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'Chilling Effect' of Mass Surveillance Is Silencing Dissent Online, Study Says (vice.com)

Posted by msmash on from the chilling-study dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a Motherboard article: Research suggests that widespread awareness of mass surveillance could undermine democracy by making citizens fearful of voicing dissenting opinions in public. A paper published in Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, the flagship peer-reviewed journal of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), found that "the government's online surveillance programs may threaten the disclosure of minority views and contribute to the reinforcement of majority opinion." The NSA's "ability to surreptitiously monitor the online activities of U.S. citizens may make online opinion climates especially chilly" and "can contribute to the silencing of minority views that provide the bedrock of democratic discourse," the researcher found.

6 of 266 comments (clear)

  1. They already do. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Mass government and commercial surveillance already have a massive chilling effect on speech online. Employers check your online presence and commentary for controversial issues; I can't believe the security clearance process doesn't do the same thing. Many people I know avoid making many political comments online precisely because of this.

    This becomes more true as you enter fields intelligent people who understand policy may enter, such as law, finance, etc...

    1. Re:They already do. by neilo_1701D · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I would moderate you as insightful, but that means I'm agreeing with your position and thus inviting the government to monitor me more closely to see what other heretical beliefs I may have...

    2. Re: They already do. by Corwyn_123 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Moderating insightful it's not necessarily agreement, merely acknowledging the view as well thought out and with intellectual merit. You can see it as insightful and still disagree.

    3. Re: They already do. by Qzukk · · Score: 5, Insightful

      As the cost to monitor people decreases, more and more people will be put under watch for increasingly trivial reasons.

      --
      If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
  2. I've got an easier way to silence speech! by CajunArson · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Go onto any college campus and commit a microagression. That'll shut things down real quick, no mass surveillance required.

    --
    AntiFA: An abbreviation for Anti First Amendment.
  3. I'm chilled by wcrowe · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I was just having a conversation about this the other night with some friends. I said, "That's why I don't comment about a lot of stuff. It may be that one day all of those tweets and facebook comments will get sifted through, and someone may decide all you guys need to be in concentration camps." I was half-way joking... but only half-way. It certainly is chilling.

    It's not just mass surveillance, however. Social media being what it is, everyone is one bad joke away from becoming the pariah du jour, losing their job, and having their entire life ruined.

    --
    Proverbs 21:19