PRIVACY-

THE IGNORED HUMAN RIGHT IN THE FIGHT AGAINST

TERROR

Purpose- In light of the rise of Dot-com bubble in the dawn of 21st century and in parallel
escalation of Cyber terrorism and the use of internet by terrorist organisations to further their
causes with ISIS being the most recent case. The purpose of this paper is to analyse Privacy
which is a fundamental human right recognised under various treaties like the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, UN declarations like Universal Declaration of Human
Rights etc and anti-terrorism laws around the world which tackle with citizens data through
data mining and data retention. This paper also addresses the role of various private internet
entities like Google, Microsoft and their role in data privacy when dealing with law
enforcement agencies in terrorism cases.

Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws on observations made by commentators in

Terrorism and privacy laws as well as in international law keeping in mind the social policy as
well as official papers, statutes and cases of various countries.

Findings – The problems posed for the long-term security in data privacy cannot be addressed
only through national legislations due to the increasing globalisation and private nature of the
data industry. With the USA having the greatest number of Data generating companies1 and
with many recent case laws in USA stating that even data generated outside USA can also be
accessed by the USA government especially in cases of terror2, this undermines data privacy
and fundamentally privacy which violates human rights. The author finds that an international
organisation for data generated should be established with universal membership for proper
investigation of data for countering terrorism with transparency without violating privacy and
human rights. The Universal postal union can be taken as a role model in this regard.

Originality/value – The notion of casualisation is used as an analytical tool to assess changes

in law and policy, and to suggest possibilities for reform.

Keywords – Privacy, Human Rights, Data, Data Privacy, Cyber Terrorism, Terrorism

1
Erin Griffith, Here Are the 51 Technology and Telecommunications Companies of the Fortune 500, FORTUNE
500 (Dec. 13, 2018, 18:11 PM), http://fortune.com/2016/06/07/fortune-500-technology-companies/.
2
Orin Kerr, Google must turn over foreign-stored emails pursuant to a warrant, court rules, The Washington
Post, February 3, 2017.
Paper type- General Review