Surveillance

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New Zealand accesses journalist’s records, movements

Following reports earlier this week that New Zealand, with help from U.S. intelligence, may have spied on one of its journalists, Wellington is under fire for tracking the phone records and movement of another journalist. Ironically, this journalist came under surveillance after writing about potentially illegal government surveillance.

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Groups call for EU action against mass surveillance

Recent revelations of American and British mass surveillance of digital communications have triggered an intense mobilization of European free speech and civil liberties organizations, which have launched an online petition calling on leaders of the European Union to halt the practice. The #dontspyonme campaign was presented by Index on Censorship, an independent, British, free speech…

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New Zealand, US may have spied on McClatchy reporter

Concern over government surveillance of journalists has washed up on the faraway shores of New Zealand, with a report in the country’s Sunday Star this week asserting that the military there, with help from U.S. intelligence, spied on an investigative journalist who had been critical of its activities in Afghanistan. 

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Outside the Moscow apartment building of Anna Politkovskaya on the night of her murder in 2006. A ex-police officer pleaded guilty to orchestrating extensive surveillance leading to her slaying. (AP/Dmitry Lovetsky)

Surveillance detection for journalists in the field

Much has been made recently about the digital surveillance of journalists–and rightly so–but physical surveillance remains a key tactic of security forces, law enforcement, and private entities. These operatives are monitoring journalists, gathering intelligence on them, and potentially obstructing journalists’ work or putting them at risk.

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CPJ, coalition press for information on surveillance

CPJ today joined an unprecedented coalition of leading Internet companies and civil liberty activists in the United States to press Washington to be more open about its massive and controversial surveillance programs.

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In NSA surveillance debate, tech firms urge transparency

Some of the Internet companies at the heart of the outcry over U.S. government surveillance today joined with human rights and press freedom groups, including CPJ, in calling for greater government disclosure of electronic communications monitoring.

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In a Hong Kong mall, a television monitor shows Snowden. (Reuters/Bobby Yip)

Snowden travels trace a path of government hypocrisy

Edward Snowden’s global travels have highlighted the chasm between the political posturing and actual practices of governments when it comes to free expression. As is well known now, the former government contractor’s leaks exposed the widespread phone and digital surveillance being conducted by the U.S. National Security Agency, practices at odds with the Obama administration’s…

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Britain's Government Communications Headquarters, where some digital monitoring takes place. (Reuters)

In Woolwich aftermath, UK revives ‘snooper’s charter’

Key elements of the British Communications Data Bill, known as the “snooper’s charter” by its critics, have returned to the political agenda in the month since two suspected jihadis fatally stabbed Lee Rigby, a 23-year-old soldier, in London’s southeast Woolwich district. The bill, which would have given police and security services greater ability to monitor…

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Authorities are cracking down on election coverage by censoring the press. (AFP/Behrouz Mehri)

Iran restricts international coverage of election

Some authoritarian governments try to hide their targeting of the press, but not the Islamic Republic of Iran. Officials there brag about it. Ahead of Iran’s presidential election Friday, they have much to brag about.

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President Barack Obama defends NSA surveillance activities. (Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)

Secrecy, scale of PRISM raise alarms

Government surveillance of electronic communications “should be regarded as a highly intrusive act that potentially interferes with the rights to freedom of expression and privacy and threatens the foundations of a democratic society,” Frank La Rue, U.N. special rapporteur for freedom of expression, warned in a report issued less than two months ago. “States should…

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