Question of privacy

THE COUNTRY expects that Senator Wade Mark will be true to his word and produce the evidence to support his charge that the Government is engaging in electronic spying. The accusation he made in the Senate on Tuesday is alarming since, if true, it provides the Government with the technological capacity not only to spy on the Opposition but, in fact, to invade the privacy of individual adult citizens, private groups and organisations.

Specifically, this is the charge the Senator levelled: "The PNM used $61 million of yours and mine, taxpayers' dollars, to buy an automated monitoring system - and you know that Madame President - capable of analysing voice data, fax calls, e-mails. Madame President, they have done that." Pursuing his allegation, he noted: "If you have a cell phone, it is the most dangerous device to walk with under the PNM."

In our view, this accusation is so serious that we would have expected Senator Mark to arm himself with supporting evidence when he came to the Senate on Tuesday to speak on the Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill. But he didn't and, in fact, came under attack from Senator Danny Montano for saying "all kinds of things" and censure from the President who ordered him to "stop making reference to what you have no proof about". But the Opposition Senator stood his ground, declaring: "I have proof of what I am speaking about. I will produce the evidence." In the interest of the entire country, we sincerely hope that he would fulfill that promise.

It seems vital to point out here that private citizens and private organisations have an inalienable right to privacy. In fact, "the right of the individual to resepct for his private and family life" is one of the fundamental human rights enshrined in our Constitution. As a watchdog of those rights, this newspaper maintains a keen vigilance and alertness, and is compelled to deal with any attempt by anyone to violate or abridge them. In the context of modern state-of-the-art technology, Senator Mark's accusation is quite disturbing since he claims that the Government’s has now acquired the capacity to snoop into all the channels of established electronic communication.

What also makes the clash in the Senate worrisome is the fact that the Government side did not see the need to issue a categorical denial of Senator Mark's categorical charge. As a result, we expect that Prime Minister Manning would now proceed to set the record straight on this troublesome issue. Has the Government in fact acquired such an "automated monitoring system" and, if so, to what use is it being put? The public's concern over this matter must be fuelled by the spectacular advance in electronic communications, Internet capacity, data transfer and monitoring systems, all of which have begun to erase the traditional boundaries which protected the privacy of citizens. In a survey of the Internet Society entitled "Digital Dilemmas", the Economist of January 25-31 states: "Governments around the world are moving to record their own transactions and the provision of services to their citizens electronically. Monitoring of telephone calls, voicemail, e-mail and computer use by employers is easier and more widespread than ever before."

The magazine concludes: "Privacy is likely to become one of the most contentious and troublesome issues in western politics. There will be constant arguments about what trade-offs to make between privacy on the one hand and security, economic efficiency and convenience on the other." Senator Mark's charge now brings this issue home to us. How private is our privacy? We expect that both him and the Government will see the necessity to tell us.