Webinar: Human Rights in the Digital Age

If you are on the internet or use a cell phone, odds are you are being followed by governments through mass surveillance programs. This isn’t just part of life in the 21st century, it’s illegal and a human rights violation.

In June 2013, Edward Snowden leaked thousands of classified National Security Agency (NSA) documents revealing the sweeping surveillance programs run by the NSA, UK Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), and the “Five Eyes” spying and intelligence-sharing agreements between the US, UK, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. These programs spy on most of the world’s digital communications.

The Snowden revelations confirmed that governments have systematically violated their citizens’ rights to privacy on a global scale, and placed other rights at risk. Private data can be used to target journalists, persecute activists, profile and discriminate against minorities. The chill effect is real: when people know they are being watched, they may be less willing to communicate freely.

Find out about Amnesty’s work on human rights in the digital age and get involved in the #UnfollowMe campaign to ban mass surveillance & unlawful information sharing.