POL106 Wk 10: Investigating Censorship, Surveillance, and Digital Repression

What has recently been normalized? Which source references this?

Internet censorship and shutdowns have become normalized especially following times of elections, protest, or as a response to failures by tech platforms to engage in content moderation (Nathan Dobson and Nicole Stremlau, 2024)

What is part of a states’ ‘toolkit’ for digital repression?

Internet censorship and shutdowns in addition to offline violence, (legal) harassment, and online surveillance using spyware have become part of states’ ‘toolkit’ for digital repression.

What is a fundamental flaw in smartphones/digital services that make it susceptible to surveillance? Which source references this?

Apps are “invasive by design” leading to surveillance capitalism. Additionally, smartphones and other digital devices are vulnerable to surveillance because their applications often contain flaws since they continually transmit data through insecure or cellular and Internet networks (Ronald Deibert, 2023)

What is another threat to privacy and free expression? Give an example.

Data brokers and location tracking vendors, whose tools are sold globally with few restrictions are another threat to privacy and free expression. For example, when spyware is made by democracies such as the UK and Italy they are sold globally, supposedly to fight terrorism and organized crime, these highly sophisticated tools (using zero click, zero day, etc.) have been misused to surveil citizens and silence dissent.

How can the use of spyware be manipulated by authoritarian governments?

Authoritarian governments can use spyware to identify dissidents, suppress opposition, monitor populations, and maintain power, facilitating the censoring and shutting down of the internet