Surveillance abuse is the use ofsurveillance methods or technology, includingtargeted surveillance andmass surveillance, to monitor the activity of an individual or group of individuals in ways that violatesocial norms,laws, orhuman rights.

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To align with theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights, use of communications surveillance must belawful, have legitimate aims such aspublic safety ornational security, be necessary and proportional to the legitimate aims, be monitored against abuse by judicial authority, respectdue process, and provide appropriatepublic transparency, among other principles.^[1][2][3]

Governments have abusedsurveillance technologies to targetprotestors anddissidents in ways that result in restricting theircivil and political rights, profile people on the basis ofethnicity orrace in ways that supportdiscrimination, and undermine people'sright to privacy, among other impacts.^[4]

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During the U.S.FBI'sCOINTELPRO operations between 1956 and 1971, there was widespread surveillance abuse which targeted politicaldissidents, primarily people from thepolitical left andcivil rights movement. TheChurch Committee investigated and reported on these abuses in 1975–1976.^[5]

The 2013Snowden disclosures included evidence of "LOVEINT", the practice of U.S.National Security Agency employees using their extensive monitoring capabilities to spy on a love interest or spouse.^[6][7]

In the 2010s and 2020s, thePegasus Project revealed governments'espionage on journalists,opposition politicians,activists, business people and others using the privatePegasusspyware developed by theIsraeli technology andcyber-arms companyNSO Group.^[8] In 2025,Citizen Lab found evidence that the Italian government had targeted three Europeaninvestigative journalists withParagon Solutions spyware on their devices.^[9]

The Chinese government'spersecution of Uyghurs in China (2014–present) has involved deployment of mass surveillance systems, includingcellphone surveillance andbiometric data, in ways that supportpolitical repression and violate human rights.^[10][11]

Surveillance abuse also happens on a smaller scale. In 2005, government workers inLiverpool used streetCCTV pan-tilt-zoom cameras to spy on a woman in her flat.^[12][13] InRobbins v. Lower Merion School District (2010), parents inPennsylvania sued their son's school for allegedly watching him through his laptop's webcam while he was at home and unaware he was being observed.^[14]

A device which may be used to abuse surveillance, called anIMSI-catcher orStingray phone tracker, acts and looks similar to a cellphone tower but tricks mobile devices into connecting with it. After connection, an operator can intercept phone calls and text messages from anyone in the relevant area or as part of an investigation of a particular person nearby.^[15] These devices have been exported to countries with histories of abusing surveillance technologies.^[16]

Canada'sCommunications Security Establishment (CSE) has spied on Canadians through the public wireless internet connections in an airport in the country. Through this they gathered information on who people called or texted and where they were when they communicated with others. The CSE searched through approximately 10-15 million downloads daily.^[17][18][19]

• Emergency data request
• Stalkerware
• Category:Surveillance scandals

• Davis, James Kirkpatrick. (1997).Assault on the Left: The FBI and the Sixties Antiwar Movement. Westport, CT: Praeger.
• Donner, Frank J. (1980).The Age of Surveillance: The Aims and Methods of America’s Political Intelligence System. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
• Donner, Frank J. (1990).Protectors of Privilege: Red Squads and Police Repression in Urban America. Berkeley: University of California Press.
• Fijnaut, Cyrille and Gary T. Marx. (1995).Under Cover: Police Surveillance in Comparative Perspective. The Hague: Kluwer Law International.
• Lievrouw, Leah A. (2011).Alternative and Activist New Media. Cambridge, UK: Polity.
• Marx, Gary T. (1988).Under Cover: Police Surveillance in America. Berkeley: Twentieth Century Fund/University of California Press.
• New York Civil Liberties Union. (2006).Who's Watching.
• O'Reilly, Kenneth. (1988)."Racial Matters:" The FBI's Secret File on Black America, 1960—1972. New York: Free Press.
• Staples, William G. (2000).Everyday Surveillance: Vigilance and Visibility in Postmodern Life. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

• Media related toSurveillance scandals at Wikimedia Commons

• Law enforcement
• Human rights abuses
• Surveillance scandals

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