The right to privacy is a fundamental human right but it is not an absolute right. It is even less absolute when it comes to politicians. During the past few days or so, Malta has seen the right to privacy blatantly infringed in the case of one minister and legitimately encroached upon in the case of another.

In an era where so many people act as their own publishers when they use the internet, what should they use as their guidelines when putting private information in the public domain? Just as importantly, when does the right to privacy take a back seat to the public right to know?

On January 14, the MŻPN released a post accompanying a picture of Minister Owen Bonnici dining alone at a fast-food restaurant. On January 19, Times of Malta published a story about then-Minister Justyne Caruana’s husband going to a football match in the UK with murder suspect Yorgen Fenech and has since published another story detailing another football outing, this time to Kiev in May 2018.

Let me start by stating that I am neither a friend – nor an enemy – of Minister Bonnici. I have only met him once in a professional capacity and again fleetingly on a few other occasions at events organised by NGO Wirt iż-Żejtun.

I have certainly never gone to football matches with him nor shared so much as a coffee, let alone a meal in any restaurant of any description.

So, I think it safe to say that I was, am and remain neutral about Bonnici. That does not detract from my obligation as UN Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy to lament the fact that an image taken without his consent having a meal on his own at KFC was published, again without his consent.

Whatever one may think of Bonnici’s performance in the past, there is absolutely no public interest being served by his picture being taken in this context without his consent, let alone it being circulated and published without his consent.

Apart from the fact that, to most people I have discussed the matter with, the publication of this picture only evoked a reaction of “So what? It’s not even funny in any remote sort of way”.

That any minister sometimes grabs a bite alone when he or she is hungry is not news and should not be news. Taking a picture of that meal is an intrusion into his or her privacy and fellow citizens should show some decency and just lay off.

That any minister sometimes grabs a bite alone when he or she is hungry is not news and should not be news

Where Bonnici dines only moves from the private sphere into the public interest if he were to dine regularly in very expensive places. That would raise the question of his clearly living far beyond the means of his modest ministerial salary or doing so unnecessarily on the public purse or unwisely hosted by some lobbyist or entrepreneur.

An occasional meal at KFC clearly does not fall into a risk zone for a politician eating alone… so why snap a picture of him or her? Let alone publish it. That’s out of place and uncalled for. It only proves that the internet is a great place for those who like to gossip. Nothing else.

With whom a minister eats and who pays for it could sometimes be in the public interest, when it is not part of his private and family life.

The Maltese rank at the very top of European nations when it comes to eating out. It’s part of our culture.

So, if a minister occasionally goes out with his or her partner or family members for Sunday lunch or a birthday or a spot of relaxation, taking pictures of them at the restaurant is clearly off-limits too.

When they are spotted dining out with ‘friends’ or acquaintances, then that starts moving into a grey area since that could reveal relationships which the public may have a right to know about.

Birds of a feather flock – and sometimes dine – together, and while working lunches or dinner are often a way to be economical on time, they also often – but not necessarily – imply a level of intimacy rather than neutrality.

Although they are far too often partisan, many citizens, regrettably not all, would prefer their politicians to be neutral so that they take their decisions as fairly as possible.

I have known Silvio Valletta ever since he was one of my students in the late 1980s. I have not seen much of him since then, so I think that I can safely say that I have the same kind of neutrality in his regard, though I was pleased that like many of my better students who were officer cadets, he rose in the ranks of the police force.

He is reported as having publicly admitted that, with the benefit of hindsight, he should not have been going to football matches with a wealthy businessman (with so many fingers in so many pies, I would add), even if he had not known that he was also a murder suspect.

We need to educate our children from a very early age how they should be good citizens both online and offline

The key reason, of course, is that Valletta’s wife is a politician and, whatever a member of a politician’s close family does, that may reflect badly on the politician. Who Valletta goes to football matches with or takes business class flights with becomes a matter of legitimate public interest by way of association. Which is why politicians and members of their families, like judges and magistrates, should be very careful whom they are seen with and where.

How are we to ensure that citizens take the right decision as to when they should take and publish pictures of politicians dining out with others (when the politicians are alone, it is almost never in the public interest) for their doing so is also part of the citizens’ freedom of expression when done in the right way, for the right purpose, in the right context.

The answer, I think, lies in education. We need to educate our children from a very early age how they should be good citizens both online and offline.

The current laudable initiative of the Education Division about “being smart online” should be significantly reinforced. The risk of cyberbullying should be mitigated by education but so, also, should be privacy risks.

Our educational system should teach children about privacy as well as about other human rights like freedom of expression, freedom of religion and freedom of association.

As UN special rapporteur on privacy, I am also working intensively on ways to protect children’s privacy, so perhaps I should have a word with the Minister of Education about new methods to take this forward. Which is why, if anybody spots me having a coffee or dinner with Bonnici, it should not be interpreted as being anything sinister.

Indeed, let me here make an open invitation to the minister to meet me about the subject over lunch, also as a citizen who values decency in other citizens. Come to think of it, seeing as to who is publishing pictures, I’ll put privacy and adult education on the agenda too.

Joe Cannataci is Head of Department of Information Policy & Governance at the University of Malta and UN Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy.

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