Proliferation Of Surveillance Capacity
Steve Wright
Applied Ethics, Leeds Beckett University
Surveillance capacity has grown out of all recognition since
surveillance scholars first identified it as an issue for academic interest in
the early 1980s. Accelerating proliferation of surveillance capacity has
transformed our city-scapes and the level of political and privacy intrusion
that the authorities now bring to social and economic governance.
Following early work on NSA bulk surveillance via Echelon
and more recent revelations
by Edward Snowden on the facility of that capacity to grab internet
traffic, take over ICT and camera facilities remotely and map who is in touch
with whom, the headlines have focussed on scale and privacy and the lack of
accountability in the operating states. The paradigm shift has been the
realization that most of us now carry around a portable geo-location tracking
device, but that capacity can cut both ways.
Previous meetings have examined sousveillance – the
proliferation of quite powerful surveillance capacities into the hands of
citizens and NGOs. Such cameras and even satellite access have enabled powerful counter checking of official stories
especially during demonstrations, riots and even counter-insurgency scorched
earth initiatives by NGOs such as WITNESS.
What is less studied is the transfer of such surveillance
capacity to those who violate human rights on a grand scale. Such proliferation
is promoted commercially by business deals and exhibitions which treat all
surveillance technologies as a social good. I will explore how seemingly
innocuous facilities such as traffic monitoring and counter speeding vehicle
recognition has been used to service politically repressive agendas. I will
also look at the trends and practices of a select group of surveillance
equipment manufacturers who knowingly transfer surveillance capacity to
governments whom they know will turn it on peace activists, trade unionists,
journalists and human right defenders. I will conclude by looking at the work
of some NGOs which are challenging such practices and the need to strengthen
such work over concerns which now have global relevance.
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