International Campaign Against Mass Surveilance

[Mark Gobell]

The International Campaign Against Mass Surveilance

Global security and the "war on terror" now dominate the global political agenda. Driven largely by the United States, a growing web of anti-terrorism and security measures are being adopted by nations around the world. This new "security" paradigm is being used to roll back freedom and increase police powers in order to exercise increasing control over individuals and populations.

Under the public's radar screen, a registration and surveillance infrastructure of global reach is quietly being constructed. It includes the convergence of national and international databases, the creation of data profiles for whole populations, the creation of a global ID system, the global surveillance of movement, and the global surveillance of electronic communications.

The International Campaign Against Mass Surveillance (ICAMS) has launched a petition to demand that international organizations and national governments stop participating in the construction of this system.

The i-cams report (PDF 1.5Mb) entitled The Emergence of a Global Infrastructure for Mass registration and Surveillance is a superb resource which which details the emerging post 9/11 grid and counters the many myths surrounding the "price of freedom" arguments.

Anyone who doubts the state we are now in might like to read this report.