Mass Surveillance Technology: Trading Trojan Horses

This paper challenges the effectiveness and necessity of “mass surveillance technology”(MST) on two dimensions: (a) states’ internal use of MST and the subsequent issue of violation of fundamental freedoms, and (b) surveillance technology export control, especially to third countries likely to use such technology to violate human rights. Following the Snowden Datagate scandal, many States undertook inquiries and adopted measures that, in some cases, were meant to regulate the use of mass surveillance technology. The paper will: a) assess and evaluate current regulations on mass surveillance technology and its place in democratic societies, including what is at stake in terms of technology, threats, reactions to threats, and geographic extension, b) the risks linked to the use of MST on the national level by questioning the validity of counter-terrorism measures as a justification for MST use c) analyze international trade control regimes and legislation to highlighting their inadequacy in the face of the threats posed by MST, and d) map the evolution of the EU dual-use trade control system towards a human security approach with regard to human rights protection, in order to assess the capability of the system to avoid the misuse of MST.