Opinions

  Privacy vs. Security in a Brave New World — Pegasus spyware and the problem of electronic mass surveillance for human rights and democracy By Mag. David Kainrath   Recent revelations about the Pegasus spyware are just the latest in a long row of disconcerting news of digital mass surveillance. At the heart of the problem lies the technological possibility for governments and companies to put everyone under complete electronic surveillance and thereby violate the human right to privacy. Apart from the severe loss of personal freedom that every individual suffers who is a victim of electronic spying, a political…

On 9. August 2021, The UN Secretary-General António Guterres made a statement on the IPCC working group I report on the physical science basis of the sixth assessment: Today’s IPCC Working Group 1 Report is a code red for humanity.  The alarm bells are deafening, and the evidence is irrefutable:  greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel burning and deforestation are choking our planet and putting billions of people at immediate risk.  Global heating is affecting every region on Earth, with many of the changes becoming irreversible. The internationally agreed threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius is perilously close. We are at imminent…

On 7. July, 2021, the UN Secretary-General António Guterres sent a message about the Four Millionth Death from the COVID-19 Pandemic: Today the world marks yet another grim milestone in the COVID-19 pandemic. Four million souls have now been lost to the virus. This tragic toll is more than the population of one out of three countries on earth. Many of us know this loss directly and feel its pain. We mourn mothers and fathers who gave guidance, sons and daughters who inspired us, grandmothers and grandfathers who shared wisdom, colleagues and friends who lifted our lives. Vaccines offer a ray…

29 May 2021 sees this year’s International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers. The UN Secretary-General António Guterres sends the following message to the whole world: “The International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers honours the more than one million women and men who have served on the frontlines of conflict and the more than 4,000 who have lost their lives in the line of duty. Their service and sacrifices will never be forgotten. “I express my deep gratitude to the 85,000 civilian, police and military personnel currently deployed in some of the world’s most challenging hotspots to protect the vulnerable and help…