Petition by Writers Against Mass Surveillance
On International Human Rights Day, 562 authors, including 5 Nobel Prize laureates, from over 80 countries have joined together to launch an appeal in defense of civil liberties against surveillance by corporations and governments. 5 Nobel Prize Winners have signed: Orhan Pamuk, J.M. Coetzee, Elfriede Jelinek, Günter Grass and Tomas Tranströmer. Also among the signatories are Umberto Eco, Margaret Atwood, Don DeLillo, Daniel Kehlmann, Nawal El Saadawi, Arundhati Roy, Henning Mankell, Richard Ford, Javier Marias, Björk, David Grossman, Arnon Grünberg, Angeles Mastretta, Juan Goytisolo, Nuruddin Farah, João Ribeiro, Victor Erofeyev, Liao Yiwu and David Malouf.
This global pledge was organized by an independent international group of authors – Juli Zeh, Ilija Trojanow, Eva Menasse, Janne Teller, Priya Basil, Isabel Cole, and Josef Haslinger. On Dec 10 it is published in 30 news papers all around the world:
In recent months, the extent of mass surveillance has become common knowledge. With a few clicks of the mouse the state can access your mobile device, your e-mail, your social networking and Internet searches.
It can follow your political leanings and activities and, in partnership with Internet corporations, it collects and stores your data, and thus can predict your consumption and behaviour.
The basic pillar of democracy is the inviolable integrity of the individual. Human integrity extends beyond the physical body. In their thoughts and in their personal environments and communications, all humans have the right to remain unobserved and unmolested.
This fundamental human right has been rendered null and void through abuse of technological developments by states and corporations for mass surveillance purposes.
A person under surveillance is no 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.
* Surveillance violates the private sphere and compromises freedom of thought and opinion.
* Mass surveillance treats every citizen as a potential suspect. It overturns one of our historical triumphs, the presumption of innocence.
* Surveillance makes the individual transparent, while the state and the corporation operate in secret. As we have seen, this power is being systemically abused.
* Surveillance is theft. This data is not public property: it belongs to us. When it is used to predict our behaviour, we are robbed of something else: the principle of free will crucial to democratic liberty.
WE DEMAND THE RIGHT for all people to determine, as democratic citizens, to what extent their personal data may be legally collected, stored and processed, and by whom; to obtain information on where their data is stored and how it is being used; to obtain the deletion of their data if it has been illegally collected and stored.
WE CALL ON ALL STATES AND CORPORATIONS to respect these rights.
WE CALL ON ALL CITIZENS to stand up and defend these rights.
WE CALL ON THE UNITED NATIONS to acknowledge the central importance of protecting civil rights in the digital age, and to create an International Bill of Digital Rights.
WE CALL ON GOVERNMENTS to sign and adhere to such a convention.
Initiators:
Juli Zeh Germany
Ilija Trojanow Germany
Eva Menasse Germany
Janne Teller Denmark
Priya Basil UK
Isabel Fargo Cole USA
Josef Haslinger Austria
Signatories:
Anila Wilms Albania
Boualem Sansal Algeria
José Eduardo Agualusa Angola
Maria Teresa Andruetto Argentina
Edgardo Cozarinsky Argentina
María Sonia Cristoff Argentina
Marcelo Figueras Argentina
Carlos Gamerro Argentina
Alberto Manguel Argentina
Guillermo Martinez Argentina
Elsa Osorio Argentina
Claudia Piñeiro Argentina
Samanta Schweblin Argentina
Debra Adelaide Australia
Chris Andrews Australia
Venero Armanno Australia
Larissa Beherendt Australia
James Bradley Australia
Brian Castro Australia
Nick Cave Australia
J. M. Coetzee Australia
Miriam Cosic Australia
Michelle de Kretser Australia
Nick Earls Australia
Delia Falconer Australia
Anna Funder Australia
Helen Garner Australia
Elisabeth Holdsworth Australia
Linda Jaivin Australia
Gail Jones Australia
Evelyn Juers Australia
Thomas Keneally Australia
Nam Le Australia
James Ley Australia
Angelo Loukakis Australia
David Malouf Australia
Frank Moorhouse Australia
Peter Rose Australia
Rosie Scott Australia
John Tranter Australia
Kirsten Tranter Australia
Arnold Zable Australia
Lily Brett Australia/USA
Geraldine Brooks Australia/USA
Melitta Breznik Austria
Olga Flor Austria
Karl-Markus Gauß Austria
Thomas Glavinic Austria
Monika Helfer Austria
Klaus Hoffer Austria
Alois Hotschnig Austria
Michael Köhlmeier Austria
Eva Menasse Austria
Robert Menasse Austria
Robert Pfaller Austria
Doron Rabinovici Austria
Kathrin Röggla Austria
David Schalko Austria
Robert Schindel Austria
Clemens J. Setz Austria
Marlene Streeruwitz Austria
Josef Winkler Austria
Daniel Kehlmann Austria/Germany
Tahmina Anam Bangladesh/UK
Ahmad Mostofa Kamal Bangladesh
Svetlana Alexievich Belarus
Valzhyna Mort Belarus/USA
Gie Bogaert Belgium
Saskia De Coster Belgium
Patrick De Rynck Belgium
Jozef Deleu Belgium
Laurent Demoulin Belgium
Charles Ducal Belgium
Joris Gerits Belgium
Jos Geysels Belgium
Luuk Gruwez Belgium
Thomas Gunzig Belgium
Peter Holvoet-Hanssen Belgium
Elisabeth Marain Belgium
Pierre Mertens Belgium
Bart Moeyaert Belgium
Elvis Peeters Belgium
Erik Spinoy Belgium
Jeroen Theunissen Belgium
Rik Torfs Belgium
Koen Van Bockstal Belgium
Walter van den Broeck Belgium
Miriam Van hee Belgium
David van Reybrouck Belgium
Annelies Verbeke Belgium
Paul Verhaeghe Belgium
Roel Verschueren Belgium
Erik Vlaminck Belgium
Georges Wildemeersch Belgium
Carl Norac Belgium/France
Joke van Leeuwen Belgium/Netherlands
Miljenko Jergović Bosnia
Marçal Aquino Brazil
Marcelo Backes Brazil
Rafael Cardoso Brazil
Bernardo Carvalho Brazil
João Paulo Cuenca Brazil
João Ubaldo Ribeiro Brazil
Luiz Ruffato Brazil
Author First Name Author Surname Country
Paulo Scott Brazil
Georgi Gospodinov Bulgaria
Kapka Kassabova Bulgaria/Scotland
Patrice Nganang Cameroon
Margaret Atwood Canada
Ken Babstock Canada
Cory Doctorow Canada
Yann Martel Canada
Colin McAdam Canada
Michael Ondaatje Canada
John Ralston Saul Canada
Madeleine Thien Canada
Arturo Fontaine Chile
Carla Guelfenbein Chile
Ariel Dorfman Chile/Argentina/USA
Lina Meruane Chile/USA
Liao Yiwu China
Héctor Abad Columbia
Oscar Collazos Columbia
Oscar Guardiola-Rivera Columbia
Antonio Ungar Colombia
Juan Gabriel Vásquez Colombia
Slavenka Drakulić Croatia
Nenad Popović Croatia
Dubravka Ugrešić Croatia
Leonardo Padura Fuentes Cuba
Iván de la Nuez Cuba/Spain
Jaroslav Rudiš Czech Rep.
Niels Barfoed Denmark
Thomas Boberg Denmark
Suzanne Brøgger Denmark
Tom Buk-Swienty Denmark
Peter H. Fogtdal Denmark
Katrine Marie Guldager Denmark
Iselin C. Hermann Denmark
Peter Høeg Denmark
Sven Holm Denmark
Hanne Vibeke Holst Denmark
Carsten Jensen Denmark
Pia Juul Denmark
Peter Øvig Knudsen Denmark
Morten Kringelbach Denmark
Jørgen Leth Denmark
Ib Michael Denmark
Morten Ramsland Denmark
Morten Sabroe Denmark
Pia Tafdrup Denmark
Abdourahman Waberi Djibouti
Francisco Proaño Arandi Ecuador
Alaa al-Aswany Egypt
Nawal El Saadawi Egypt
Ahdaf Soueif Egypt
Mona Eltahawy Egypt/USA
Horacio Castellanos Moya El Salvador
Monika Fagerholm Finland
Jarkko Tontti Finland
Kjell Westö Finland
Jean-Jacques Beineix France
Céline Curiol France
Marie Darrieussecq France
Philippe Djian France
Lionel Duroy France
Mathias Énard France
Jérôme Ferrari France
Anne-Marie Garat France
Laurent Gaudé France
Pascale Hugues France
Alban Lefranc France
Roger Lenglet France
Virginie Lou-Nony France
Jean Mattern France
Betty Mialet France
Catherine Millet France
Frédéric Mitterrand France
Hélène Neveu Kringelbach France
Philippe Pozzo di Borgo France
Flore Vasseur France
Martin Winckler France/Canada
Jonathan Littell France/USA
Friedrich Ani Germany
Michael Augustin Germany
Anke Bastrop Germany
Ulrich Beck Germany
Artur Becker Germany
Josef Bierbichler Germany
Marica Bodrožić Germany
Mirko Bonné Germany
Ralf Bönt Germany
Nora Bossong Germany
Daniel Cohn-Bendit Germany
Daniela Dahn Germany
Liane Dirks Germany
Doris Dörrie Germany
Ulrike Draesner Germany
Kurt Drawert Germany
Tanja Dückers Germany
Carolin Emcke Germany
Sherko Fatah Germany
David Finck Germany
Julia Franck Germany
Franziska Gerstenberg Germany
Christoph Giesa Germany
Roman Graf Germany
Günter Grass Germany
Kerstin Grether Germany
Annett Gröschner Germany
Gert Heidenreich Germany
Christoph Hein Germany
Thomas Hettche Germany
Paul Ingendaay Germany
Elfriede Jelinek Germany
Steffen Kopetzky Germany
Mareike Krügel Germany
Michael Krüger Germany
Michael Kumpfmüller Germany
Antje Kunstmann Germany
Katja Lange-Müller Germany
Benjamin Lauterbach Germany
Jo Lendle Germany
Michael Lentz Germany
Ulli Lust Germany
Angelina Maccarone Germany
Kristof Magnusson Germany
Sten Nadolny Germany
Christiane Neudecker Germany
Norbert Niemann Germany
Ingo Niermann Germany
Markus Orths Germany
Georg M. Oswald Germany
Inka Parei Germany
Annette Pehnt Germany
Antje Rávic Strubel Germany
Annika Reich Germany
Moritz Rinke Germany
Charlotte Roos Germany
Eugen Ruge Germany
Peter Schneider Germany
Erasmus Schöfer Germany
Ingo Schulze Germany
Hilal Sezgin Germany
Peter Sloterdijk Germany
Tilman Spengler Germany
Burkhard Spinnen Germany
Ulrike Steglich Germany
Hans-Ulrich Treichel Germany
Regula Venske Germany
Marius von Mayenburg Germany
Thomas von Steinaecker Germany
Gisela von Wysocki Germany
Jan Wagner Germany
Alissa Walser Germany
Theresia Walser Germany
Peter Weibel Germany
Florian Werner Germany
Roger Willemsen Germany
Ron Winkler Germany
Jan Christophersen Germany
Kwame Dawes Ghana/USA
Kostas Akrivos Greece
Petros Markaris Greece
Nina Rapi Greece
Thanassis Valtinos Greece
Edwidge Danticat Haiti/USA
Xu Xi Hong Kong/USA
Tibor Babiczky Hungary
Zsófia Balla Hungary
Zsófia Bán Hungary
Báthori Csaba Hungary
György Dragomán Hungary
Peter Esterhazy Hungary
Krisztián Grecsó Hungary
Noémi Kiss Hungary
László Krasznahorkai Hungary
Lajos Parti Nagy Hungary
Anna T. Szabó Hungary
Oddný Eir Iceland
Einar Már Guðmundsson Iceland
Hallgrímur Helgason Iceland
Bjarni Jónsson Iceland
Andri Snær Magnason Iceland
Steinnun Sigurðardóttir Iceland
Jón Kalman Stefánsson Iceland
Shahid Amin India
Amit Chaudhuri India
Tishani Doshi India
Naresh Fernandes India
Amitav Ghosh India
Ramchandra Guha India
Anjum Hassan India
Ranjit Hoskoté India
Raj Kamal Jha India
Ruchir Joshi India
Girish Karnad India
Mukul Kesavan India
Amitava Kumar India
Pankaj Mishra India
Kiran Nagarkar India
Jerry Pinto India
Arundhati Roy India
Arundhati Subramaniam India
Jeet Thayil India
Altaf Tyrewala India
Salil Tripathi India/UK
Suketu Mehta India/USA
Jabbar Yassin Hussin IraqBjörk Iceland
Sjón Iceland
Hassan Blasim Iraq/Finland
Najem Wali Iraq/Germany
Roddy Doyle Ireland
Colum McCann Ireland
Colm Tóibín Ireland/USA
Assaf Gavron Israel
David Grossman Israel
Etgar Keret Israel
Yitzhak Laor Israel
Sami Michael Israel
Amos Oz Israel
Zeruya Shalev Israel
Andrea Bajani Italy
Massimo Carlotto Italy
Erri de Luca Italy
Paolo Giordano Italy
Dacia Mariani Italy
Sabine Gruber Italy/Austria
Tosihiko Uji Japan
Elias Farkouh Jordan
Dominique Eddé Lebanon
Rawi Hage Lebanon/Canada
Ahmed Fagih Libya/Egypt
Ranga Yogeshwar Luxembourg
Nikola Madzirov Macedonia
Samson Kambalu Malawi
Tan Twan Eng Malaysia
Pierre Mejlak Malta
Rosa Beltrán Mexico
Sabina Berman Mexico
Carmen Boullosa Mexico
Ana Clavel Mexico
Alma Guillermoprieto Mexico
Valeria Luiselli Mexico
Angeles Mastretta Mexico
René Appel Netherlands
Abdelkader Benali Netherlands
Ronald Bos Netherlands
Ian Buruma Netherlands
Gerrit Bussink Netherlands
Saskia de Jong Netherlands
Job Degenaar Netherlands
Renate Dorrestein Netherlands
Rudolf Geel Netherlands
Arnon Grünberg Netherlands
Joke J. Hermsen Netherlands
Marjolin Hof Netherlands
Tjitske Jansen Netherlands
Liesbeth Lagemaat Netherlands
Thomas Lieske Netherlands
Geert Mak Netherlands
Nelleke Noordervliet Netherlands
Ester Naomi Perquin Netherlands
Aleid Truijens Netherlands
Manon Uphoff Netherlands
Jan van Mersbergen Netherlands
Anne Vegter Netherlands
Pip Adam New Zealand
Tim Corballis New Zealand
Nicky Hager New Zealand
Ingrid Horrocks New Zealand
Lloyd Jones New Zealand
Elizabeth Knox New Zealand
Bill Manhire New Zealand
Courtney Sina Meredith New Zealand
Sarah Quigley New Zealand
Anna Sanderson New Zealand
C. K. Stead New Zealand
Susan Pearce New Zealand/UK
Helon Habila Nigeria
Chika Unigwe Nigeria
Olumide Popoola Nigeria/Germany
Jostein Gaarder Norway
Per Petterson Norway
Mohsin Hamid Pakistan
Ahmed Rashid Pakistan
Kamila Shamsie Pakistan/GB
Suad Amiry Palestine
Mourid Barghouti Palestine
Najwan Darwish Palestine
Nathalie Handal Palestine
Raja Shehadeh Palestine
Adania Shibli Palestine
Ghassan Zaqtan Palestine
Ala Hlehel Palestine/Israel
Santiago Roncagliolo Peru
Miguel Syjuco Philippines/Canada
Ignacy Karpowicz Poland
Beata Stasińska Poland
Witold Szabłowski Poland
Olga Tokarczuk Poland
Pedro Rosa Mendes Portugal
Mircea Cărtărescu Romania
Vladimir Aristov Russia
Alan Cherchesov Russia
Victor Erofeyev Russia
Alisa Ganiyeva Russia
Dmitri Golynko Russia
Alexander Ilichevsky Russia
Sergei Lebedev Russia
Stanislav Lvovsky Russia
Mikhail Shishkin Russia
Alexander Skidan Russia
Alexander Snegiryov Russia
Cheikh Hamidou Kane Senegal
Author First Name Author Surname Country
David Albahari Serbia
Bora Ćosić Serbia/Croatia
Michal Hvorecký Slovakia
Gabriela Babnik Slovenia
Aleš Čar Slovenia
Aleš Debeljak Slovenia
Mojca Kumerdej Slovenia
Miha Mazzini Slovenia
Dušan Šarotar Slovenia
Aleš Šteger Slovenia
Nuruddin Farah Somalia/South Africa
Breyten Breytenbach South Africa
Antjie Krog South Africa
Zakes Mda South Africa
Margie Orford South Africa
Henrietta Rose-Innes South Africa
Gillian Slovo South Africa
Ivan Vladislavić South Africa
Zukiswa Wanner South Africa
Hwang Sok-Yong South Korea
Ricardo Bada Spain
Javier Cercas Spain
Rafael Chirbes Spain
Juan Goytisolo Spain
Julio Llamazares Spain
Javier Marías Spain
Antonio Muñoz Molina Spain
Rosa Montero Spain
Javier Salinas Spain
José F. A. Oliver Spain/Germany
Romesh Gunesekera Sri Lanka
Jamal Mahjoub Sudan
Arne Dahl Sweden
Per Olov Enquist Sweden
Aris Fioretos Sweden
Author First Name Author Surname Country
Jan Guillou Sweden
Björn Larsson Sweden
Henning Mankell Sweden
Håkan Nesser Sweden
Tomas Tranströmer Sweden
Svante Weyler Sweden
Melinda Nadj Abonji Switzerland
Sybille Berg Switzerland
Peter Bieri Switzerland
Irena Brežná Switzerland
Iso Camartin Switzerland
Alex Capus Switzerland
Martin Dean Switzerland
Catalin Florescu Switzerland
Christian Haller Switzerland
Reto Hänny Switzerland
Eveline Hasler Switzerland
Franz Hohler Switzerland
Pedro Lenz Switzerland
Charles Lewinsky Switzerland
Klaus Merz Switzerland
Julian Schütt Switzerland
Peter Stamm Switzerland
Alain Sulzer Switzerland
Urs Widmer Switzerland
Hala Mohammed Syria
Abdulrazak Gurnah Tanzania/UK
Rattawut Lapcharoensap Thailand/US
Tahar Bekri Tunesia/France
Yasar Kemal Turkey
Murathan Mungun Turkey
Orhan Pamuk Turkey
Buket Uzuner Turkey
Akkas Al-Ali UK
Tariq Ali UK
Author First Name Author Surname Country
David Almond UK
Martin Amis UK
Julian Barnes UK
John Berger UK
John Burnside UK
Louis de Bernières UK
Isobel Dixon UK
Joanne Harris UK
Kazuo Ishiguro UK
Pico Iyer UK
Stephen Kelman UK
Hari Kunzru UK
Ian McEwan UK
Stella Newman UK
Martin Rowson UK
Will Self UK
Owen Sheers UK
Philip Sington UK
Tom Stoppard UK
Adam Thirwell UK
David Vann UK
Nigel Warbuton UK
Irvine Welsh UK
Jeanette Winterson UK
Rana Dasgupta UK/India
Anjali Joseph UK/India
Nikita Lalwani UK/India
Fadia Faqir UK/Jordan
Hanif Kureishi UK/Pakistan
Lionel Shriver UK/US
Myroslav Marynovych Ukraine
Oksana Zabuzhko Ukraine
John Ashbery USA
Paul Auster USA
Elise Blackwell USA
Author First Name Author Surname Country
T. C. Boyle USA
Alexander Chee USA
Billy Collins USA
Don DeLillo USA
Colin Dickey USA
Jennifer Egan USA
Dave Eggers USA
Elizabeth Eslami USA
Jeffrey Eugenides USA
Richard Ford USA
George Dawes Green USA
Joe Hurley USA
Elizabeth Kostova USA
Adrian Nicole LeBlanc USA
Jonathan Lethem USA
Barry Lopez USA
Ben Marcus USA
Tyler McMahon USA
Maaza Mengiste USA/Ethiopia
Claire Messud USA
David Mitchell USA
Josip Novakovich USA
George Packer USA
Tim Parrish USA
Richard Powers USA
Domnica Radulescu USA/Romania
James Salter USA
Richard Sennett USA
Jane Smiley USA
Anne Waldman USA
Alice Walker USA
Eliot Weinberger USA
Jeffrey Yang USA
Sapphire USA
Aleksandar Hemon USA/Bosnia
Brian Chikwava Zimbabwe
source: http://www.change.org/petitions/a-stand-for-democracy-in-the-digital-age-3#share