Blog: Zakharov v Russia: Mass Surveillance and the European Court of Human Rights

The European Court of Human Rights has heard numerous challenges to surveillance regimes, both individual and mass surveillance, with mixed results over the years. Following the Snowden revelations, the question would be whether the ECtHR would take a hard line particularly as regards mass surveillance.

The ECtHR has now begun to answer this question, in the Grand Chamber judgment in Zakharov v. Russia (47143/06), handed down on 4 December 2015.

• Primary Source

ESO: Background information: Irish court hears Facebook data privacy challenge http://www.europeansources.info/record/irish-court-hears-facebook-data-privacy-challenge/

ESO: Background information: Russia overrules the European Court of Human Rights http://www.europeansources.info/record/russia-overrules-the-european-court-of-human-rights/

ECHR: Zakharov v. Russia (47143/06) http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng?i=001-159324

Privacy International, 11.12.15: Zakharov v Russia: A refresher on how far Europe has come https://www.privacyinternational.org/node/688

openDemocracy, 14.12.15: Surveillance: Zakharov v Russia and what it means for the Investigatory Powers Bill https://www.opendemocracy.net/wfd/matthew-rice/zakharov-v-russia-refresher-on-how-far-europe-has-come

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