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Serbia:NGO, concerns for law leading to 'total surveillance'

Share Foundation, risks for privacy and democracy

22 September, 19:55
(ANSA) - BELGRADE, SEP 22 - Serbia could become the first European country introducing by law a "permanent indiscriminate surveillance of citizens in public spaces," the Serbian 'Share Foundation' said in statement on Tuesday. "The public debate on the Draft Law on Internal Affairs has officially introduced into legal procedure provisions for the use of mass biometric surveillance in public spaces in Serbia, advanced technologies equipped with facial recognition software that enable capturing and processing of large amounts of sensitive personal data in real time," Share Foundation said. "If Serbia adopts the provisions on mass biometric surveillance, it will become the first European country conducting permanent indiscriminate surveillance of citizens in public spaces," the Foundation noted.

"The Serbian government's proposal for a new internal affairs law seeks to legalise biometric mass surveillance practices and thus enable intrusion into the private lives of Serbian citizens and residents on an unprecedented scale, Serbia is moving in a dangerously different direction," said Diego Naranjo, from EDRi, a European network of NGOs, experts, advocates and academics advocating digital rights. ""In Serbia, a country that Freedom House rated as only 'partly free', we suspect that the government has already begun the deployment of high-resolution Huawei cameras, equipped with facial recognition technology, in the city of Belgrade. If this draft law comes into effect, the government might have a legal basis for the use of biometric mass surveillance and the use of these cameras. Serbia now runs the risk of becoming the first European country to be covered by biometric mass surveillance. We call on the Serbian government to immediately withdraw the articles of this draft law that regulate biometric mass surveillance," said the French MEP Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield (Greens).

The Share Foundation works primarily for the promotion of freedom of speech online, data privacy, digital security, and open access to knowledge and information. (ANSA).

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