No freedom without data protection

Data protection is essential for securing freedom of expression and association, argued Katrin Kinzelbach at this year’s constitutional dialogue, hosted by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation on October 8 in Karlsruhe. In the discussion, which centered on how to protect human rights in the digital age, Kinzelbach warned that amendments to existing international treaties could backfire, and that human rights obligations already apply offline and online. Former German Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger and Michael Georg Link, director of ODIHR, also participated.