欧盟大规模数据监控的赋权、制衡与挑战

The Empowerment,Balance and Challenge of EU’s Mass Surveillance of Personal Data

2020年的新冠肺炎危机迫使国家采取大规模的监控手段维护安全,再次引起公民对隐私的担忧。不同于生命健康权等其他人权,隐私权本就具备可被减损的特性。处于隐私保护“道德高地”的欧盟,在确认以安全为目的进行大规模监控合法的情况下,要求监控机关的监控合法、合目的,在数据的审查、使用、保留和销毁环节尽足够的注意义务;要求监督机关能够获取所有的相关信息;要求救济机关为任何怀疑自己受到监控的个人提供有效救济途径。这样的隐私保护程序性规定成效斐然,为成员国监控权力的约束提供了范式。欧洲人权法院若能处理好欧盟法与成员国的裁量权关系问题,欧洲法院如进一步明确数据保护的标准,则可将隐私保护水平提升至全新的高度。

The COVID-19 crisis in 2020 forced states to adopt mass surveillance measures for the sake of security,which raised concerns about citizens’privacy once again.Different from other human rights,such as the right to life and health,privacy is inherently derogable.The European Union,which offers the highest level of standards of privacy protection,requires the authorities adopting surveillance measures to perform in compliance with law and in a way proportionate to the objectives.Accordingly,the surveillance authorities should take duty of care in the process of data review,usage,retention and destruction.In addition,the supervisory bodies should have the power of access to all relevant information and the remedy agencies possess effective means of relief to any individual suspecting himself being monitored.The procedural rules for privacy protection as such have been very effective and provided a paradigm for restraining the member states’surveillance powers.If the European Court of Human Rights can handle the relationship between EU law and the discretion of member states in a more reasonable way and the European Court of Justice further clarify the standards of data protection,the EU’s privacy protection could be raised to a completely new level.