NSA reform panel: Foreigners actually have privacy rights, too!

The Report and Recommendations of The President’s Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies is absolutely stuffed with references to the privacy considerations owed to non-US citizens.

And while some of this is of course a mere damage control exercise in the face of world outrage, the rhetoric does at least occasionally rise to striking heights. "There are sound, indeed, compelling reasons to treat the citizens of other nations with dignity and respect," the report says in an entire chapter devoted to surveillance of non-US persons. This is due in part to self-interest, since "if we are too aggressive in our surveillance policies under section 702 [allowing non-FISA warrantless collection and targeting of non-US persons], we might trigger serious economic repercussions for American businesses, which might lose their share of the world’s communications market because of a growing distrust of their capacity to guarantee the privacy of their international users. Recent disclosures have generated considerable concern along these lines."

But the report takes a more principled position, too. “Perhaps most important, however, is the simple and fundamental issue of respect for personal privacy and human dignity -- wherever people may reside.” In other words, the report calls for an international right to digital privacy.