Legal Surveillance

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Legal Round – Global
Parliament – VIVUM 15
This house believes that mass surveillance carried out by
governments is ethically and legally correct
Welcome to the legal round in VIVUM 15 Parliamentary Debate.
Legal issues of International importance are at the forefronts of
debate and at VIVUM 15, we encourage looking into these
fascinating issues as these have the potential to shape millions of
lives.
A term that reminds us of Orwellian dystopias and recent scandals,
Mass surveillance involves the intricate collection of unfiltered
information owned by either the entire population of a country or
population of certain regions. It has often been cited as necessary to
fight terrorism, to prevent social unrest, to protect national security,
to fight child pornography and protect children. Conversely, mass
surveillance has equally as often been criticized for violating privacy
rights, limiting civil and political rights and freedoms, and being
illegal under some legal or constitutional systems. There is a fear
that the use of mass surveillance will ultimately lead to a totalitarian
state where political dissent is undermined by certain programs that
monitor electronic activity.
Difference Between Mass and Target Surveillance
We take this opportunity to highlight the difference between mass
surveillance and target surveillance, as this topic focuses on the
former. We must understand that target surveillance is legal under
international law if the officers have legitimate means, such as
surveillance of a civilian who is suspected to be participating in the
drug trade. In most countries target surveillance requires a warrant
or a formal court order. Mass surveillance is more controversial and
involves the indiscriminate collection of data, which is targeted at a
community as a whole rather than a specific target. This agenda
deals with mass surveillance not target surveillance. Target
surveillance does not violate privacy but may be less effective than
mass surveillance.
NSA PRISM and other examples
PRISM is a tool used by the US National Security Agency (NSA) to
collect private electronic data belonging to users of major Internet
services like Gmail, Facebook, Outlook, and others. The basic idea is
that it allows the NSA to request data on specific people from major
technology companies like Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Microsoft,
Apple, and others.
Another prominent program is the ECHELON program, established to
intercept signals sent and received by satellites. Although ECHELON

has been cited by the NSA as essential to their fight against
terrorism offering proof to its successes, they have used it for
questionable means, such as: collecting data on Kofi Annan and Ban
Ki-moon, intercepting phone calls before the death of Princess Diana
right until she died in a car crash and attempting to boost business
deals with Japan by eavesdropped on the conversations between
Japanese bureaucrats and executives of car manufacturers. A far
more controversial technology, SEXINT is a term which refers to the
practice of monitoring and/or indexing the pornographic preferences
of internet users in an effort to later use the information
for blackmail. This is a clear violation under international and
domestic law.
Common controversy over mass surveillance
Government authorities in “surveillance” states still emphasize that
if citizens have nothing to hide they should not be worried. They
also do maintain that after increased terrorism and crime,
surveillance may be the answer to not only stopping the asymmetric
threats against civilians but also preventing felonies such as murder.
However, organizations remain concerned about the effect on
freedom and privacy.

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