Respect privacy and no to monitoring of internet usage or activity in Malaysia, say ASEAN NGOs
Article 12 and 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights must be respected
We,
the undersigned organisations and groups, are most concern that the
fact that all in Malaysians maybe under constant internet surveillance,
which would be an invasion of the right to privacy, all on the basis of
action by the government to curb child pornography.
It was
reported that the Malaysian police, being ‘….the Bukit Aman's Sexual,
Women and Child Investigation Division (D11) principal assistant
director Ong Chin Lan said the new Malaysia Internet Crime Against
Children Investigation Unit (MICAC) will build a "data library" of
pornography users and their surfing preferences…. “We will pick up those
who visit these sites regularly. We use software that was specially
developed to allow us to identify, locate and track visits to porn
sites, especially those involving child porn. “The intelligence we get
will be passed on to the Communications and Multimedia Commission
(MCMC), so we can obtain the internet users’ details," she said, adding
that those being monitored could be called in for questioning or even
arrested from their homes…. Internet users who view pornography from the
"relative safety" of their mobile phones will not be spared from
scrutiny under this system. (Malaysiakini, 9/7/2018)
RIGHT TO PRIVACY A HUMAN RIGHT
Whilst
we are against child pornography, we are opposed to any on-going
monitoring of internet activity/usage of all in Malaysia, which is an
invasion of personal privacy.
Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that, ‘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. ‘
Such
monitoring also would mean that all other activity on the internet of
persons could also very easily be monitored including personal
communications, visits to websites, sharing of information and even
private documents. This could also include privilege communications
between a lawyer and a client.
EVEN IN INVESTIGATIONS, COURT ORDERS NEEDED TO SEARCH AND GET EVIDENCE
It
must be pointed out that in criminal procedure, the arrest and/or
investigation of a suspect does not automatically allow even the search
of premises, computers, etc without a required search warrant save for
very exceptional situations. These warrants are usually issued by a
Magistrate or a Judge, on application by the police and/or enforcement
officers.
Likewise, for example under the Deoxyribonucleic Acid
(DNA) Identification Act 2009, the police and enforcement authorities
cannot even take intimate samples like blood, urine, semen and other
tissue or fluid from a person’s body samples without the written consent
of the person from whom the samples is/are to be taken from. For even
non-intimate samples, like saliva, hair and a sample taken from a nail,
the person from which the sample is to be taken has the right to object
hence requiring the obligation to obtain a court order.
As such,
the idea of ‘secretive’ arbitrarily on-going monitoring of internet
activity/usage of any or all persons, for whatever reasons, must be
deplored and opposed.
RIGHT TO SEEK, RECEIVE AND IMPART INFORMATION AND IDEAS THROUGH ANY MEDIA
It
is common knowledge that in Malaysia, the government have in the past
denied people access to many online news sites and/or websites with
opinions and news possibly critical to the past administration(and/or
their interest) like even the Wall Street Journal, Malaysian Insider and
Sarawak Report, thus depriving those in Malaysia access to alternative
views and news that may be relevant to Malaysians.
As such, the
blocking of access to websites is best not to be done simply vide
arbitrary administrative decisions and/or actions, but must require a
court order. Website owners and/or persons affected should preferably be
also given the right to be heard before the granting of such court
orders, or at worst the ability to challenge and set aside such orders.
It
was also recently reported that the Communications and Multimedia
Commission (MCMC)’s network security, new media monitoring, compliance
and advocacy sector Chief Fadhlullah Suhaimi Abdul Malek as saying that
the commission had blocked 3,781 pornographic websites from 2014 until
the end of March. One wonders as to what other websites have been
blocked.
Further, a listing of all such websites should be
gazetted and made public, possibly also with brief reasons as to why
such actions were taken. The right to challenge or judicially review the
orders to block access to any websites should be available not just to
owners, but also to users.
The right to privacy is sacrosanct and
must always be respected, and as such the on-going ‘spying’ of internet
usage cannot be tolerated.
Police investigations of suspects of a
crime, may warrant the perusal of one’s computers and/or smartphone
usage/records, but that too should be only after a relevant court order
is applied for and obtained.
Therefore, we the
undersigned organisations and group, calls for the immediate halt on all
on-going ‘spying’ of internet usage and online activities by the police
and/or the government including Malaysia Internet Crime Against
Children Investigation Unit (MICAC), allegedly to detect, locate and
record data of traffic for online pornography.
Whatsoever "data
library" of pornography users and their surfing preferences and/or any
other such data that now exist, as developed by MICAC and/or any other
government agencies, must immediately be erased, and must never be used
for whatever reason against any person/s.
The government must
respect and protect a person’s right to privacy, this including one’s
personal internet/online usage and communications. Any such invasion or
interference of privacy must never be permitted or tolerated for
whatsoever reason, more so such arbitrary ‘spying’ and keeping records
of internet activity of all persons – not simply just a few investigated
suspects.
Likewise, the right to information and other views
online should also not be arbitrarily denied or suppressed by the
government. Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
which states that, ‘Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and
expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.’
, clearly includes right to seek and receive information and ideas
online from also websites/internet from all over the world.
Statement signed by 13 groups/organisations listed below:
- MADPET(Malaysians Against Death Penalty and Torture)
- Malaysian Physicians for Social Responsibility (MPSR)
- Persatuan Sahabat Wanita Selangor, Malaysia
- Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA)
- Programme Against Custodial Torture & Impunity (PACTI), India
- Singapore Anti Death Penalty Campaign (SADPC)
- Odhikar, Bangladesh
- Parti Rakyat Malaysia(PRM)
- Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha(MASUM), India
- CAW (Committee for Asian Women)
- CENTRAL, Cambodia
- Workers Hub For Change(WH4C)
- HAK Association, Timor-Leste
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