The importance of surveillance carried out by state authorities - especially in connection with the increasing threat of terrorism - is not disputable. State authorities, inciting the need to ensure the security of the state and citizens, often take measures to limit human rights, including, above all, the right to privacy. This paper aims to present the most important judgments delivered by the European Court of Human Rights based on Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (sanctioning the right to respect for private life) regarding surveillance and the position of the Court in this matter. Of course, the article also presents the position on the surveillance of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal.

The dynamic civilisation transformations observed worldwide in recent years have arisen from the rapid development of information and the ICTs that support it. Cyberspace is a new sphere affected by these processes, and it evolves alongside the threats occurring therein. Nowadays, no country’s cyberspace is entirely secure. Cyber threats are characterised by unpredictability and global reach. In modern times, cyberspace is a symbol of development, the freedom of speech, and the right to privacy and every interference in the behaviours of its users is associated with an attack on these values. The article discusses the fundamental problems concerning operations in cyberspace justified by the violation of human rights but should also be assessed in the context of interference with the scope of individual rights and freedoms, including in times of seemingly normal functioning, namely in times of peace.