Society / Surveillance

Pervasive surveillance is Big Tech’s bread and butter. To break free, we must build a new World Wide Web beyond capitalism, argues Juan Ortiz Freuler.

Your counter-surveillance guide.

In Los Angeles, a group of activists are standing up against police surveillance of their neighbourhoods. Bethany Rielly speaks to Hamid Khan and Matyos Kidane of the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition about what it means to take on one of the US’s most powerful forces.

Taj Ali explores how the retail titan has turned its dystopian systems of surveillance onto striking workers.

Israel is at the forefront of the booming spyware industry that threatens human rights, press freedom and democracy worldwide. Antony Loewenstein examines spyware’s role in Israel’s occupation of Palestine, and why governments are failing to reign in its insidious spread.

Since seizing power in 2021, Myanmar’s military junta has expanded its use of surveillance to hunt down and jail its critics. Preeti Jha reports on the methods it employs and how anti-coup activists are adapting to the shrinking space for dissent.

Action, and further reading on surveillance.

Bethany Rielly explores the chilling impact of the Spanish state’s intrusive surveillance tactics against Catalan civil society. Is there a chance of justice?

Asma Hafiz reports on surveillance in India.

Roxana Olivera tells a cautionary tale of her dogged attempts to get an abusive, intrusive photograph – taken without its subject’s consent – removed from the internet.

A public-health emergency requires a degree of monitoring people. All the more reason to be especially vigilant on privacy, argues Nick Dowson.

Governments are increasingly using surveillance and big data to track immigrants. Gaby del Valle reports from the US, where activists are trying to hold data-mining firm Palantir to account.