alt Hacker News> I want privacy codified in human law
Article 12
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks
- Paris, 1948, Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Replies
if there are no consequences to violating a law is it a law?
That's a declaration, which is not binding. The ECHR art. 8 has similar contents and is binding. However, it has a 'unless we really want to'-portion:
"except such as is in accordance with the law and is necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security, public safety or the economic well-being of the country, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others."
Currently 'the West' happens to be doing its best to quash international law, so I'd expect even that thin veneer to crumble rather soon.
Which says nothing about a business profiling customers that walk through the door and selling its profiles to aggregators. It says nothing about requiring consent before soliciting individuals or subjecting them to psychologically manipulative advertisements. Etc. We need more.