Privacy and Surveillance

A Theory of the List

From runaway slave lists to Canary Mission, the state has long deputized citizens to enforce its will.

The Strongman’s Surveillance State

Trump has unfrozen a Biden-era hold on powerful Israeli-made spyware, now in the hands of ICE.

The New Old Warfare

The self-serving myths of a new wave of defense tech, from Palantir’s Gotham to Israel’s Gospel.

My Father, the Cyborg

The seductions of medical surveillance.

One Bureau under God

Jeanne Theoharis speaks with Lerone A. Martin about the white Christian legacy of J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI.

Without Warrant

Yawning gaps in the law empower police to collect and store massive amounts of data, all on the grounds that it might one day turn out useful.

The New Workplace Surveillance

Both regulators and employers have embraced new technologies for on-the-job monitoring, turning a blind eye to unjust working conditions.

Archive Fever

László Krasznahorkai’s Spadework for a Palace reflects on the power of the surveillance state through the perspective of a librarian who wishes to lock up all books.

How to Fight Digital Colonialism

As Big Tech’s data and profit extraction extends the world over, activists in the Global South are pointing the way to a more just digital future.

The Banality of Surveillance

The ordinary roots of our extraordinary regime of high-tech monitoring.

Privacy in the Age of Surveillance Capitalism

An “unholy alliance” of state and private industry threatens to undermine democracy and individual autonomy.

How Capitalism—Not a Few Bad Actors—Destroyed the Internet

Twenty-five years of neoliberal political economy are to blame for today’s regime of surveillance advertising, and only public policy can undo it.

After Dobbs

An interview on the post-Dobbs legal landscape—and how the federal government can respond.

How a New Generation Is Combatting Digital Surveillance

Younger voices are using technology to respond to the needs of marginalized communities and nurture Black healing and liberation.

Who Owns Our Data?

We need a model of ownership that recognizes our collective interests.

Cyberespionage with Benefits

In the high-tech culture of Tel Aviv, military-grade spying on civilians has become just another office job.

The Distributed Empire of the War on Terror

Drone attacks and U.S. involvement in Pakistan.

9/11 Forever

The legacy of September 11 continues to normalize state-sanctioned barbarity.

Stop Building Bad AI

Justice demands that we think not just about profit or performance, but above all about purpose.

The Punitive Potential of AI

The problems go beyond the abstractions of democracy and liberty. New workplace technologies cater to punitive practices.

Why Democracy Needs Privacy

The more someone knows about us, the more they can influence us. We can wield democratic power only if our privacy is protected.

COVID-19 Crisis Capitalism Comes to Real Estate

Proptech is leading to new forms of housing injustice in ways that increase the power of landlords and further disempower tenants and those seeking shelter.

The Government Is Targeting Immigration Lawyers, Activists, and Reporters

A leaked Homeland Security database confirms what many suspected: the U.S. government is trying to punish and intimidate people advocating for immigrant rights.

Citizenship v. The Surveillance State

We have surrendered the cherished value of “innocent until proven guilty” for the security logic that we are all “risky until proven safe.”

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