UN adopts Internet privacy resolution.

• Position: PRIVACY - United Nations - Brief article

The United Nations (UN) General Assembly's human rights committee unanimously adopted a resolution to protect the right to privacy against unlawful surveillance. Germany and Brazil sponsored the resolution following the revelation of U.S. eavesdropping on foreign leaders, including Brazil President Dilma Rousseff and German Chancelor Angela Merkel.

According to Brazil's U.N. ambassador, Antonio de Aguiar Patriota, the resolution "establishes for the first time that human rights should prevail irrespective of the medium, and therefore need to be protected online and offline."

The Associated Press reported that the United States did not fight the resolution after successfully lobbying the "Five Eyes" Intelligence-sharing group--the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand--to dilute some of the draft language. The key compromise dropped the contention that the domestic and international interception and collection of communications and personal data, "in particular massive...