Surveillance and Privacy Concerns in Counter-terrorism

Surveillance and Privacy Concerns in Counter-terrorism
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Surveillance and Privacy Concerns in Counter-terrorism
To fight terrorism, various strategies have been employed by those protecting states and the world at large. Surveillance is one of the main strategies adopted in counter-terrorism warfare. In this day and age, technology has become part of human existence and terrorists have not been left behind as they have integrated technology in their activities. As revealed by Bertram (2016), terrorist organizations use technology to recruit new members and communicate with each other using codes, and also, they use technology to spread terror or sabotage infrastructures. Sabotaging of electric grids as part of terrorism has been facilitated by technology and terror has been spread using social media technology, which is also a communication tool for terrorists. In response to these terrorism opportunities presented by technology, intelligence gathering institutions have also adopted the same platforms to counter terrorism (Lehr, 2019). Data has been collected from social media pages of suspected terrorists while other technologies such as global positioning systems (GPS) and drones have been used in surveillance as a counter-terrorism approach. However, these counter-terrorism techniques have also raised privacy and human rights issues in democratic countries such as the United States (U.S.). Kilroy (2017) posit that data from U.S. citizens, without their consent or knowledge, have been collected by intelligence agencies in the name of counter-terrorism and national security. As such, counter-terrorism surveillance poses a breach of the trust that citizens have placed on the government, as revealed in this paper.
Counter-terrorism surveillance has allowed the collection and storage of information on citizens, which has imposed the idea that people are guilty until proven innocent, contrary to what the judicial system stands for. After the 9\11 attack, the U.S.commited resources to the prevention of terrorism and mass surveillance was established (Houston, 2017). The mass surveillance focuses on a group of people instead of specific people to avoid discrimination. While such techniques have been paramount in countering terrorism, there have been serious concerns on whether privacy should be compromised in order to maintain national security. A report released by the Pew Research Center (2016) revealed that more than half of Americans demonstrate very strong concerns on the government counter-terrorism approaches, especially due to privacy issues. There is clear doubt on whether the counter-terrorism surveillance is beneficial to Americans, with more people posting that the government has intensified mass surveillance with little results to show for it. Currently, U.S. citizens are easily placed on watchlists if they are suspected to be terrorists, which is part of the anti-terror policies imposed after 9/11 (Scahill, 2016). A citizen can be termed as a suspected terrorist if they attend the same mosque and converse occasionally, albeit innocently, with a known terrorist. Placing someone on a watchlist because there exists reasonable suspicion can be termed as the denial of innocent until proven guilty rule. The watchlists are also an inconvenience to citizens traveling because they have to prove that they are guilty, yet there is nothing substantial indicating that they are terrorists.
Counter-terrorism surveillance has also been used to connect known terrorists and potential terrorists through their association, whether online or in person. Counter-terrorism agencies have used technological tools to monitor and analyze data on social media conversations between individuals (Gordon, Florescu, Glenn, & Sharan, 2017). This use of association to identify potential terrorists has its downside as well as the upside. The upside is that terrorism can be prevented before it happens. The downside is that it can interfere with the freedom of association and expression, which forms the cornerstone of a democratic nation such as the U.S. In the event of a prominent or real threat of terrorism, the government can invoke such rights to pre...