Online Insecurity in Georgia

A roundtable in the Georgian capital Tbilisi highlighted fears that police would use their expanded surveillance powers to curb free expression on the internet.

The event, hosted jointly by IWPR and Human Rights House Tbilisi on October 20, was prompted by an IWPR article called Georgian Web Users Fear Intrusive Control, by Manana Vardiashvili.

Participants discussed the web security situation one year on from legislative changes passed in September 2010 granting law-enforcement agencies powers to monitor private online activity without seeking the consent of a court. Most experts agree that the new legislation is in violation of Georgians’ basic constitutional right to privacy.

“The legislation is unclear and is open to ambiguous interpretation,” Giorgi Gotsiridze of the Young Lawyers’ Association said at the roundtable. “That’s enough to define it as unconstitutional. Online users must enjoy all the same constitutional rights as anyone else.”

Social media consultant Dodi Kharkheli said users often entertained unreal fears about surveillance, and should educate themselves about  the real levels of risk.

When it came to surveillance, she said, “many things are just technically impossible. Very often, people in Georgia sound the alarm merely to attract attention. Lack of awareness about safety and security measures is a problem.”