JURIST - Paper Chase: Saturday, November 17, 2012

[JURIST] Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi [BBC backgrounder] announced Saturday that peace talks are progressing toward a ceasefire in the recent escalation of violence in Gaza [JURIST news archive] and Southern Israel. Mursi invited the Quatari emir, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan [official profile, in Turkish] and former Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal to Cairo for ceasefire discussions after the recent violence broke the informal truce brokered by Egypt [Reuters report] between Israel and Hamas in October. After rocket attacks by Palestinian militants into Israel this week, violence began to escalate on Wednesday with the killing of Hamas military chief Ahmed Jabari [Huffington Post backgrounder] in a targeted air strike [NYT report] by Israel Defense Forces. The next day Palestinian forces responded with rocket fire [Reuters report] aimed at multiple Israeli cities and towns. 45 Palestinians and three Israelis [NYTimes report] have been killed and hundreds more have been injured.

UN High Commissioner on Human Rights Navi Pillay [official website] on Friday called for a ceasefire [JURIST report] by both sides involved in the conflict, expressing concern over both the Palestinian rocket fire that took place over the past week as well as the resulting aerial attacks by Israel. In August Amnesty International [advocacy website] called on Israel [JURIST report] to investigate its treatment of Palestinian detainees, alleging that two had been mistreated. In June the UN also urged Israel to end its blockade [JURIST report] of the Gaza Strip, alleging that it was violating international law. In February, Human Rights Watch [advocacy website] also urged Israel to end residency restriction policies that prevent Palestinians from travelling through and living in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.

[JURIST] UN independent human rights experts on Friday expressed concern [press release] over the draft of the first ever Human Rights Declaration [text, PDF] of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) [official website]. ASEAN will consider the declaration at its summit in Phnom Penh in Cambodia on Sunday, where it is expected that the document will be adopted [Jakarta Post report]. The UN experts and others have expressed reservations that the declaration as drafted lacks protection for fundamental human rights [UN News Centre report; JURIST report] and that it leaves many provisions contingent upon domestic laws of its member nations. In an open letter [text, PDF] to ASEAN members states the UN experts noted that adoption of a human rights declaration would be a "significant step" for the organization, but it is "imperative" that when this happens the declaration be credible and in line with international standards. Director General for ASEAN Cooperation at the Foreign Ministry I Gusti Agung Wesaka Puja defended the declaration as a starting place to strengthen human rights protections, and noting that it is not an easy to garner consensus from all 10 member nations on such an issue.

ASEAN has long worked to reform countries in Southeast Asia, a region that is often criticized for many types of human rights violations. In April ASEAN agreed at its annual summit to strive to strengthen human rights protections [JURIST reoprt] for its member states [ASEAN info page]. In 2009 it established [JURIST report] its first human rights commission, the Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights, to offer human rights education and device for government agencies, develop regional norms, collect information from member states and perform other tasks to promote adoption of higher human rights standards in its member nations. The commission was created during Thailand's chairmanship [JURIST report] of ASEAN that year and determination of the commission's potential powers caused controversy within the organization. It was determined early that the commission would not have the power to sanction member states for human rights violations.

[JURIST] A federal judge in the US District Court for the Northern District of California [official website] on Friday approved the $22.5 million fine levied by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) [official website] against Google [corporate website] for Google's alleged privacy misrepresentations concerning Apple's Safari internet browser. Google agreed [JURIST report] earlier this month to pay a record fine [press release] of $22.5 million to the FTC. The settlement also required Google to disable the tracking "cookies" that it originally said would not be placed on buyers' computers. Consumer Watchdog [advocacy website], a consumer advocacy nonprofit, opposed the settlement in court [memorandum, PDF], requesting that the court reject the settlement because it failed to include a permanent injunction on Google's actions, failed to include a sufficient legal penalty, and wrongly included a denial of liability. The request for a review of the settlement was granted [order, PDF] on October 12. The judge approved the settlement [AP report] hours after the final arguments concerning the validity of the settlement.

This is one of many legal challenges Google has faced regarding the privacy of internet users. In February, a federal judge dismissed [JURIST report] a suit filed by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) [advocacy website], a consumer privacy group, that asked the FTC to block Google's proposed privacy changes [text] that would allow a user's information to be shared among several Google products, including YouTube, Gmail, and Google Maps. Also in February, members of the Congressional Bi-Partisan Privacy Caucus [official website] sent a letter [JURIST report] to the FTC asking it to look into Google's possible unlawful privacy practices related to bypassing Safari settings to track users browser histories without their consent. The settlement allegedly violated by Google in this case was arranged in October 2011, and barred Google from misrepresenting the extent to which consumers can exercise control over the collection of their information. Several months prior, in March, the FTC announced [JURIST report] a similar settlement regarding Google's breach of consumer privacy rights by misleading users with Google Buzz, the company's then-social networking site. Previous concerns were raised in April 2007 when several internet privacy groups asked [JURIST report] the FTC to investigate the merger between Google and the advertising provider DoubleClick [corporate website]. "Deceptive" and "unfair" advertising claims were also brought against Google [JURIST report] by consumer groups in November 2006.