U.S. spy fugitive Snowden launches push for global privacy treaty

NEW YORK, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Fugitive former U.S. spy
contractor Edward Snowden on Thursday backed a push for an
international treaty on privacy rights, protection against
improper surveillance and of whistleblowers as he said more
countries are trying to boost spying powers.
Speaking via video conference from Russia, which granted him
asylum in 2013 after he leaked details of mass U.S. surveillance
programs, Snowden said mass spying was a global problem that
needs a global response.
"We have to have a discussion, we have to come forward with
proposals to go 'how do we assert what our rights are,
traditionally and digitally and to ensure that we can not just
enjoy them, but we can protect them," Snowden said.
On the eve of the annual gathering of world leaders at the
United Nations, Snowden, campaign group Avaaz, journalist Glenn
Greenwald - who obtained Snowden's leaked documents - and his
partner David Miranda launched the campaign for what they dubbed
the Snowden Treaty.
"We see that in many countries around the world governments
are aggressively pressing for more power, more authority, more
surveillance rather than less," said Snowden, citing Australia,
Canada, Britain and France.
"In every case these policy proposals that work against the
public are being billed as public safety programs," he said.
Snowden acknowledged that the campaign for a treaty was
likely to take years.
Miranda said a draft of possible treaty, developed by
international legal experts on Internet freedoms and
surveillance, had been shared with some countries, but he
declined to name those states.
In December, the United Nations General Assembly expressed
concern about digital spying. It also said unlawful or arbitrary
mass surveillance and the interception and collection of online
data are "highly intrusive acts" that violate privacy rights.
The 193-member General Assembly adopted a non-binding
resolution. ID:nL1N0U21FQ
In July the U.N. Human Rights Council appointed its first
digital privacy investigator, Malta's Joseph Cannataci.
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