Article 16 of the 1917 Mexican Constitution provides in part: "One's person, family, home, papers or possessions may not be molested, except by virtue of a written order by a proper authority, based on and motivated by legal proceedings. The administrative authority may make home visits only to certify compliance with sanitary and police rules; the presentation of books and papers indispensable to verify compliance with the fiscal laws may be required in compliance with the respective laws and the formalities proscribed for their inspection. Correspondence, under the protective circle of the mail, will be free from all inspection, and its violation will be punishable by law."[1878]
There is no comprehensive data protection law in Mexico. Provisions in the Federal Consumer Protection Code, however, place restrictions on restrict direct marketing and credit reporting agencies. On June 7, 2001 the Mexican E-Commerce Act took effect. The law amends the Civil Code, the Commercial Code, the Rules of Civil Procedure and the Consumer Protection Act. It covers consumer protection, privacy and digital signatures and electronic documents. It includes a new article in the Federal Consumer Protection Act giving authority to the government "to provide for the effective protection of consumer in electronic transactions or concluded by any other means, and the adequate use of the data provided by the consumer" (Art. 1.VIII); and also to coordinate the use of Code of Ethics by providers including the principles of this law. The law also creates a new chapter in the Consumer Law titled: "Rights of Consumers in electronic transactions and transactions by any other means." The new article 76 now provides:
This article will be applied to the relation between providers and consumers in transactions effectuated by electronics means. The following principles must be observed: (I) Providers shall use information provided by consumers in a confidential manner, and shall not be able to transfer it to third parties, unless there is express consent from the consumer or a requirement from a public authority. (II.) Providers must use technical measures to provide security and confidentiality to the information submitted by the consumer, and notify the consumer, before the transaction, of the characteristics of the system... (VI.) Providers must respect consumer decisions not to receive commercial solicitations.
Article 214 of the Penal Code protects against the disclosure of personal information held by government agencies.[1879] The General Population Act regulates the National Registry of Population and Personal Identification. The Registry's purpose is to register all persons making up the country's population using data enabling their identity to be certified reliably. The aim is ultimately to issue the citizen's identity card, which will be the official document of identification, fully endorsing the data contained in it concerning the holder.[1880]
Chapter 6 of Mexico's Postal Code, in effect since 1888, recognizes the inviolability of correspondence and guarantees the privacy of correspondence.[1881] The 1939 General Communication Law provides penalties for interrupting communications and divulging secrets.[1882] The Federal Penal Code establishes penalties for the crime of revealing personal secrets by any means, including personal mail.[1883] In 1981, the Penal Code was amended to include the interception of telephone calls by a third person.[1884] The Law Against Organized Crime, passed in November 1996, allows for electronic surveillance with a judicial order.[1885] The law prohibits electronic surveillance in cases of electoral, civil, commercial, labor, or administrative matters and expands protection against unauthorized surveillance to cover all private means of communications, not merely telephone calls.[1886]
The Law has been widely criticized by Mexican human rights organizations as violating Article 16 of the Constitution.[1887]They noted that the ruling PRI party "to keep the opposition in check" had historically used telephone espionage.[1888] There are numerous reports of illegal wiretapping. In September 2001, thirteen people were arrested on suspicion of involvement in the illegal wiretapping of state government employees and former employees. The wiretapping was allegedly run out of the state governor's office who has denied any involvement.[1889] In December 2000 President Fox formed a committee to review the practices of CISEN, the Government civilian intelligence agency, following allegations of illegal phone tapping.[1890] In 1997, the telephones of the Jalisco State Supreme Court were found to have been wiretapped.[1891] In March 1998, a large cache of government electronic eavesdropping equipment which had been used since 1991 to spy on members of opposition political parties, human rights groups and journalists was discovered in Campeche.[1892] Thousands of pages of transcripts of telephone conversations were uncovered along with receipts for USD1.2 million in Israeli surveillance equipment. More than a dozen other cases of government espionage in four other states were exposed, ranging from hidden microphones and cameras found in government offices in Mexico City, to tapes of a state governor's telephone calls. Every government agency identified with the electronic surveillance operations - the federal attorney general and interior ministry, the military, the national security agency and a plethora of state institutions - denied knowing anything about them.[1893] The new President-elect, Vicente Fox, has promised to eliminate the security police division that is responsible for much of the illegal government wiretapping in Mexico.
The United States-Mexican border has been an area of increased surveillance. Mexican authorities now routinely perform "security sweeps" of homes in areas bordering the United States.[1894] On the United States side, biometric facial feature recognition systems have been implemented by the Immigration and Naturalization Service at the Otay Mesa border crossing (San Diego-Tijuana) for frequent United States commuters to Mexican maquiladora factories. The biometric data is stored with driver's license numbers, vehicle registration numbers and passport status information in an INS database. When a commuter in the program approaches the United States border, a transponder under his vehicle sends a signal to the checkpoint booth, activating the database and displaying the driver's image. Other commuters use a voice-activated device in addition to the facial scan.[1895]
In June 2002, President Fox signed into law the Federal Transparency and Access to Public Government Information Law, which was approved by Parliament in April 2002. The law will go into effect in May 2003 and allow access to information held by all government bodies. The law creates a National Commission on Access to Public Information to supervise the implementation of the law. Exemptions are made for several categories of information.
Mexico is a member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, but has not adopted the OECD Guidelines on the Protection of Privacy and Transborder Flows of Personal Data. Mexico has also signed the American Convention on Human Rights.