricty Confidential. Or, to put it otherwise :  It belongs to a "Private/Personal Data" Issue. Sorry !)...

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 + Concerning General Principles at stake here, UNO's Experienced Rapporteur told "Eurofora" that he finds much Better to speak about "Proportionality, No Balance", between various Values.s

 - Because "Balance is when one is against another", so that "one takes (something) from the other". "While", on the Contrary, "Here, you have a number of things, which Need to Live Together", as he stressed.

 - And these are "more than two : Security, Privacy, Freedom of Expression", etc., he pointed out, in reaction to an "Eurofora" query.

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- "These are Principles that do Not Need to be <<ReConciled>> (as some use to claim), but Can Live Hapily Together !", he underlined.

This is an Important Point, because "some Governments, instead of SafeGuarding both Security and Privacy, on the Contrary, they use New Laws to Legitimize Mechanisms to Intrude in People's Lives", as he Denounced, strongly Criticizing  "some Measures used to Gather Informations at the Internet, which are Completely DisProportionate".

Professor Cannataci, who was chosen as UNO's new Rapporteur just last Year (2015), works in 3 Universities from Europe up to Australia, (including at the Netherlands, Perth, and Malta : the Next EU Chair from Jan. 2017), is a UK Chartered Information Technology Professional & Fellow of the British Computer Society, as well as an “Officier de l’ordre des palmes Académiques” in France, who has written a lot of relevant Books and sits at the Editorial Board of 6 peer-reviewed Journals, and has reportedly received more than "30 Millions" of Grants for Research from the British Academy, CoE, COST, UNESCO and the Commission of the EU, that his Country of origin will Chair Next Year (2017).

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+ China's Hu on UNESCO's input, before the forthcoming IGF of December 2016.
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Completing the point of view of International Organisations,  just a few Months before the Global "Internet Governance Forum" in Mexico, on December 2016, UNESCO's Senior Expert on Freedom of Expression and Media Development, Communication and Information, Ms. Xianhong Hu from China, who deals with "Online" and Offline Media, Internet Privacy and Governance, following the World Summit of Information Society (WSIS) and the IGF, underlined from the outset the "4 Principles", set "by 195 Member States", on "Internet's Universality" :

- I.e. on Human Rights' respect, Openess and Accessibility of Internet, as well as on Multiple StakeHolders' involvement before Decision-Making, as she resumed.

Meanwhile, according to other, well informed sources, UNESCO's Head, Irina Bokova, is expected to be a Keynote Speaker at CoE's forthcoming "World Forum of Democracy" (WFD), on November 2016 in Strasbourg, which is due to Focus, this Year, mainly on Topical Education challenges. 

+ Currently, while currently preparing Projects into steping the Web Further, UNESCO aims to "Ensure that our Principles will Not be Watered Down", (considering also the Fact that "New Technologies are Often used to Strengthen one party"), and that "New Relations Emerging between various Internet Actors", will Move Forward in a Responsible way, particularly into "Ensuring that Users woN't be Squeezed Out of the Web".

In this regard, Xianhong Hu, in addition to Managing UNESCO's Program on promoting Online Freedom of expression Privacy, as well as Internet Safety, in the dynamic context of Global Web Governance and increasing Challenges, after receiving a Ph.D from Beijing University's School of Journalism and Communication, has also conducted 2  UNESCO Publications on Facilitating "Investigative Journalism".