Government surveillance refers to the gathering of individuals’ information by the government of their countries. The purpose of this information gathering can be for preventing and investigating criminal activity, intelligence gathering, social control, monitoring and identifying threats or acquiring political information.
The government can acquire this information and more by observing social websites, collecting and then processing the data contained. They can also just track the specific individuals.
Examples of government surveillance in the real world
- The Five Eyes: This is an alliance formed between five countries after WW2 for surveillance. The alliance includes the U.S., the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. They are allied together with one goal in mind: monitoring online activities via online trackers and the resident Internet Service Providers. This is done individually, but the five countries will collectively share their citizens’ online activity data to protect national security.
- The Chinese government, for example, controls the entire internet, allowing them to monitor everything the citizens do online. The government can track messages, sites visited, searched keywords, and chat forums. All in a bid to find undesirable content and locate the individuals who posted them.
How to avoid government surveillance
You can avoid government surveillance by using only privacy-friendly services and applications, whether it’s a browser or an email provider. In addition, use a Virtual Private Network to encrypt your internet connection and block snoopers.
