Digital surveillance technologies to fight pandemic must respect human rights

Re:Digital surveillance technologies to fight pandemic must ... by hartator on Tuesday April 14, 2020 @10:30AM (#22866403)

I think individual rights should always trump the majority will. Individual rights are natural, unremovable, and should not be up to debate. It’s the reason why the US is a republic and we have a bill of rights > all laws or orders.

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Re:Digital surveillance technologies to fight pandemic must ... by cortesoft on Tuesday April 14, 2020 @12:22PM (#22867849)

It is never that simple... individuals' rights are always going to be coming into conflict. It doesn't mean anything to say individual rights always trump the groups will.

We are always having to adjudicate the boundaries of rights... that is why we have a court system. Where those boundaries are IS up to date, and has changed over time... this is unavoidable, because there is no 'natural' place to put those boundaries.

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Re:Digital surveillance technologies to fight pandemic must ... by TechBro8615 on Tuesday April 14, 2020 @11:24AM (#22867109)

This. The US constitution does not grant rights to citizens. It enumerates the rights that were endowed to us by our creator and cannot be taken away from us. This is an important distinction that is frequently overlooked.

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Re:Digital surveillance technologies to fight pandemic must ... by matheusmoreira on Wednesday April 15, 2020 @11:29AM (#22878887)

> Individual rights are natural

Questionable. Who says you have those rights? The government. They can take them away at any time. Just look at the USA PATRIOT Act.

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Re:Digital surveillance technologies to fight pandemic must ... by luckylion on Tuesday April 14, 2020 @10:39AM (#22866537)

So no wiretaps, ever? I'm not so sure...

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Re:Digital surveillance technologies to fight pandemic must ... by hartator on Tuesday April 14, 2020 @10:43AM (#22866585)

It’s up to a judge to decide. It has to limited in scope, responsable, and with serious individual suspicion. A lot like current quarantine rulings - mass quarantines are unconstitutional in the US - but we all forget.

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Re:Digital surveillance technologies to fight pandemic must ... by luckylion on Tuesday April 14, 2020 @11:24AM (#22867116)

> It’s up to a judge to decide.

Yeah, but he enacts the will of the majority ;)

I totally get & agree with the sentiment, but not in the absolutist form. It's always going to be fuzzy, the question is mostly how we weigh the needs of the many and the needs of the few (or the individual). I do believe that the average response to that is strongly reflected in each nation's laws & culture, with the US emphasizing the individual's needs a lot more.

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Re:Digital surveillance technologies to fight pandemic must ... by cortesoft on Tuesday April 14, 2020 @12:23PM (#22867859)

You say they are unconstitutional... where are the court rulings saying this?

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