Mass surveillance is the intricate surveillance of an entire or a substantial fraction of a population in order to monitor that group of citizens. The surveillance is often done via the use of technologies that collect data on a large mass of individuals.
Mass surveillance has often been cited by intelligence agencies for example, the American National Security Agency (NSA) as necessary to fight terrorism, and to prevent crime and social unrest.
At the same time, mass surveillance has equally often been criticized for violating privacy rights, limiting civil and political rights and freedoms, and being illegal under some legal or constitutional systems. Another criticism is that increasing mass surveillance could potentially lead to the development of a surveillance state, an electronic police state, or a totalitarian state wherein civil liberties are infringed or political dissent is undermined by COINTELPRO-like programs. Mass surveillance is considered a global issue, and a 2020 Brookings Institution report warned "the challenges posed by the need for mass surveillance suggest that the resilience of democratic regimes cannot be taken for granted."
By country Privacy International's 2007 survey, covering 47 countries, indicated that there had been an increase in surveillance and a decline in the performance of privacy safeguards, compared to the previous year. Balancing these factors, eight countries were rated as being 'endemic surveillance societies'. Of these eight, China, Malaysia and Russia scored lowest, followed jointly by Singapore and the United Kingdom, then jointly by Taiwan, Thailand and the United States. The best ranking was given to Greece, which was judged to have 'adequate safeguards against abuse'.
Many countries throughout the world have already been adding thousands of surveillance cameras to their urban, suburban and even rural areas. For example, in September 2007 the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) stated that we are "in danger of tipping into a genuine surveillance society completely alien to American values" with "the potential for a dark future where our every move, our every transaction, our every communication is recorded, compiled, and stored away, ready to be examined and used against us by the authorities whenever they want".
On 12 March 2013, Reporters Without Borders published a Special report on Internet Surveillance. The report included a list of "State Enemies of the Internet", countries whose governments are involved in active, intrusive surveillance of news providers, resulting in grave violations of freedom of information and human rights. Five countries were placed on the initial list: Bahrain, China, Iran, Syria (until December 2024), and Vietnam.The Enemies of the Internet Special Edition : Surveillance , Reporters Without Borders, 12 March 2013
Australia
Bahrain Bahrain is one of the five countries on Reporters Without Borders' March 2013 list of "State Enemies of the Internet", countries whose governments are involved in active, intrusive surveillance of news providers, resulting in grave violations of freedom of information and human rights. The level of Internet filtering and surveillance in Bahrain is one of the highest in the world. The royal family is represented in all areas of Internet management and has sophisticated tools at its disposal for spying on its subjects. The online activities of dissidents and news providers are closely monitored and the surveillance is increasing.
Media reports published in July 2021 exposed the use of NSO Group's phone malware software, Pegasus, for spying on rights activists, lawyers, and journalists, globally, by authoritarian governments. Bahrain was among the many countries listed as the Israeli firm's clients accused of hacking and conducting unauthorized mass surveillance using phone malware despite a poor human rights record. The software is said to infect devices, allowing its operators to get access to the target's messages, photos, record calls, and activate the microphone and camera.
Canada
China
East Germany
Before the Digital Revolution, one of the world's biggest mass surveillance operations was carried out by the Stasi, the secret police of the former East Germany. By the time the state collapsed in 1989, the Stasi had built up an estimated civilian network of 189,000 informants, who monitored even minute hints of political dissent among other citizens. Many West Germans visiting friends and family in East Germany were also subject to Stasi spying, as well as many high-ranking West German politicians and persons in the public eye.
European Union The right to privacy is a highly developed area of law in Europe. The Data Protection Directive used to regulate the processing of personal data within the European Union, before it was replaced by the GDPR. For comparison, the US has no data protection law that is comparable to this; instead, the US regulates data protection on a sectoral basis.See Julia M. Fromholz, The European Union Data Privacy Directive, 15 Berkeley Tech. L.J. 471, 472 (2000); Dean William Harvey & Amy White, The Impact of Computer Security Regulation on American Companies, 8 Tex. Wesleyan L. Rev. 505 (2002); Kamaal Zaidi, Harmonizing U.S.-EU Online Privacy Law: Toward a U.S. Comprehensive Regime For the Protection of Personal Data, 12 Mich.St. J. Int’l L. 169 (2003).
Since early 2012, the European Union had been working on a General Data Protection Regulation to replace the Data Protection Directive and harmonise data protection and privacy law. On 20 October 2013, a committee at the European Parliament backed the measure, which, if it is enacted, could require American companies to seek clearance from European officials before complying with United States warrants seeking private data. The vote is part of efforts in Europe to shield citizens from online surveillance in the wake of revelations about a far-reaching spying program by the U.S. National Security Agency."Rules Shielding Online Data From N.S.A. and Other Prying Eyes Advance in Europe", James Kanter and Mike Scott, The New York Times, 21 October 2013. Retrieved 22 October 2013. European Union justice and rights commissioner Viviane Reding said "The question has arisen whether the large-scale collection and processing of personal information under US surveillance programmes is necessary and proportionate to meet the interests of national security." The EU is also asking the US for changes to US legislation to match the legal redress offered in Europe; American citizens in Europe can go to the courts if they feel their rights are infringed but Europeans without right of residence in America cannot. When the EU / US arrangement to implement International Safe Harbor Privacy Principles were struck down by the European Court of Justice, a new framework for transatlantic data flows, called the "EU-US Privacy Shield", was adopted in July 2016.; ; ; ;
The legislative body of the European Union passed the Data Retention Directive on 15 December 2005. It required that telecommunication operators retain metadata for telephone, Internet, and other telecommunication services for periods of not less than six months and not more than two years from the date of the communication as determined by each EU member state and, upon request, to make the data available to various governmental bodies. Access to this information is not limited to investigation of serious crimes, nor was a warrant required for access."Directive 2006/24/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 March 2006 on the retention of data generated or processed in connection with the provision of publicly available electronic communications services or of public communications networks and amending Directive 2002/58/EC", L 105/54, Official Journal of the European Union, 13 April 2006. Retrieved 20 September 2013."Joint letter to Cecilia Malmström, European Commissioner for Home Affairs, from Dr. Patrick Breyer and 105 additional parties", 22 June 2010. In April 2014, the European Court of Justice declared invalid the EU Data Retention Directive. The Court said it violates two basic rights – respect for private life and protection of personal data.
Undertaken under the Seventh Framework Programme for research and technological development (FP7 - Science in Society"FP7 - Science in Society" , Community Research and Development Information Service (CORDIS), European Commission, 30 December 2006.) some multidisciplinary and mission oriented mass surveillance activities (for example INDECT and HIDE) were funded by the European Commission"FP7 Security Research", Community Research and Development Information Service (CORDIS), European Commission, 3 September 2012. Retrieved 15 September 2013. in association with industrial partners."The EU Security-Industrial Complex, an interview with Ben Hayes about his book NeoConOpticon ", Matthias Monroy, Telepolis (Heise Zeitschriften Verlag), 25 September 2009. Retrieved 15 September 2013.NeoConOpticon — The EU Security-Industrial Complex, Ben Hayes, Transnational Institute (TNI) and Statewatch, 25 September 2009, 84 pages,. Retrieved 15 September 2013."Totalüberwachung der realen und virtuellen Räume" ("Total control of the real and virtual spaces"), Florian Rötzer, Telepolis (Heise Zeitschriften Verlag), 22 September 2009. Retrieved 15 September 2013. (English translation)Towards a more secure society and increased industrial competitiveness: Security Research Projects under the 7th Framework Programme for Research, European Commission, May 2009, 100 pages. Retrieved 15 September 2013. The INDECT Project ("Intelligent information system supporting observation, searching and detection for security of citizens in urban environment")INDECT project homepage , AGH - University of Science and Technology (Poland). Retrieved 17 September 2013. develops an intelligent urban environment observation system to register and exchange operational data for the automatic detection, recognition and intelligent processing of all information of abnormal behaviour or violence."INDECT: Intelligent information system supporting observation, searching and detection for security of citizens in urban environment" , EU Research Projects, Community Research and Development Information Service (CORDIS), European Commission, 4 September 2013. Retrieved 17 September 2013."EU funding 'Orwellian' artificial intelligence plan to monitor public for 'abnormal behaviour' ", Ian Johnston, The Telegraph (UK), 19 September 2009. Retrieved 17 September 2013.
The main expected results of the INDECT project are: Trial of intelligent analysis of video and audio data for threat detection in urban environments, Creation of tools and technology for privacy and data protection during storage and transmission of information using quantum cryptography and new methods of digital watermarking, Performing computer-aided detection of threats and targeted crimes in Internet resources with privacy-protecting solutions, Construction of a search engine for rapid semantic search based on watermarking of content related to child pornography and human organ trafficking, Implementation of a distributed computer system that is capable of effective intelligent processing.