Poll: Web Brings More Freedom and More Surveillance Leo Kelion - BBC News
go to original April 1, 2014

US woman wears large sunglasses with a 'Stop spying' message during an anti-government surveillance rally in Washington. (Agence France-Presse)

After the cascade of GCHQ and NSA leaks - facilitated by whistle-blower Edward Snowden - it should come as no surprise that so many people believe they could be subject to government surveillance.

The spy agencies' activities are alleged to involve: Tapping the fibre-optic cables that form the internet's backbone to scoop up huge amounts of personal data; compromising encryption software meant to keep messages secret; and intercepting and storing images taken by millions of webcams.

... The poll was conducted in 17 countries around the world and is being released as part of Freedom Live, a day of broadcasts on the World Service's 27 language services exploring the idea of freedom and what it means.

The results show that freedom, never a simple notion, has become ever more complex in the digital age. The internet and social media mean we can communicate more freely than ever. But we are also under more surveillance than ever before from governments and commercial organisations.

The poll found that more than two-thirds (67%) of those questioned agreed that the internet had brought them greater freedom, with only a quarter disagreeing.

Agreement was lowest in Mexico, Germany and China: in the last two countries barely half of those questioned (51%) agreed.

Read the rest at BBC News

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