The report reviews the state of privacy in over fifty-five countries around the world. Key topics include Total Information Awareness, the public response to the USA-Patriot Act, traveller profiling, biometric identification, and other new technologies of surveillance.
According to the 2003 Privacy and Human Rights report, governments have enhanced their surveillance powers, affecting many fundamental human rights, including privacy. But public opposition is growing. EPIC Executive Director Marc Rotenberg said:
"The public in the United States and around the world is now voicing its opposition to the dramatic expansion of government surveillance that occurred after September 11. The resignation of John Poindexter, the suspension of the Total Information Awareness program, and campaigns against identity cards in Europe and East Asia make clear that citizens are not prepared to make privacy one of the casualties in the war on terrorism."
Under the banner of anti-terrorism, combined with a shifting international political climate, several governments are using new systems and methods of surveillance technologies, from biometrics and computerized national ID cards to DNA databases and face-recognition.
Privacy and Human Rights 2003: An International Survey of Privacy Laws and Developments is available free on-line or it can be purchased from the EPIC Bookstore.