The role international human rights law in the protection of online privacy in the age of surveillance

The article discusses the uncertainty surrounding the interpretation and application of the right to privacy norms under Article 17 of the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights 1966 in the context of State sponsored cyber surveillance. The paper supports the updating of General Comment No. 16 to Article 17. To that end, it focuses on two fundamental aspects of this process, namely the development of more detailed understanding of what is meant by the right to privacy in the 21st century and the challenge posed by foreign cyber surveillance to the principle of extraterritorial application of human rights