Olivia Martin
Access
Brussels, Belgium
I can’t begin to express how invaluable my experience so far has been in reinforcing and developing my understanding of human rights. As a reminder, I have been working with Access, a digital rights NGO with offices around the world. I have been based in Brussels, a city I have quickly fallen in love with.
A veritable international hub, Brussels is considered the capital of Europe, as it is home to the offices of the EU Parliament, Commission, and Council of the European Union (the pictures below were taken in front of the European Parliament). Our office is about a six-minute walk to the Parliament, and on any day during lunch hour you find members of the European Parliament, diplomats, and members of civil society talking shop over delicious sandwiches.
Our proximity to the Parliament and other governmental institutions has enabled me to conduct research and complete tasks I never imagined were possible. Visiting the Parliament for summits on data protection laws and international agreements impacting surveillance and data flows, I have begun to realize the extent to which protecting personal data is an integral part of political discussions of even trade agreements and medical research.
I have been struck most by the dichotomy of the right to privacy versus security in public debates surrounding data protection regulations and surveillance laws. To paint a clearer picture of this false-premise argument, I can give an example of the argument in practice. At a summit on the intersection of cybersecurity and law enforcement, a police official claimed that there is “no privacy without security”; thus, the logic follows that measures infringing on citizens’ right to privacy for the sake for security are necessary to preserve whatever privacy remains.
In actuality, this dangerous argument neglects to address the fact that while we must give due weight to both privacy and national security, we cannot fully enjoy the benefits of national security without the full respect of fundamental rights. This is a part of the political rhetoric surrounding infringements on the right to privacy that permeates discussions in both the EU and the US, which, when used too liberally, damages the progress we make towards protecting digital rights.