Introduction

On 30 June 2014, The Right to Privacy in the Digital Age: Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) was published. ¹  The Report recognises the relationship between service providers and surveillance and the increasing trend of privatised surveillance, noting:

Cyber security is increasingly important to internet users, including stakeholders in governments, the private sector and civil society. As internet users increase, so does the amount of malware, ² fuelled by ubiquitous smartphones and social networking applications offering new vectors for infection. Botnets – networks of infected devices controlled by malicious operators – are used as proxies to commit criminal acts including fraud and identity or data theft.