19 Jun 2013 | Digital Freedom, Pacific Standard
By Seth Masket / Pacific Standard
David Simon, the creator of HBO’s epic series The Wire, has weighed in on the recent disclosure that the National Security Agency has been combing through our cell phone records as part of its anti-terrorism efforts. It’s an interesting read, particularly coming from the guy who wrote such interesting stories (presumably based on what he saw as a crime reporter for the Baltimore Sun) about police surveillance. Basically, his take is that using broad swathes of cell phone data (numbers dialed, minutes used, locations, etc.) is not particularly invasive, is perfectly legal, and has been a regular tool of law enforcement since well before 9/11.
How might this be a useful law enforcement tool? To illustrate, I took the liberty of downloading my own cell usage data from the past month from Verizon. Below is a type of network graph called an “egonet” showing my cell phone conversations during the month of May. I’m at the center (the “ego”), and all the red dots (the “alters”) are people to whom I’ve spoken. (No, the points aren’t labeled.) Thicker lines indicate more frequent phone contacts.
You can see that most of the contacts are people I speak to only once or twice. The highlighted (more frequent) connections are my wife, my parents, my brother, a colleague, my kids’ elementary school, and a guy who was doing some contract work at my house. Let’s just assume that’s a typical phone data pattern for a guy in my demographic profile who’s not a terrorist. (You’ll have to take my word for this.)
Now, if you were able to download the phone usage data for all the nodes depicted above and graph them, you’d have a pretty complex network diagram. It would show some small, dense networks (families, groups of friends) and some loosely-affiliated people who have their own connections. Now download the phone usage data for all of those nodes, and imagine the patterns it would show. Now imagine if you could do that for basically every cell phone subscriber in the country.
That’s a huge amount of data, and depicting it graphically would pretty much be a waste of ink. Profiles like mine would quickly disappear into background noise. But computers can look for people who rise above the noise. Perhaps someone seems to belong to no local networks but just pops up to make a few phone calls that last less than a minute. Perhaps those calls occur within 24 hours of a bombing attack, or right after an al Qaeda speech is broadcast. Well, that’s hardly proof of criminal activity, but it might be enough for investigators to seek a warrant for a wiretap or some other form of surveillance to learn more about the person making the calls.
This is related to another point Simon makes in his post: There’s no reason to believe that the government is listening in on all of our phone calls, simply because the task is absurdly vast. What percentage of us are engaged in criminal conspiracies at any given moment? For investigators to somehow monitor all our phone calls to see if we’re doing anything wrong is ridiculous: the signal-to-noise ratio is functionally zero. It would be more efficient to just walk door to door asking if we’re doing anything illegal.
What the big data approach described above does is avoid the task of monitoring everything at once. It uses networking patterns to filter out the noise and find the few individuals who are behaving atypically, and focus on them.
Now, I’m not saying this is how the NSA actually operates; I really don’t know. Nor am I saying that this is how it should operate. Just consider this an educated guess as to how a law enforcement organization would use this kind of data if it were available.
This article originally appeared at Pacific Standard. Pacific Standard is an arm of the nonprofit Miller-McCune Center for Research, Media and Public Policy. Seth Masket is a political scientist at the University of Denver, specializing in political parties, state legislatures, campaigns and elections, and social networks. He is the author of No Middle Ground: How Informal Party Organizations Control Nominations and Polarize Legislatures (University of Michigan Press, 2009). He tweets at @smotus.
19 Jun 2013 | In the News
BRAZIL
Brazilian protests see 200,000 take to the streets
As many as 200,000 demonstrators marched through the streets of Brazil’s biggest cities on Monday in a swelling wave of protest tapping into widespread anger at poor public services, police violence and government corruption.
(Reuters)
CAMBODIA
As free expression groups meet in Phnom Penh, police target demonstrators
In Phnom Penh, Cambodia, for theIFEX General Meeting and Strategy Conference 2013, Index Director of Campaigns and Policy Marek Marczynski reports back on a protest outside the Royal Palace
(Index on Censorship)
ECUADOR
Stop press!
HE WAS a media darling before his inauguration in 2007, but President Rafael Correa’s adversarial relationship with the press has counted among the defining characteristics of his six-year rule. On June 14th a legislature now dominated by his allies whisked through a bill to regulate the media. Gabriela Rivadeneira, the president of Congress, praised the reform for outlawing practices such as “lynching by media” (roughly, character assassination), and said that the new law would curb the press’s supposed habit of “vetoing and vexing citizens”. Many journalists fear it in fact spells censorship. (The Economist)
EGYPT
Egyptian rights lawyer sentenced to 5 years for defamation of religion
As many as 200,000 demonstrators marched through the streets of Brazil’s biggest cities on Monday in a swelling wave of protest tapping into widespread anger at poor public services, police violence and government corruption.
(IFEX)
Egypt takes steps towards addressing sexual harassment
A proposed bill in Egypt outlawing violence against women has now been proposed by the country’s National Council for Women. But is it a step forward in tackling the silence around sexual harassment in the country? Shahira Amin reports
(Index on Censorship)
JORDAN
The New Arab Censors
The Internet has proved to be a powerful tool for overcoming media restrictions and censorship worldwide. But new restrictions on Web-based news media, such as those in Jordan, threaten to reverse the progress that the Internet has enabled.
(Project Syndicate)
INDIA
India Media Buries Paid News Report
A major new report on the phenomenon of paid news in India’s media is, well, hardly making big news. The report, submitted to Parliament last month by the Standing Committee on Information Technology, is pretty racy stuff.
(Wall Street Journal)
‘Just’ artistes, not arsonists: Free speech vs state
The Social Network: We discuss the narrowing scope of free speech in India as filmmaker K P Sasi and 4 others get booked with ‘rioting’ for their peaceful anti-Capital punishment protests, and Kabir Kala Manch members languish in Pune jail branded as Naxalites even as a film based on them bags National Award. Filmmakers K P Sasi and Anand Patwardhan and lawyer Chinmayi Arun join us.
(NDTV)
IRAN
Adieu Ahmadinejad
The controversial Iranian president leaves office in August. Sara Yasin looks back at how he has restricted freedom of expression during his presidency
(Index on Censorship)
PHILIPPINES
Village captain sues Cebu blocktimer for libel
Radio blocktimer Oscar Pasaporte told CMFR last 14 June 2013 that Patupat barangay (village) captain Leonida Gabales filed a libel case against him after he allegedly accused her of using the barangay hall as her home. A blocktimer is an individual who buys “blocks” of TV or radio time which he then uses to air a program for which he solicits sponsors
(Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility)
SLOVAKIA
Coin bearing cross hits European Union hurdle
The National Bank of Slovakia announced that the European Commission (EC), the union’s executive arm, had ordered it to remove halos and crosses from special commemorative euro coins due to be minted this summer. (Times of India)
SOUTH AFRICA
Cruel, nasty attack
Certain aspects of democracy can sometimes be difficult to stomach. Take, for instance, free speech.
(The Citizen)
SRI LANKA
Media code threat to free speech
A new media code proposed by the Sri Lankan government contains overbroad and vague language that could have a severe and chilling effect on free speech, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said today. (Colombo Gazette)
SUDAN
Censorship as a Human Rights Violation in Sudan
The Sudanese National Intelligence and Security Services, or NISS, confiscated over 10 major newspapers in Sudan in May of 2012, banned 13 journalists from operation, and identified several prohibited topics of discussion.
(Enough)
THAILAND
Thai Students Demand Freedom of Expression
In the face of a school system structured around discipline, obedience, and uniformity, students in Thailand are working to express themselves.
(Open Equal Free)
TUNISIA
Tunisia judiciary presses on with witch-hunt of artists and journalists
A Tunisian court on Monday charged two musicians and a journalist implicated in violence that erupted last week at the trial of a rapper who was controversially jailed for two years for insulting the police.
(Middle East Online)
Freedom Online Conference 2013
The third annual Freedom Online Conference is taking place in Tunis. Government and business representatives, civil society, academics and net activists are discussing how freedom of expression on the Internet is helping to promote social, cultural and economic development worldwide. Mike Harris collects the highlights
(Index on Censorship)
TURKEY
Turkey ‘too harsh’ on protesters, says Merkel
Angela Merkel has risked a diplomatic backlash from Turkey by condemning its response to opposition protests as a violation of human rights.
(The Irish Independent)
UNITED STATES
Port Clinton police practice censorship
When it comes to releasing public information state law prohibits public officials from picking and choosing which documents to release.
(Sandusky Register)
Texas Email Privacy Bill Signed Into Law
Texas Gov. Rick Perry gave the green light to an email privacy bill that will guard Texans from warrantless searches by state law enforcement officials.
(Courthouse News)
Indiana Intimidation Law Challenged on Free Speech Grounds
A state law against making intimidating speech will be receiving First Amendment scrutiny from the Indiana Supreme Court.
(Lawyers.com)
Gay Censors Attempt to Cleanse Google of App they Disagree With
LGBTQ pro-censorship activists have gathered 150,000 signatures to a petition demanding that Google remove from the free market an app which promotes a philosophy they disagree with. (Rockland County Times)
Google files free speech challenge to FISA gag orders, renews criticism of Guardian
Google has sued to shine more light on the secret court that approves controversial national security letters — the petition also represents part of the ongoing PR strategy of tech companies caught up in a surveillance scandal. (Gigaom)
ZIMBABWE
Journalist in Zimbabwe battling for life after being kidnapped, assaulted
Freelance journalist, Paul Pindani, is reportedly battling for life after he was abducted from his home and severely assaulted in Mashonaland West’s provincial capital of Chinhoyi on Friday, 14 June 2013.
(IFEX)
Previous Free Expression in the News posts
June 18 | June 17 | June 14 | June 13 | June 12 | June 11 | June 10
18 Jun 2013 | Middle East and North Africa
August will mark the end of our time with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran’s president since 2005. His successor, moderate cleric Hassan Rohani, was announced as the winner of this year’s election over the weekend.
Ahmadinejad, the Islamic Republic’s sixth president, brought along with him an aggressive foreign policy and a penchant for controversial statements — from
questioning the Holocaust, to denying the existence of homosexuality in Iran, to claiming that the United States developed HIV to profit from African nations.
His time in office has been marked with many arbitrary arrests and restrictions on freedom of expression. During his first term, 14 publications were shut down, including newspaper Sharvand Emrooz (Today’s Citizen), closed for using an image of the then newly-elected US President Barack Obama on its front cover.
His re-election in 2009 sparked popular protests that became known as the “Green movement”, as demonstrators alleging that the result was fraudulent filled the streets. They were met with a brutal crackdown.
The aftermath of the election brought a rise in attacks on journalists and press freedom, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). As of December 2012, the organisation reported 45 journalists in prison.
Iran has also gained a reputation for online censorship, named one of the “enemies of the internet” by Reporters Without Borders (RSF). In 2010, the country created a “Cyber Army” to police the web. Following the disputed 2009 election, Facebook was banned in Iran in the name of curbing social unrest. Also in 2009, the country formed the “Organised Crime Surveillance Centre”, which according to RSF, has been used to pursue netizens.
Ahmadinejad also leaves behind a legacy of cultural censorship. According to a 2011 report published by information activists Small Media, Iran’s government “has become increasingly draconian in the imposition of restrictions and the implementation of new policies concerning the publication of books” following 2009’s election. Small media contend “there has been no other comparable era of such heavy-handed suppression since the instigation of the Islamic Republic in 1979.”
At the 2010 Tehran Book Fair, books approved published before 2007 were banned from being sold. Raha Zahedpour wrote for Index about this year’s fair:
“No one in the industry can anticipate what will and will not be allowed by Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. Completed projects wait for months to be reviewed by state censors and most are returned with a long list of “required modifications.”
Iran’s system of censorship, combined with international sanctions have “put the publishing industry under intense pressure” according to Zahedpour.
The country’s film industry has also been crippled by its censors: independent as well as pro-reform filmmakers face punishment or jail time, while films with a regime slant receive financial backing. Filmmaker Jafar Panahi, for example, received a six-year jail sentence for “colluding in the gathering and making of propaganda against the regime” in 2010, as well as a ban preventing him from making films or traveling abroad for 20 years.
It’s not known what the outgoing leader’s next steps will be: he could stand trial in November, following unspecified complaints brought against him by Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, a conservative rival. But some believe that the 56-year-old will not leave the political arena easily.
Sara Yasin is an Editorial Assistant at Index. She tweets from @missyasin
