Close All Tabs The Surveillance Machine, Pt 1: How We Got Here
May 7, 2025
Don Bell, policy counsel at The Constitution Project, dives into the long history of government surveillance on protest movements, highlighting its growth post-9/11 and during recent activism. He discusses the troubling normalization of invasive surveillance technologies, like social media monitoring, and connects it to the experiences of activists. Columbia University student Jalsa Drinkard shares her firsthand challenges with doxing and surveillance while organizing protests, emphasizing the serious implications for civil liberties and freedom of speech.
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Jalsa Protects Protesters
- Jalsa Drinkard protected fellow students from surveillance and harassment during Columbia protests by physically blocking cameras and de-escalating confrontations.
- She also fought to prevent doxing, which exposed Palestinian activists' private information online to intimidate them.
Doxing Trucks Target Students
- During the protests, doxing trucks displayed students' personal information publicly, exposing them to harassment and threats.
- Organizers blocked these displays despite risk of arrest, highlighting the digital violence activists faced.
Activist Faced Deportation
- Mahmoud Khalil, a Syrian-born Columbia student protest leader, faced a harassment campaign that led to his deportation despite having a green card and no criminal charges.
- This exemplifies the real consequences of surveillance and doxing of student activists.