What Is Internet Surveillance, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do About It

Do you ever feel like your government is peering over your shoulder, scrutinizing your every move? In countries like China and Russia, authorities routinely monitor and analyze internet users’ online activity. Even in democratic countries like the US and the UK, government agencies are regularly embroiled in controversy for alleged involvement in illegal and unethical mass surveillance programs. 

A 2019 report published by the Pew Research Center revealed that 72% of adults feel that everything they do online is being tracked. You may think this staggering statistic describes victims of authoritarian governments like China or North Korea, but Pew surveyed citizens of the United States — the so-called “land of the free.”  

Let’s explore how governments around the world approach internet surveillance and how this interplays with the general theme of privacy rights.

State Surveillance in China

In 2020, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) spent approximately 1.39 trillion yuan ($194 billion) on domestic public security. That was more than its allocated budget for defense against external forces at the time. The CCP increased the external defense budget to 1.45 trillion yuan ($200 billion) for 2022, presumably as a result of increasingly hostile relations with the West.

What this means is that China has historically been more concerned with domestic rather than external threats — but that might be changing.

Instead of Google, Chinese citizens use Baidu, a heavily state-monitored search engine. The “Great Firewall of China” keeps Chinese citizens divorced from Western internet activity.

The CCP heavily restricts VPN use in mainland China, yet, many citizens still use them, despite the risks. Prison sentences can be severe and arbitrary — one man received a five-year sentence for running a VPN.

China also encourages inter-civilian surveillance and rewards people who report “subversive behavior.” Civilians can report violations directly to government bodies via smartphone apps and hotlines. Much like Germany’s social environment before the demolition of the Berlin wall, you never know who you can trust.

China’s Social Credit System

In 2014, Mainland China introduced a social credit system, similar to that portrayed in the Black Mirror episode “Nosedive.” The system tracks all citizen activity, from purchases and social media posts to how late you stay awake at night. A person’s social credit score gets increased or decreased to reward or punish behavior.

A very low score may mean you: 

• • • • • Lose your job
        • Get your passport confiscated
        • Can’t travel by train 
        • Can’t enroll your children in school

While this already sounds like a dystopian nightmare — and it very much is — it’s nothing compared to what minority groups living in China experience.

The Tibet Autonomous Region (formerly known as “Tibet” before it was invaded and stripped of its rich cultural heritage in the 1950s) has even higher levels of surveillance. Nobody can enter or leave this region without written permission from the government and in-home surveillance is not uncommon. 

China’s Human Rights Violations in Xinjiang

More recently, the Chinese government has been called out for its inhumane treatment of the Uyghur community, a Muslim Turkic ethnic group in China’s Northwestern region of Xinjiang.

Uyghur victims report being forced into prison camps, which the CCP calls “re-education camps”, for small “offenses” such as praying, using social media, or having a VPN. Victims also report having in-home surveillance and being forced to allow tourists into their homes as part of highly doctored tours of the area. 

Russia’s Domestic Surveillance

Russia has also been quietly increasing mass surveillance of its citizens over the years. Roskomnadzor, Russia’s internet regulator, cracks down on all critics of the government. It’s thought that the System of Operational-Investigatory Measures (SORM) division of the Russian government was created for the sole purpose of spying on its own people.

Russian Telecom companies refusing to install hardware designed by the Federal Security Service can face serious legal trouble.

Overruling International Law

SORM was a regular target of the European Court for Human Rights before Russia’s exclusion from the convention in September 2022. The Court declared the Russian agency to be in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights multiple times. However, the declarations had little to no positive impact for Russian citizens.

In 2015, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) unanimously agreed that Russia’s surveillance legislation was in stark violation of the European Convention. However, that same day, Russia passed a law allowing them to overrule verdicts set by international court systems to “protect the interests of Russia.”

Other Surveillance Laws in Russia

If anything happens online, the Russian government wants to know about it. Here are some examples of Russian laws targeting free speech, freedom of the press, and internet privacy:

• • • • • The Bloggers’ Law (2014) stated that all bloggers with more than 3,000 daily readers could not legally be anonymous. After much criticism, the law was repealed in late 2017.
        • The Yarovaya Law (2016) requires telecom companies and ISPs throughout Russia to keep a record of all user communications for up to three years.
        • The Sovereign Internet Law (2019) is a set of amendments that forces all social media and email services that encrypt user data to give the government access to records on demand and without a court order.

Protect Your Privacy

Surveillance and Oppression in North Korea 

While North Korea doesn’t technically have the internet, it serves as a warning of just how far things can go when governments assume total control. The devastating truth is that with the threat of mass starvation, regular public executions, forced unpaid labor, and prison camps, avoiding internet surveillance is the least of people’s problems.

Dictator Kim Jong-un monitors and controls every aspect of North Korean life. He is the third generation of oppressive family leaders since the end of the Second World War. 

The few people lucky enough to have computers must be on a government list of registered devices and are subject to regular random checks by police. Suspected dissent or misbehavior is punishable by public execution or hard labor in North Korea’s infamous prison camps. 

North Korea has its own version of the internet called the intranet. Access is filtered and citizens can only visit a handful of approved websites. Authorities also heavily monitor telephone communication. All calls get routed through a central control room, and conversations are recorded and often listened to in real time.

Surveillance in the European Union

In recent years, internet surveillance laws have come under increased scrutiny in Europe. In response to revelations about the extensive data collection practices of intelligence agencies, numerous laws were passed that aim to protect the privacy of European citizens. However, many people criticize these laws for being too broad or for failing to adequately address the problem of data collection. 

As a result, the issue of internet surveillance remains a highly contentious one in Europe. Despite the passage of laws designed to protect individuals’ privacy, it’s clear that the issue of internet surveillance is far from resolved. 

Internet Surveillance in the United Kingdom

The United Kingdom has several pieces of legislation relating to internet surveillance: 

• • • • • The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 allows law enforcement agencies to intercept communications without court orders. 
        • The Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act 2014 allows security services to access the phone and internet records of private citizens
        • The Investigatory Powers Act 2016 gives the government power to collect and store data on internet usage.

While some argue that these controversial laws infringe upon civil liberties, the UK government defends them as necessary for national security. In recent years, the UK has also passed laws requiring internet companies to remove “harmful” content from their platforms. 

Free speech advocates criticize these laws as distinguishing what’s harmful and what isn’t is subjectively decided by a small number of people. Yet, the UK government argues that it’s within the public interest. 

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Stay Safe Online

Mass Surveillance in the United States

Internet surveillance in the United States has been a controversial topic since 2001, when the US government passed laws allowing greater mass surveillance of its citizens in the wake of the September 11 attacks. While some argue that this surveillance is necessary to protect national interests, others believe it violates privacy rights.

The USA PATRIOT Act, 2001

Forty-five days after the 9/11 attacks, with the nation in a panic, Congress enacted the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 (USA PATRIOT Act). This was a series of laws that permitted government authorities to spy on domestic and foreign citizens without a warrant or judge’s approval. 

Not only did the act permit law enforcement to issue National Security Letters (NSLs) to obtain phone, computer, credit, and banking records without a judge’s approval, it also forbade anyone receiving an NSL to talk about it. A series of legal cases deemed these “gag orders” to be unconstitutional, but law enforcement continues to issue them. In 2022, saw a steep rise in gag orders issued to educational institutions.

Moreover, the PATRIOT Act gave law enforcement the ability to carry out “sneak and peek” surveillance. This meant they could enter citizens’ property and install wiretapping without a warrant, knowledge, or consent. 

Despite being touted as an anti-terror measure, between 2003 and 2005, none of the sneak and peeks conducted were terror-related. And in 2010, less than 1% of sneak and peeks were terror-related.

Many of the temporary measures contained in the USA PATRIOT Act were modified and extended by subsequent pieces of legislation, most notably the USA FREEDOM Act of 2015.

FISA Extension

The Foreign Information Surveillance Act (FISA) was first established in 1978 to permit intelligence agencies to spy on foreign bodies. This included permission to conduct physical and electronic surveillance without a court order. It also removed the budget cap for border security, which led to a tripling of border security staff.

The PATRIOT Act expanded these provisions to allow law enforcement to spy on domestic citizens suspected of terrorism. However, as we’ve seen, it’s rarely used for terror-related reasons. 

Originally, the FISA was set to expire in 2012, but the House and Senate voted to extend the law for another five years. The request was approved under President Barack Obama on December 30th, 2012.

In January 2018, the Senate approved another six-year extension for FISA Section 702, which gives intelligence organizations the right to monitor the communications of non-US citizens abroad. The act is due to expire in 2023, but with the US government’s history of anti-privacy laws, it’s not likely to suddenly reverse its foothold. 

Edward Snowden’s Revelations

The single biggest revelation about the US government’s mass surveillance came from former CIA employee Edward Snowden in 2013. He risked his career and life to leak classified information detailing surveillance programs run by the NSA. Snowden released more than 1.7 million intelligence files that he obtained from the Five Eyes surveillance alliance. 

He revealed the advanced domestic spying and illegal NSA internet surveillance program that monitors internet activity and telephone conversations of more than a billion people worldwide. In interviews, he offers tips for avoiding internet surveillance.

The Post-Snowden Era

Seven years after Snowden sacrificed his freedom and career to inform the public about privacy violations by the state, the US Court of Appeal officially ruled NSA activity illegal. It also concluded that the state actors defending the activity were not telling the truth. Yet, despite this ruling, the NSA still conducts surveillance activities with minimal oversight, and society has simply had to swallow the pill of the new normal. 

Today, big tech companies often provide user data to law enforcement upon request. This dubious collaboration remains a contentious public issue.

Avoid Internet Surveillance with CyberGhost VPN

While your knee-jerk reaction might be to think of the United States as completely free and countries like North Korea, Russia, and China as crushing under the weight of heavy surveillance and censorship, internet surveillance is not so black and white. 

Governments around the world spy on citizens and many have been called out for breaching the human right to privacy and dignity. Despite statistics showing that the majority of people are unhappy about internet surveillance, most do nothing to mitigate it.

Does convenience override your desire for digital privacy? You might be experiencing “surveillance apathy.” If you’re concerned about internet surveillance and want to safeguard your privacy, consider using a high-quality VPN.

CyberGhost VPN is a leader in internet privacy. Our state-of-the-art VPN service offers a range of features and perks, including the fastest VPN servers on the market, multiple device connections, and a 45-day money-back guarantee.

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