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President Obama: Privacy, free expression for all

By Index on Censorship / 19 December, 2013

Index on Censorship is deeply concerned that neither the report nor the recommendations on the NSA prepared by the White House review panel tackles the worldwide mass surveillance carried out by the United States.  Index calls on President Obama to take urgent action to respect the right to freedom of expression and privacy of all the world’s citizens, not just those of the United States. 

The report from President Barack Obama’s Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technology is a 300-page tome which includes 46 recommendations – from forcing telecommunications firms to store call data for on demand NSA access, to higher level signoff on surveillance of foreign leaders. 

Kirsty Hughes, CEO of Index, said:

“These weak recommendations offer no privacy for non-Americans and only scant protection for foreign leaders.  The NSA’s surveillance programmes continue to violate human rights on a massive scale.  When Barack Obama decides what reforms to implement in January, he should remember that Americans are not the only people who deserve the right to privacy and free speech. ” 

Index on Censorship magazine

Don’t miss the winter issue of Index on Censorship magazine.  With the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta approaching, we discuss what a 21st-century Magna Carta would include.  Don’t miss answers from Robert McCrum, Elif Shafak and Ferial Haffajee.  Also in this edition: cartoonist Martin Rowson interviews fantasy writer Neil Gaiman; actor/director Simon Callow on why the police should do more to make sure controversial productions go on; Kaya Genç on attacks on women journalists in Turkey; plus Peter Kellner on democracy’s debt to the Magna Carta and John Crace’s humorous history, and the first English translation of Hanoch Levin’s controversial short story Diary of a Censor