Digital Privacy: Navigating a World of Ubiquitous Mass Surveillance

Introduction 

We are living in an era of rapid technological growth, in a plethora of domains. The effects of this are both positive and negative, with an ever increasing potential for either a complete utopia, or a complete dystopia. A key illustration of this is in the area of surveillance. Improved surveillance technologies promise us a world of brilliant security, yet they also offer to take away our privacy and liberty – in many aspects it is the dictator’s dream. The use of mass surveillance can be seen in both the government and private corporations. We see phone tracking and facial recognition being used by governments to keep tabs on their citizens, while big tech companies are learning as much about us as possible so that they may manipulate our behaviour and our future. To paint a picture of the use of surveillance by government entities in control and management of their citizens, let us take a look at China.

A Case Study: Digital Surveillance in China 

There are nearly one billion surveillance cameras in the world – China is home to around 700 million of them. This network of surveillance cameras allows China to gather data on their citizens, all of which is centralised and stored on their database. Chinese Police claim that they can identify every Chinese citizen in less than one second, which allows them to track and catch criminals throughout the country. The facial recognition software works by identifying distinct facial features, such as iris patterns, and logging them for each individual citizen – hence allowing individual identification. Besides identifying criminals, there are a couple ways this technology has been used that are questionable, to say the least. For example, the Uyghur Muslims, a Muslim group of Turkish ethnicity, have been involved in many ethnic tensions with the Hans Chinese. This has only become worse in recent years. Facial recognition data, as well as biometric data such as fingerprints and DNA samples, have been collected from the Uyghur minority – allowing the Chinese government to keep close tabs on them. In circumstances where Uyghurs may be involved in “suspicious” behaviour, or behaviour unsupported by the government, surveillance systems have been used to find who should be detained and sent to re-education centres. More than a million Uyghurs have been found to have been sent to re-education camps in the Xinjiang province.

Another noteworthy application of Chinese surveillance is its use in the new social credit system. By using both surveillance cameras and digital tracking, China has developed a system where citizens are given a score – the higher the score the more freedom and the lower the score the more restriction. For example, if you donate an organ or do volunteer work you will get positive points. In this situation, you will be allowed extra freedoms such as access to lower interest rates or more convenient travel. On the other hand, if you don’t pay your taxes on time or are found jaywalking, you will be deducted points. This may lead to limited employment or travel opportunities. Yet it is not just in China where mass surveillance has worrying uses – we are already seeing similar things in the west, notably with big corporations. 

Corporate Surveillance and Digital Privacy 

Facebook. Google. Apple. These are some of the biggest names in the world of technology, and as a part of that they all have their own mass surveillance systems. Unlike the Chinese government, who is looking to control and keep tabs on their citizens, these big tech companies are looking for two things – money and influence. This reach for money and influence is all a part of what one may call surveillance capitalism. This system involves tracking user activity and storing this data, either to sell or use on their algorithms (or both). By tracking user activity, such as your search history or the content you interact with, companies can give you personalised ads and content. This is typically done either to influence you, or usually to keep you using their app. This idea is best addressed in Harvard Professor Shoshana Zuboff’s book Surveillance Capitalism, where she states that "they’ve made the internet into a place of constant surveillance, a place where people can be tracked and analysed in ways they are often unaware of, to create predictions about our behaviour, our actions, and ultimately to shape and control our future choices. This is the new market in human futures." A famous example of user data being used to influence public behaviour was the Cambridge Analytica and Facebook scandal. This involved Cambridge Analytica, a political consulting firm, taking data from millions of Facebook users to build voter profiles – allowing them to influence voting and make targeted ad campaigns. So how should we deal with this rising surveillance problem?

Privacy vs Security 

Surveillance is undoubtedly important for security purposes, but it is going too far (and not stopping). Mass surveillance, in all of its forms, is a threat to our privacy and thus a threat to our liberty. It is a violation of human rights and a means of enforcing tyranny and control. Yet it must still be noted that surveillance is important, in fact it is necessary. Without it, our world would be far less secure – there would be increased crime in all its forms. Nevertheless, surveillance technologies are powerful and dangerous, and it is paramount that they are regulated, so we may make sure that they do not enter into violation of our fundamental human rights. If we are to continue existing in a democracy, then the people must be listened to, and as can be seen in a 2015 survey by the Pew Research Centre, privacy is of the utmost importance. In China, there is already absolute centralised control over mass surveillance and data collection. And like many things developed in China, it is soon on its way to the west. We must regulate and monitor how surveillance is used – both by governments and corporations.