The right to peaceful protest has never been more important. With the climate crisis posing an existential threat to humankind, the ability of citizens to pressure those in power to act could be crucial to our survival.
Yet our right to take to the streets is being threatened by state surveillance. Police forces worldwide are increasingly deploying intrusive tools during demonstrations, leading human rights campaigners to warn is creating a chilling effect on protest. These new technologies give police extensive powers to identify, monitor and track protesters, using everything, from tech to analyse the way individuals move, to hacking tools that allow the cops to access smartphones. Even without physical access to your phone, police can intercept calls and messages, using IMSI Catchers (see above).
