The NO-NONSENSE GUIDE to
GLOBAL
SURVEILLANCE
Publishers have created lists of short books that discuss the questions that your average [electoral] candidate will only ever touch if armed with a slogan and a soundbite. Together [such books] hint at a resurgence of the grand educational tradition Closest to the hot headline issues are The No-Nonsense Guides. These target those topics that a large army of voters care about, but that politicos evade. Arguments, figures and documents combine to prove that good journalism is far too important to be left to (most) journalists.
Boyd Tonkin,
The Independent,
London
About the author
Born in London, Robin Tudge has lived and worked in Moscow, Hanoi and Beijing, and as a journalist has written for scores of publications worldwide. His first book was the pioneering Bradt Guide to North Korea in 2003, then in 2005 he co-wrote the best-selling Rough Guide to Conspiracy Theories. A lifelong fascination with police states and surveillance became focused on the contemporary situation in 2006, when the British government legislated for UK citizens to start carrying ID cards. He is also an aspiring actor, living in Deptford, within sight of where the playwright and spy Kit Marlowe was cut down.
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank the following for their generosity, patience and support in making this book possible with their constructive comment, direction, insights and patience, starting with Troth Wells and Chris Brazier at New Internationalist, Helen Wallace at Genewatch, Guy Herbert and Phil Booth at NO2ID and all the other campaigners there who suggested good reads, particularly Linda Welsh. Along the way were many who had the patience to give feedback on the text, provide info or just listen to me going on about it, so I give great thanks to Andrew Lockett, Ben Cummins, Sakura Tanaka, Matt Smith, Henry Porter, Simon Thorne and everyone at Platts, Nick Bonner, Colin and Ruth Tudge, Gus Hosein, Judith Vidal Hall, Peter Hogg, Zac Stringer, Richard and Sangita Hunt, Steve Wangford, James McConnachie, Jerry Goodman, Dr Tom Hawkins and Dr Gardner Thompson, the Barretts, the Coopers and the Burns. Id especially like to thank my wife Dawn Tudge for her unending support and enthusiasm for the book from its inception to its publication.
The NO-NONSENSE GUIDE to
GLOBAL
SURVEILLANCE
Robin Tudge
New Internationalist
The No-Nonsense Guide to Global Surveillance
Published in Canada by
New Internationalist Publications Ltd
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and
Between the Lines
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First published in the UK by
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Robin Tudge/New Internationalist 2011
This edition not to be sold outside Canada.
Cover image: Getty Images
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ISBN 978-1-771130-53-0 (epub)
ISBN 978-1-771130-81-3 (PDF)
ISBN 978-1-897071-70-0 (print)
Between the Lines gratefully acknowledges assistance for its publishing activities from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Book Publishers Tax Credit program and through the Ontario Book Initiative, and the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund.
PRIVACY IS THE human right upon which many other rights rest. Privacy and free expression, the ability to live, think and voice ones thoughts freely: these are all inter-dependent concepts linked to the dignity of the individual. Yet the threat to privacy in the modern era has never been greater. Governments, corporations and cybercriminals are among others orchestrating the trans-border flow and harvesting of our personal data. They may be interested in combating terrorism and organized crime, in promoting interactivity and profiling for advertising, in perpetrating fraud or worse. But all work, both knowing and unknowingly, towards the ultimate marginalization of the most fragile right of privacy.
We at Privacy International believe that privacy forms part of the bedrock of freedoms. Since our organization was founded in 1990, our goal has always been to create protections and laws at national and international levels to preserve it. We have hundreds of leading experts in privacy and human rights from around the world, including computer professionals, academics, lawyers, journalists and human rights activists working globally to defend personal privacy against the ever-growing and morphing forms of privacy violations. Our team consists of libertarians and liberals, conservatives and progressives. We have worked in environments as diverse as refugee camps in eastern Africa to engineering hubs in Silicon Valley. We liaise with policy-makers and civil society in dozens of countries, as we work to promote strong safeguards that apply equally to international organizations and complex economies, to developing countries and emerging legal systems.
One of the more worrying developments we are seeing is just how difficult it is to monitor those who push surveillance technologies. In 1995 PI reviewed some 240 Western companies, some of them household names, that since the 1970s had been selling surveillance technology to some of the most oppressive, murderous police and military states. This technology enabled the genocide in Rwanda, and allowed the South African apartheid regime to function as it did. The companies that supplied Guatemalas dictators knew what their products were going to be used for the deathlist targets were on the tender documents. Many of these 240 companies have since begun to consult with telecommunications companies, internet service providers, governments, lawmakers and regimes to build surveillance from the core, by design. Meanwhile, many non-Western firms, notably from China, are beginning to move into the global surveillance industry and sell their wares for the enhancement of surveillance states worldwide.
