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Authors join Facebook, Apple and Google in condemning state surveillance

More than 500 authors have condemned state organised surveillance of citizens in an open letter to Barak Obama. The letter, signed by literary giants such as Margaret Atwood, Orhan Pamuk, Martin Amis, JM Coetzee, Ian McEwan and Gunther Grass, urges the United Nations to create an international digital bill of rights to protect the fundamental human right to ‘remain unobserved and unmolested’.

It goes on to argue that ‘A person under surveillance is not longer free; a society under surveillance is no longer a democracy. To maintain any validity, our democratic rights must apply in virtual as in real space.’ Hard to argue with that one…

The letter follows a similar letter from Apple, Facebook, Google and other technology firms a few days ago.

Author composite including Tom Stoppard

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