Surveillance on the population is quite an old concept. It has been happening since humans created the governance system. Previously it was to keep tab on political opponents or to control crime or counter intelligence or keep an eye on own ministers who might formant trouble for the ruler. Mostly it was non intrusive and conducted in subtle ways through human intelligence collection as technology was not there. Things were dictatorial then so the ruler was not answerable to anyone. Even after the democratic governments formed surveillance continued as a tool of governance. Even today it continues only the purpose may differ from country to country.
9/11 came and it changed everything. Now governments need not be subtle about it. With each major terrorist incident the surveillance is getting tighter with more powers given to security and intelligence agencies to poke their nose around. I remember days from 30 years back. At airports in India there were no baggage scanners. So while ‘checking in’ for boarding pass there used to be a few security personnel in plain clothes watching the passengers and if they doubted anyone then that person had to get his suitcase opened and checked by them. I don’t know but maybe because of my look and body language at least 70 percent of the times I had to go through the procedure and the other passengers also looked at me doubtfully. Now scanning of luggage along with body search and restriction to carry various items are normal.
Security is a primary concern of citizens as nobody likes to stay in a permanent state of insecurity; it may be from theft or terrorist action. Now citizens demand more security from governments. Now it has become increasingly normal for governments to spy on its own citizens, collect information and store them and to get inside our electronic devices without our knowledge. Now governments can read our emails, listen to our calls, track our social media and access our financial details if they wish to do so.
After the 9/11 the US government conducted the biggest racial profiling exercise where immigration data was used to check Arab and muslim citizens. More than 80,000 names were registered and 8,000 were called for interview and more than 5000 were made to undergo preventive detention but not a single terrorist was found. So now they spread the surveillance on everyone instead of focusing on a select suspected group. That amounts to a huge amount of data and is like looking for a needle in a haystack. The Boston marathon bomber was already on the FBI radar but still he succeeded in his mission.
Now the question arises as to how much the security and intelligence agencies can be trust about individual privacy and security. We know that intelligence agencies can hack your computer and phones without you even knowing it. They can read your messages, chats, and email and even listen to your conversations or see your internet search history without you knowing it. We may say that if I have not done anything wrong then why I should worry being tracked. But this mindset can give governments more power, more than require and can lead to oppression. The most common fall out of this is that anti terrorism laws are misused for non terrorism activities. The governments use these laws as per their own whims and fancy, mostly to subdue dissent and criticizing government policies. Search of properties without warrant and detention is also commonly misused.
Though the purpose of these laws may be for the good of all but we need to be careful where we may unintentionally cross the line and accept a surveillance government. CC TV cameras with facial recognition technology can track our every movement; every digital payment will be monitored. In fact this would be one of the purpose of CBDC. But still governments cannot stop a few people from making a bomb in their basement.
Now we are at the cross roads of how much freedom and privacy we are ready to give up for the sake of security. Or else our fear of life and property through terrorist action may just erode the fundamental rights and liberties enshrined in our democracy.
