Press Release: Nym amongst first industry signatories for the ‘Geneva Declaration on Targeted…

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Call for industry privacy projects to sign the Declaration which was launched at the United Nations 51st Human Rights Council with signatories from government, civil society, academic and technology organisations.

NEUCHÂTEL, SWITZERLAND, 4 OCTOBER 2022 — Nym, the leader in network layer privacy, announces their signing of the new Geneva Declaration on Targeted Surveillance and Human Rights, a collective commitment to human rights in the digital age.

Led by civil society organisation Access Now and the Government of Catalonia, the Declaration was officially launched in Geneva during a roundtable discussion on “Spyware: A Threat to Human Rights and Democracy”, taking place in conjunction with the 51st session of the Human Rights Council. Nym CSO Jaya Brekke participated in this session as an industry representative, effectively leading Nym to be amongst the first signatories of the Declaration.

This is a solid first step in condemning the proliferation and use of surveillance technologies to target communities engaging in protected activities. Following the moratorium, urgent concrete action needs to be taken for any real change to better security for human rights and democracy. This includes the adoption of and regulatory support for privacy-preserving rather than surveillance-prone technologies.

Brekke says: “It was a pleasure to come together with eminent people across sectors who share the vision that privacy as the default is in fact the very foundation for open democratic societies. The surveillance industry has, for too long, managed to make false claims that surveillance is necessary for security. The recent Pegasus attacks against environmental, human rights activists and politicians have finally made it obvious that the opposite is in fact true.”

“Surveillance technologies undermine security and democracy by turning anyone into a potential target. It is time to change the narrative, advocate and build strong privacy for everyone,” she adds.

The Declaration highlights that any export, sale, transfer, servicing or use of targeted digital surveillance technologies denies individuals fundamental privacy rights.

Director-General for Digital Nation and Urban Agenda at the Catalan Ministry of Digital Policies and Territory, Maria Galindo says, “Technology must provide new means to defend and improve human rights, not limit them. Right now there is no international framework to regulate spyware. So we must come together [all actors] to defend our digital rights, encourage transparency and accountability among those who sell and those who buy.”

“I am extremely satisfied to see private companies, like Nym, join forces in signing the Declaration of Geneva. I hope we can truly change how things work in the spyware market if more companies, governments, institutions and individuals join us,” she adds.

“It hurts the tech industry as a whole when bad actors enable the surveillance of individuals” says Senior UN Advocacy Officer at Access Now, Laura O’Brien. “It is important for all companies within the industry to work together — and in collaboration with civil society and governments through initiatives like the Geneva Declaration — to raise the floor for rights-respecting behaviour across the tech industry.”

Collectively, governments, civil society, tech professionals and academics worldwide need to join forces to fund, promote, build and support privacy in the digital realm. When given a viable choice, people will choose services that use privacy technologies.

Nym urges the tech, privacy and security industries to sign the Declaration and integrate privacy as a default within their infrastructure. The Declaration can be signed here: https://www.accessnow.org/geneva-declaration-end-spyware-abuse

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About Nym:

Nym is an open-source, incentivized, and decentralised platform that protects privacy at the network level of any application, wallet or digital service. Nym protects against traffic pattern analysis and metadata surveillance. More: nymtech.net

Media contact: Candice Teo, candice@nymtech.net

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