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Articles on Surveillance

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Police in NSW will soon be equipped with body cameras – as will their counterparts on Queensland’s Gold Coast in domestic violence incidents. AAP/Andi Yu

Beware the unintended consequences of police-worn body cameras

Police-worn body cameras could be a helpful tool for law enforcement in cases involving domestic violence. But they could also have unintended consequences.
A police helicopter and a police drone fly over a street march in Baltimore, Maryland, following the April 2015 death in custody of young black man Freddie Gray. Reuters/Adrees Latif

Police militarisation takes off with weaponised crowd-control drones

The use of drones by authorities has increased around the globe. In the US, drones have been used not only for police surveillance and in operations, but also to patrol its southern borders.
Would reporter Bob Woodward have been able to protect Deep Throat’s identity from today’s surveillance tools? Reuters/Alex Gallardo

How surveillance is wrecking journalist-source confidentiality

Four decades on, in a digital era of surveillance and data storage, Watergate remains a useful yardstick for assessing the value of source confidentiality.
Nothing of what William’s subjects had in life escaped the Domesday Book. Today, more covertly, those in power are using mass surveillance to collect all the digital details of our lives. Flickr/Andrew Barclay

Digital Domesday: surveillance threatens us with a new serfdom

Almost 1000 years after their ruler demanded every detail of serfs’ lives, the digital age and mass surveillance are creating a new and undemocratic imbalance between citizens and those with power over them.
Notions of the ‘right to know’ forced Hillary Clinton to defend her use of a private email account as secretary of state - a far cry from the days when citizens didn’t even know how their representatives voted. EPA/Andrew Gombert

The right to know vs the need for secrecy: the US experience

The idea of the right to know as the ‘lifeblood of democracy’ is a surprisingly modern development. And in an age when transparency is prized, privacy and secrecy can still be justified in many cases.
Miriam Stannage, The White House [chainsaw], 1999, digital photograph. Copyright and courtesy of the artist.

Watching the watchmen: when artists stare back at CCTV

As governments gain greater access to private information there is a need to protect our freedoms. Artists can make a distinct contribution to this debate by offering alternative perspectives.
The government can’t read your email, but it will be able to find out where you sent it to and from. Paul Downey/Flickr

It’s too late to debate metadata

There are still unanswered questions about the data retention bill, but it’s now too late to get answers before it is passed into law.
Journalists tackle the Prime minister Tony Abbott at a typical media conference at Parliament House in Canberra. AAP Image/Lukas Coch

Data retention plan amended for journalists, but is it enough?

The Abbott government’s efforts to amend its data retention bill amid concerns about journalists protecting their sources is still a worry. And others should be concerned too, including MP.

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