Towards a Surveillant Society

Thomas Mathiesen

Description

A most timely publication in view of current concerns about snooping. Thomas Mathiesen describes how the major databases of Europe have become interlinked and accessible to diverse organizations and third States; meaning that, largely unchallenged, a 'Surveillance Monster' now threatens rights, freedoms, democracy and the Rule of Law. As information is logged on citizens' every move, data flows across borders via systems soon to be under central, global or even non-State control. Secret plans happen behind closed doors and 'systems funcA-tionaries' become defensive of their own role. Goals expand and entire processes are shrouded in mystery. Alongside the integration of automated systems sits a weakening of State ties as the Pruem Treaty and Schengen Convention lead to systems lacking transparency, restraint or Parliamentary scrutiny. As Mathiesen explains, the intention may have been fighting terrorism or organized crime, but the means have become disproportionate, unaccountable, over-expensive and lacking in results which ordinary vigilance and sound intelligence in communities should provide.'Brings into the light the hidden effects of [surveillance and warns] of the need for vigilance': Tony Bunyan, Director, Statewatch. 'A timely and highly troubling analysis [ which] reinforces alarm regarding a panoptical globe': Andrew Rutherford.

Sujets

• Sociologie, société et politique
• Europe

Informations

• Publié par: Waterside Press
• Date de parution: 09 septembre 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781908162458
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

TOWARDS A
SURVEILLANT
SOCIETY
The Rise of Surveillance Systems in Europe
Thomas Mathiesen
Copyright and Publication Details
Towards a Surveillant Society The Rise of Surveillance Systems in Europe Thomas Mathiesen
ISBN 978-1-904380-97-9 (Paperback) ISBN 978-1-908162-44-1 (Adobe E-book) ISBN 978-1-908162-45-8 (Kindle /Epub E-book)
Copyright © 2013 This work is the copyright of Thomas Mathiesen. All intellectual property and associated rights are hereby asserted and reserved by the author in full compliance with UK, European and international law. No part of this book may be copied, reproduced, stored in any retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, including in hard copy or via the internet, without the prior written permission of the publishers to whom all such rights have been assigned worldwide.
Cover design © 2013 Waterside Press. Design by www.­gibgob.­com .
Cataloguing-In-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book can be obtained from the British Library.
e-book Towards a Surveillant Society is available as an ebook and also to subscribers of Myilibrary, Dawsonera, ebrary and Ebscohost.
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Published 2013 by Waterside Press Ltd. Sherfield Gables Sherfield on Loddon Hook, Hampshire United Kingdom RG27 0JG
Telephone [phone] E-mail [e-mail] Online catalogue WatersidePress.co.uk
With the support of the Fritt Ord Foundation
www.fritt-ord.no
Dictionary for Big Data
If a byte is a grain of sand with information:
1 megabyte = 1 million bytes = a teaspoon of sand.
1 gigabyte = 1 billion bytes = a box of sand.
1 terabyte = 1 trillion bytes = a sandpit of sand.
1 petabyte = 1000 terabytes = 1 kilometre of sand beach.
1 exabyte = 1000 petabytes = a sand beach from Oslo to Tromsø (714 miles).
1 zettabyte = 1000 exabytes = a sand beach around all of the USA.
1 yottabyte = 1000 zettabytes = enough sand to bury all of the USA under 296 feet of sand.
From Aftenposte n, 8 November 2012
Preface and Acknowledgements
In 1997, and then again in 2000, I wrote two books in Norwegian on information and surveillance systems in Europe. Both are mentioned in the Bibliography at the end of this book (Mathiesen 1997a; 2000).
In other words, more than ten years have passed since the last of the two books in Norwegian was published. I have found that it is time to write yet another book, this time in English, on the information and surveillance systems in Europe, translating parts of the two Norwegian texts into English and updating them throughout. The basic structure of the information and surveillance systems outlined in the 2000-book is still valid, but an enormous amount of important information on them is now available to make updating possible and necessary.
Moreover, two additional topics have come up to make a new edition in English necessary: the development of the Internet, which has come much further than in 2000, and the development of terrorism. The present development of information and surveillance systems in Europe and elsewhere must be seen within the context of these features. The systems are “net-phenomena” based on the Internet, and they have the struggle against terrorism as their professed and most specific goal. The first two chapters, therefore, have the development of the Internet and of terrorism in our time respectively as bases for understanding information and surveillance systems.
The long middle chapters of the book, Chapters 3 and 4 , deal specifically with the most important information and surveillance systems. Chapter 4 was originally meant to be the concluding chapter. However, as I was about to finish the first draft of the book, a major terrorist attack on my own country, Norway, took place (22 July 2011). Also, the various surveillance systems which Norway was implicated in, were, as I had expected, of no help. They were totally unable to resist the terrorist attack. But they may become a threat to legal security and the Rule of Law in my country. I had to write an additional chapter, Chapter 5 , relating the story of 22 July 2011 and some of its aftermath, and I did so during the following year.
I wish to express my sincere gratitude to Statewatch, which monitors the State and civil liberties in Europe, and which has provided me with masses of relevant information on the surveillance systems in Europe. In particular, I wish to thank Tony Bunyan, the director of Statewatch, and Chris Jones, researcher there, for reading and commenting on Chapters 3 and 4 of this book, and in general for their constant willingness, helpfulness and guidance during the time of writing.
I also wish to thank Ole Kristian Hjemdal for reading and commenting on Chapters 1, 2 and 5 , Tomas Wennström and Snorre Mathiesen for reading and commenting on Chapter 1 , and Marie-Louise Berg for reading and commenting on Chapter 2 . I also wish to extend my gratitude to Per Jørgen Ystehede, research consultant at the Department of Criminology and Sociology of Law at the University of Oslo, and to Vibeke Lagem, librarian in the same Department, for continual advice during the process of writing and for very efficient librarian assistance.
Many thanks also to Christian Fuchs, professor of media and communication studies at Uppsala University, for inspiring contacts; Linda Gulli for her careful proof-reading; and to Bryan Gibson along with the staff at Waterside Press. But I alone am responsible for any errors that the book may contain.
I wish to thank Mathieu DeFlem, editor of Surveillance and Governance: Crime Control and Beyond (Emerald, 2008), for permission to use some of the text included in my own article “Lex Vigilatoria: Global Control without a State?”, and Phil Scraton, editor of Beyond September 11 (Pluto Press, 2002), for permission to use some of the text included in my own article “Expanding the Concept of Terrorism?”.
Finally, I would like to thank the Fritt Ord Foundation for their valued support.
Thomas Mathiesen
Oslo, June 2013
Table of Contents
Copyright and Publication Details
Dictionary for Big Data
About the author
Preface and Acknowledgements The Sociology of the Internet: Towards an “Information Society”?
A World Wide Development
Definitions
The Digital Divide
The Great Fire Wall of China
This Book
Beginnings?
The Modern Computer
From Industrial Society to Information Society?
Daniel Bell
Håkan Hydén
Davidow and Malone
Freedom?
To Bend, Creep and Crawl? A New Class Structure?
Outsourcing
Outsourcing — of Waste
Conclusions So Far
Panopticon or Polyopticon?
Panoptical Communication
Panoptical Funnels — One-Way Funnel, Star Funnel and Depth Funnel
Polyoptical Communication
The Entry of the Forum — Flash Back as an Example
Panopticon Vindicated — In the First Sense
Panopticon Vindicated — In the Second Sense
Institutions Clustered around Functions
Various Institutions
New Public Management
Major Conclusion: Varying Degrees of “Information Society”
Framework of Interpretation — The Technology of Political Control Enemy Images — And Terrorism
Too Much of a Simplification
Three Enemy Images
Terrorism
Organized Crime
Foreigners
Are all Terrorists Muslims?
Islamist Groups in More Detail
Arrests
Civil Use of the Internet
Multiculturalism
The Framework Decision on Terrorism
Various Understandings of “Terrorism”.
The Offences
The Purposes of Terrorism
Consultations
In the End
Glimmers of Light
Appendix
Article 1 in the Framework Decision of 13 June 2002 on Combating Terrorism
Terrorist Offences and Fundamental Rights and Principles
The EU Framework Decision — A Model for Europe
Epilogue for Chapter 2 The Surveillance Systems
A Case
A Plethora of Systems
The Systems
SIS and SIS II — Schengen Information System
A bit of history
Still debate
The general purpose
A detour to Norway
Article 96
Demonstrators and extraditions
Yes, we can.
Articles 95 and 97-100.
Kinds of information
Towards SIS II
Visa Information System
The EU Agency for Large Scale IT Systems
The Sirene Exchange
The Europol Computer Systems
Information Management Strategy
In 2011
The future?
EURODAC
The Data Retention Directive, and…
History
What important Articles say
… the Passenger Name Record
The EU-USA PNR Agreement — and the proposed EU PNR System
API — Advance Passenger Information
In General: How is the future fixed?
Finale: Echelon
A Plethora Indeed The Common Features of Information and Surveillance Systems
Integration of Systems
A Revisit — Europol as an Example
The Hague Programme
Freedom, Justice and Security
Zooming in on “security”
How to reach “security” — The Prüm Treaty and beyond
Property crimes
Largest pan-European network
A note on error — slowness
A note on error — adventitious matches
A note on error — three options
A note on error — limited efficiency in Great Britain
A note on error — limited efficiency in Norway
Weakening of State Ties
Availability — But also Force
Criticism
Global Control Without a State?
Lex Vigilatoria ?
Does Lex Vigilatoria Catch Terrorists?
Terrorists Found After the Act
Terrorists Found Before the Act.
Lone wolves
Small scale attacks
Information overload
Court Trials
Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law
What Should be Done? Epilogue: The Bomb and the Massacre
The Bomb
The Massacre
Continued Emphasis on Values
How did it come about?
An Interlude on Confidence
Increasing Criticism
Many Other Questions
No Knowledge Beforehand?
Crime or Illn