Module 4: Data Privacy and Data Protection
Modules on Litigating Freedom of Expression and Digital Rights in South and Southeast Asia
- The right to privacy is gaining prominence with increasing data flows and the concomitant need for the protection of personal information.
- Although South and Southeast Asia lacks a dedicated regional convention on data protection, and there is no such convention for Asia overall, Convention 108 of the Council of Europe is open for accession by non-European states.
- States should ensure that their domestic legislation sets out standards for the lawful processing of personal information and that they maintain this legislation in line with data protection developments.
- Linked to data protection are the privacy-related concepts of the ‘right to be forgotten’, encryption and limits on government surveillance.
- Notably, the disclosure of journalistic sources as a result of state surveillance has a negative impact on freedom of expression and journalistic freedom.