No to Online Surveillance, Yes to Digital Integrity
In response to increasing surveillance on the Internet and the weakening of our privacy that goes along with it, the “digital integrity” movement is forming resistance. In Switzerland, two cantons have already voted decisively to establish a fundamental right to “digital integrity” in their state constitutions. At the end of the month, the canton of Zurich will also vote on this issue.
Today, we are almost always connected to the Internet in some way or another. Our digital footprints are growing rapidly, and new opportunities to collect user data and track our online behavior are constantly emerging. These developments pose a serious threat to online privacy, and it is important to protect it even if you have nothing to hide.
In addition, more and more areas of daily life are moving to the digital space, and we have to accept losses of privacy when new forms of surveillance creep up on us or appear suddenly.
For example, two cases of efforts to stop accepting cash recently made headlines in Zurich: both the Kunsthaus and the Christmas market at the main station wanted to switch to cashless payments only, citing sustainability, user-friendliness, efficiency, and security, among other reasons. This move led to fierce criticism, not least because every electronic payment generates data at one or more financial institutions’ end. That data can then be used to create detailed profiles of account holders’ consumer behavior and to derive other personal characteristics.Apart from possible tracking, this measure would severely impact individuals without a credit or debit card, e.g., young people or the elderly.
The obligation to accept cash in public institutions is one of multiple demands made by the “digital integrity” initiative. The initiative’s basic idea is that people also have a right to integrity in the digital space, i.e., to be protected from surveillance, misuse of data, and interference that impairs their right to self-determination.
Essentially, the initiative extends the right to physical and mental integrity to the digital realm, demanding that our data, our communication, and our online behavior be regarded as an integral part of ourselves and protected accordingly.
In the cantons of Geneva and Neuchâtel, the population already voted by an overwhelming majority of over 90% to include a fundamental right to “digital integrity” in the state constitution. In the canton of Zurich, the most populous canton in Switzerland, a vote on this issue will be held on Sunday, November 30, 2025.
