In our increasingly digital world, there has been a growing vigilance by countries worldwide, including those in the Caribbean, with respect to national security. In many jurisdictions, it has resulted in the creation of agencies that have broad and deep powers to collect and retain personal data – not only on their citizens, but on anyone who gets caught their net. Attorney at law, Grace Lindo, discusses the uneasy tension that exists between a State’s concern about national security and an individual’s right to privacy, with a particular focus on what obtains in Jamaica, and the challenges that are being experienced there.

 

This episode is also available in Apple iTunes and on Stitcher!

Following the terrorist attacks in the United States (US) on September 11 2001, and across the globe, a greater emphasis has been placed on national security. In the US, for example, it enacted the Patriots’ Act, and thanks to the revelations made by Eric Snowden, we got some insight into the breadth and depth of the activities that were been undertaken.

Hence, one of the issues that we have had all to grapple with, over the past decade or so, is the intrusiveness of some of the national security measure that have been implemented, and whether or not, or the extent to which, our right to privacy ­– as individuals – is being affected. For example, when travelling, we tend to be subject to heightened security at airports and the fingerprint scans that increasingly are becoming the norm. Also, unbeknownst to us, our telephone conversations and text/instant messages may all be recorded and saved by a government – all in the name of national security.

In this podcast episode, we will be discussing privacy, with a particular focus on personal data held by the State. Various government agencies are being given broad powers to collect our personal data, and retain it definitely; so we ought to be asking the question: can a balance be found between increasing security concerns and an individual’s right to privacy?

To help us unpack this issue, is Grace Lindo, an Attorney at Law, and a Partner at Nunes, Scholefield, DeLeon & Co, one of the largest and oldest law firms in Jamaica. Her practice areas include Commercial and Corporate,  Telecommunication and Technology, and Intellectual Property, to name a few.

Grace Lindo

In our conversation with Grace, and to highlight some of the issues that ought to be considered in the national security versus privacy debate, we discuss some recent developments in Jamaica, specifically the new National Identification System (NIDS), which may be piloted as early as next year, and JamaicaEye, which has already been implemented. Hence, some of the areas covered during the interview include:

  1. Key trends in privacy worldwide and in the Caribbean
  2. Whether we should be concerned about the extent to which an individual’s right to privacy might be violated on the grounds of national security
  3. With the imminent roll out of the new National Identification System (NIDS), whether Jamaicans are still as concerned about NIDS, in light of how contentious some of the issues had been before the law had been passed, such as with respect to the collection of bio-data (fingerprints and iris scans)
  4. The implications of some of the provisions of the National Identification and Registration Act, the law that underpins NIDS, with respect to the constitution of Jamaica
  5. Why the constitutional court has had to get involved in the NIDS debate
  6. The India, Estonia and Mauritius experience with respect to national ID systems and their security, and the relevance of those experiences to the Jamaica situation
  7. A likely reason why countries, especially those in the Caribbean, have become more intrusive
  8. What JamaicaEye is, and why Jamaican residents might be prepared to allow some intrusion by the State into their privacy
  9. Whether national security concerns can outweigh an individual’s right to privacy.

 

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Select links

Below are links to some of the organisations and resources that either were mentioned during the episode, or otherwise, might be useful:

 

 

Image credits:  geralt (Pixabay);  G Lindo

Music credit:  Ray Holman