Jesse Rappaport
Course slides for Professor Rappaport
Privacy and Surveillance
Background
Democracy in Retreat
- International trade agreements negotiated in secret (TTP, TISA, etc.)
- Severe undermining of civil liberties post-9/11 (PATRIOT Act)
- Un-elected officials holding immense power (European Commission, ECB)
- Expansion of executive powers
- Corporate influence on legislation
- Skyrocketing inequality
- Politicization of non-partisan entities (Supreme Court, FBI, etc.)
Background
Democracy in Retreat
- Gilens and Page (2014) argue that the United States is effectively an oligarchy.
- Specifically, they show that policies tend to be responsive only to the preferences of the wealthiest segment of the population.
Background
Democracy in Retreat
"Multivariate analysis indicates that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence."
Snowden Revelations
It is in this context that one must think about the Snowden revelations.
Snowden Revelations
Edward Snowden
- In 2013, an NSA contractor working for Booz-Allen Hamilton leaked thousands of classified NSA documents to journalists at The Guardian and elsewhere.
- They revealed that the NSA had virtually unlimited access to global internet and telephone communications.
Snowden Revelations
PRISM: Large-scale collection of content from social media, email, etc. (Google, Facebook, Skype, Apple...)
Snowden Revelations
XKEYSCORE: "Selector"-based surveillance of global internet traffic
Snowden Revelations
BULLRUN: Program designed to exploit security / cryptographic weaknesses and introduce vulnerabilities ("backdoors") into popular platforms.
Snowden Revelations
BLUFFDALE, UTAH: Massive data repository centers being built around the country.
Suggests the possibility of semi-permanent retention of global internet data.
Snowden Revelations
- In general, the government has shifted from a policy of targeted surveillance to one of bulk collection and selective attention.
“Rather than look for a single needle in the haystack, [Gen. Alexander's] approach was, ‘Let’s collect the whole haystack,’ ” said one former senior U.S. intelligence official who tracked the plan’s implementation. “Collect it all, tag it, store it. . . . And whatever it is you want, you go searching for it.”
- This opens up the possibility for "retroactive policing."
Snowden Revelations
Metadata
The government has appealed to the fact they only collect metadata about millions of users' interactions.
Is there any ethical difference between collecting data vs. metadata?
Snowden Revelations
Metadata
Metadata can be just as useful, if not more so, than content.
In fact, the U.S. has relied on metadata in performing "signature strikes" - drone strikes made on the basis of patterns of behavior and communication (i.e., metadata).
Hence: Metadata is personal enough to get you killed.
Surveillance
So... why should we care?
- Don't these systems keep us safe from terrorists?
- Why would anyone care unless they have something bad to hide?
- Who cares if the government knows what kind of cat pictures I like the most?
Surveillance
Why it Matters
Surveillance
Why it Matters
Even if people do prefer safety over privacy, they were not given that choice - the policies were simply enacted in secret. Thus they are an affront to democracy.
Surveillance
Why it Matters
Surveillance
Why it Matters
It seems to violate the Constitution (Fourth Amendment - freedom from arbitrary searches).
Surveillance
Why it Matters
- Most importantly... It violates the principles upon which the country was supposedly founded.
- The Bill of Rights is largely a set of protections against tyranny of the government.
- Example: 5th Amendment
- "Why would you care about the 5th Amendment unless you had something to hide?"
Surveillance
Why it Matters
By having a system of basic rights, and a democratic structure of checks and balances, the idea was to make tyranny impossible.
We are protected from tyranny not because we trust that our rulers will be good, but because the system itself is supposed to prevent tyranny.
Surveillance
Why it Matters
Granting total surveillance powers to the security apparatus means that we are not protected from tyranny.
If a tyrant succeeded in becoming president, they would know everything about their population and could use that information to crush dissent and expand their powers.
Surveillance
Why it Matters
If we accept total surveillance, then we are relying purely on our trust in our rulers to not abuse their power.
But the U.S. system was not founded on the idea of "trusting one's rulers" - quite the opposite.
Thus, the total surveillance state is deeply in contrast with important American ideals.
Surveillance
Why it Matters
The NSA model sets an example for the world that can easily be exported to truly authoritarian regimes.
This is already happening, thanks to private surveillance firms like Finfisher, who sell their technology to regimes like Egypt, Bahrain, Germany, Israel, etc.
Surveillance
Why it Matters
- Who do these systems actually target?
- Terrorists, yes, but also: journalists, activists, peaceful Muslims, etc.
- Ex. NYPD spying on Muslim students at Brooklyn College
Surveillance
Why it Matters
"The targeted journalist, Lagacé, had enraged police officials by investigating their abusive conduct, and they then used surveillance technology to track his calls and movements to unearth the identity of his sources. Just as that scandal was exploding, it went, in the word of the Montreal Gazette, “from bad to worse” as the ensuing scrutiny revealed that police had actually “tracked the calls and movements of six journalists that year after news reports based on leaks revealed Michel Arsenault, then president of Quebec’s largest labour federation, had his phone tapped.”
Surveillance
Summary
(a) The policies were enacted in secret - therefore, retrospective debates about whether they are a good idea are a secondary matter.
(b) They undermine the constitutional checks on power that protect us from tyranny.
(c) They set an example of total surveillance that is already being exported to repressive regimes.
(d) Even in the West, they are used against journalists and activists to silence dissent and freedom of speech/press.
Surveillance
Why is Privacy Important?
Instrumental Reason: Certain information could bring us shame or harm if made public.
Rights-based Reason: People have a basic right to privacy over their person, belongings, ideas, and behavior.
Surveillance
Why is Privacy Important?
- Do foreigners have a right to privacy?
Private Surveillance
Public vs. Private Surveillance
- People might be a little uncomfortable about the government looking at their private photos... but what about Facebook?
Private Surveillance
Public vs. Private Surveillance
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What kinds of privacy rights should we expect online?
- Should we expect our browsing data to be private?
- Text messages?
- Photos?
- Location?
Private Surveillance
Privacy-by-policy vs. Privacy-by-design
- Privacy by policy: massive amounts of data are collected and stored; privacy is ensured by regulating who can do what with it.
- Privacy by design: the data is simply not stored, or is anonymized.
Private Surveillance
Privacy-by-policy vs. Privacy-by-design
Private Surveillance
Privacy-by-policy vs. Privacy-by-design
- What are the problems with privacy-by-policy?
Privacy and Surveillance
By Jesse Rappaport
Privacy and Surveillance
Snowden leaks, surveillance state, public vs. private surveillance
