Most Popular Choices
Share on Facebook 15 Printer Friendly Page More Sharing
OpEdNews Op Eds    H4'ed 4/29/16

New Study Shows Mass Surveillance Breeds Meekness, Fear and Self-Censorship

By       (Page 1 of 1 pages)   2 comments
Message Glenn Greenwald
Become a Fan
  (149 fans)
1984 USA - Big Brother is watching you
1984 USA - Big Brother is watching you
(Image by degrees --, Channel: degrees --)
  Details   DMCA

A newly published study from Oxford's Jon Penney provides empirical evidence for a key argument long made by privacy advocates: that the mere existence of a surveillance state breeds fear and conformity and stifles free expression. Reporting on the study, t he Washington Post this morning described this phenomenon: "If we think that authorities are watching our online actions, we might stop visiting certain websites or not say certain things just to avoid seeming suspicious."

The new study documents how, in the wake of the 2013 Snowden revelations (of which 87% of Americans were aware), there was "a 20 percent decline in page views on Wikipedia articles related to terrorism, including those that mentioned 'al-Qaeda,' 'car bomb' or 'Taliban.'" People were afraid to read articles about those topics because of fear that doing so would bring them under a cloud of suspicion. The dangers of that dynamic were expressed well by Penney: "If people are spooked or deterred from learning about important policy matters like terrorism and national security, this is a real threat to proper democratic debate."

As the Post explains, several other studies have also demonstrated how mass surveillance crushes free expression and free thought. A 2015 study examined Google search data and demonstrated that, post-Snowden, "users were less likely to search using search terms that they believed might get them in trouble with the US government" and that these "results suggest that there is a chilling effect on search behavior from government surveillance on the Internet."

The fear that causes self-censorship is well beyond the realm of theory. Ample evidence demonstrates that it's real -- and rational. A study from PEN America writers found that one in six writers had curbed their content out of fear of surveillance and showed that writers are "not only overwhelmingly worried about government surveillance, but are engaging in self-censorship as a result." Scholars in Europe have been accused of being terrorist supporters by virtue of possessing research materials on extremist groups, while British libraries refuse to house any material on the Taliban for fear of being prosecuted for material support for terrorism.

Click Here to Read Whole Article

Valuable 4   Must Read 2   Well Said 2  
Rate It | View Ratings

Glenn Greenwald Social Media Pages: Facebook page url on login Profile not filled in       Twitter page url on login Profile not filled in       Linkedin page url on login Profile not filled in       Instagram page url on login Profile not filled in

[Subscribe to Glenn Greenwald] Glenn Greenwald is a journalist,former constitutional lawyer, and author of four New York Times bestselling books on politics and law. His most recent book, "No Place to Hide," is about the U.S. surveillance state and his experiences reporting on the Snowden documents around the world. His forthcoming book, to be published in April, 2021, is about Brazilian history and current politics, with a focus on his experience in reporting a series of expose's in 2019 and 2020 which exposed high-level corruption by powerful officials in the government of President Jair Bolsonaro, which subsequently attempted to prosecute him for that reporting.

Foreign Policy magazine named Greenwald one of the top 100 Global Thinkers for 2013. He was the debut winner, along with "Democracy Now's" Amy Goodman, of the Park Center I.F. Stone Award for Independent Journalism in 2008, and also received the 2010 Online Journalism Award for his investigative work breaking the story of the abusive (more...)
 

Go To Commenting
The views expressed herein are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.
Writers Guidelines

 
Contact AuthorContact Author Contact EditorContact Editor Author PageView Authors' Articles
Support OpEdNews

OpEdNews depends upon can't survive without your help.

If you value this article and the work of OpEdNews, please either Donate or Purchase a premium membership.

STAY IN THE KNOW
If you've enjoyed this, sign up for our daily or weekly newsletter to get lots of great progressive content.
Daily Weekly     OpEd News Newsletter
Name
Email
   (Opens new browser window)
 

Most Popular Articles by this Author:     (View All Most Popular Articles by this Author)

HSBC, too big to jail, is the new poster child for US two-tiered justice system

US investigates possible WikiLeaks leaker for "communicating with the enemy"

Prosecution of Anonymous activists highlights war for Internet control

4 quick points about the MSNBC discussion

The myth of Obama's "blunders" and "weakness"

The Remarkable, Unfathomable Ignorance of Debbie Wasserman Schultz

To View Comments or Join the Conversation:

Tell A Friend