New IPS Article: ‘International Agreements on the Regulation of Surveillance Technology’

On 7 March, ELAC Deputy Director Federica D’Alessandra and IPS Postdoctoral Research Fellow Ross James Gildea published an article in Slate magazine. The article examines the harmful use of surveillance technology by governments, notably its potential to enhance state violence and enable mass atrocity crimes, as we have seen in Myanmar. They discuss the need to counter the spread of surveillance technology to repressive regimes, an aim complicated by its “dual use” applications and geopolitical competition – primarily between the US and China – in the tech space. The article makes the case for global cooperation to devise stricter regulations which would prevent the direct export or transit of surveillance tech to countries where it is likely to be used in atrocity crimes.