Trust, not surveillance, cultivates freedom

I remember the feeling it triggered when I heard a Danish politician claim:

“With surveillance, freedom increases.”

— Nick Hækkerup, 2019

Source: Tv fra Folketinget (around 9 minutes in).

It was surreal that the words had even been uttered. I felt slightly sick and baffled — and at the same time, I couldn’t help but smile at the absurdity. It was tragically comical that someone supposedly intelligent could make such a profoundly foolish claim.

Mass surveillance in totalitarian regimes has never made citizens free — and it never will.

Some will argue that Denmark is in no way comparable. But we only need to look to America to see how quickly things can deteriorate. Europe isn’t immune, either. Hungary has gradually and strategically been led away from democratic values. It’s naive to believe it couldn’t happen here.

Surveillance doesn’t protect against a government drifting away from democratic values and toward authoritarianism or outright totalitarianism. On the contrary, maybe?

At this point, I was reminded of a quote about safety-something, which turned out to be the following (I also found some discussion about the actual meaning of the quote):

“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”

— Benjamin Franklin, 1755

I can’t help but wonder how Benjamin would judge America today.

America surveil their own citizens extensively, which Edward Snowden exposed back in 2013.

It is frightening to see a president so openly use federal power to target people and organizations that don’t support his politics.

People in power have a tendency to use extreme measures to stay in control. Without the means to misuse surveillance, there is no temptation to abuse it.

When a government is given the mandate to intrude on citizens’ privacy, citizens should be granted an equal mandate to gain insight into and challenge government activities. Transparency prevents abuse of power. If a government revokes transparency, it should automatically revoke its own mandate to surveil, and it makes me think of Yuval Noah Harari’s reflections on self-correcting mechanisms in his book Nexus.

Balance of power is paramount because, without it, trust erodes. I believe trust is the foundation on which our free societies are built.

Surveillance signals mistrust. I suppose my “counter” quote to Nick, in this quote-heavy blog post, would be:

“Without trust, there is no freedom.”

— Jacob Emcken

P.S. This post proved very tough to write and has been underway for weeks. I had to choose my words very carefully, especially given the importantance and conflict-provoking topic. Since English is my second language, I worry my nuances are misunderstood.

It didn’t help with the writer’s block that news outlets began reporting on a newly proposed Danish law granting the Danish Security and Intelligence Service unprecedented powers (in Danish).