UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations General Assembly expressed concern on Thursday at digital spying and said unlawful or arbitrary mass surveillance and the interception and collection of online data are "highly intrusive acts" that violate privacy rights.
The 193-member General Assembly adopted a resolution, drafted by Germany and Brazil, by consensus as a follow-up to a similar text approved last year after former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden exposed a spying program by the NSA, sparking international outrage.
Resolutions passed by the General Assembly are non-binding but can carry political weight.
A reference to metadata surveillance as an intrusive act was removed from the resolution during negotiations to appease the United States, Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, known as the Five Eyes surveillance alliance, diplomats said.
Metadata is communications detail such as which telephone numbers were involved in a call, when calls were made, how long they lasted, when and where someone logged on to email or the Internet, who was emailed and what Web pages were visited.
The resolution still mentions metadata for the first time, warning that "certain types of metadata, when aggregated, can reveal personal information and give an insight into an individual's behavior, social relationships, private preferences and identity."
It also calls on states to provide an effective remedy when a person's right to privacy has been violated by unlawful or arbitrary surveillance and encourages the U.N. Human Rights Council to consider establishing a special procedure to identify and clarify standards protecting privacy rights.
(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Alan Crosby)