News and Research articles on Surveillance

Volume 2, Issue 3

Necessary and inherent limits to internet surveillance

Joss Wright, Oxford Internet Institute
PUBLISHED ON: 5 Aug 2013 DOI: 10.14763/2013.3.184

There are significant dangers in surveilling online communications unless the mechanisms and policies of surveillance are subject to strict and legally enforceable standards of transparency, oversight, and control.

KEYWORDS: Surveillance, Intelligence services, Base rate fallacy, Interception, Fundamental principles, Predictive algorithms, Privacy, Security, Content data, Communications data, Bundestrojaner, National Security Agency (NSA), PRISM, Tempora, Encryption, Liability, Transparency, Cyber security, Content, Censorship, Filtering
Privacy

Actionable technical outcomes for privacy online

Fred Baker, Internet Engineering Task Force; Cisco Systems

PUBLISHED ON: 29 Jul 2013

This week the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) meets in Berlin. In this guest commentary Fred Baker, longtime IETF chair, calls upon the technical community, legislators and researchers to make a stronger effort in advancing privacy online.

Open government

Hard times for open data

Monika Ermert, Heise, Intellectual Property Watch, VDI-Nachrichten

PUBLISHED ON: 15 Jul 2013

Despite a flurry of commitments, real open data progress seems slow, according to a new census. And then, there are governments excelling in both open and secret data.

Surveillance

PRISM: No surprise to those who wanted to know

Monika Ermert, Heise, Intellectual Property Watch, VDI-Nachrichten

PUBLISHED ON: 13 Jun 2013

We knew the US (and other governments) were watching us, many politicians and engineers said after The Guardian and the Washington Post published information about the spy programme PRISM, which allows US agencies access to all of your whereabouts on the net.

Volume 2, Issue 2

Do as the Swedes do? Internet policy and regulation in Sweden – a snapshot

Merlin Münch, Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society
PUBLISHED ON: 10 May 2013 DOI: 10.14763/2013.2.127

When it comes to information technology Sweden is considered to be at the forefront both in terms of technological innovation, as well as in progressive policy-making, regulation and internet freedom. It seems that from a policy perspective Sweden is an interesting example, as it is both perceived as free and neutral, while at the same time pursuing a tough and much contested policy approach. The following ‘snapshot’ seeks to give a brief, yet nuanced picture of the Swedish policy landscape.

KEYWORDS: Sweden, Surveillance, Copyright, E-government, Internet policy