Telecommunications Interception in Turkey: Rights to Privacy vs. Discourses of Security (original) (raw)

2018

In recent years, the expansion of technology resulted in a sharp increase in the use of surveillance cameras. CCTV System is a system of surveillance that aims to surveil particular areas with the aim of security and safety of citizens or for different reasons. By means of this system, people are watched while they are in shopping malls, parks, schools, public institutions, public transports and even in the entrance of their homes. In Turkey, on April 2001, CCTV was first launched in Diyarbakır as a pilot project and then has been in service all around the country since 2005. The use of the CCTV is basically based on surveil the crowded places or places that used as transit routes to prevent crimes and inappropriate behaviors and to decrease to crime rates. However, there is significant evidence to suggest that this system is not merely for the security and safety of the society. For instance the protest of young men in Diyarbakır against the security cameras directed to surveillance system’s aim to keep individuals under its control. As Lyon argues, security cameras are the most significant example of the state’s surveillance project, which comes up as a new tactics of exercising power. From the viewpoint that sees surveillance cameras as a component of the new technique of exercising power of government on its citizens, these cameras are regarded as a reflection of the expanded panoptic imagination and are viewed as a technology of power directed towards to produce subservient, useful and docile bodies. Foucault, in his book Discipline and Punish, argues that despite the fact that the individual’s body is within the grip of very strict powers, which imposes constraints, prohibitions and obligations upon it, there was an important change in the techniques of its use for domination at the beginning of the 18th and at the end of the 19th century. Foucault starts his book with a depiction of a brutal scene, where a man blamed for regicide and his subsequent punishment where “the flesh will be torn from his breasts, arms, thighs and calves with red-hot pincers, his right hand, holding the knife with which he committed the said parricide, burnt away with sulphur and, on those places where the flesh will be torn away, poured molten lead, boiling oil, burning resin, wax and sulphur melted together, and finally he was quartered” His depiction of this scene sets the stage for his discourse on the evolution of disciplinary power; power no longer manifests itself as a spectacle in physical punishment; rather it came as a new technique in which the individual is carefully shaped by it, according to a whole technique of forces and bodies. The aim of this essay is to discuss the evolution of disciplinary power over time and to emphasize the relationship between the power and the surveillance. Firstly it will outline the Close Circuit Television system in Turkey and then it will discuss this system with the Foucault’s concept of discipline, panopticism and surveillance. Finally, it will conclude that surveillance came up as a new tactic of power in the era of modern states.

Surveillance, Normalisation, and Repression

European journal of Turkish studies, 2014

One of the most fertile developments in contemporary thought has been to place the production of individuals at the heart of its enquiries, thus breaking with philosophical currents positing an a-historical individual. The aim of this special issue 1 is to enquire into how exactly this process transpires within organisations that normalise, repress, and conduct surveillance of individuals who are either part of an institution or else the object of their operations. The work carried out by institutions using techniques 'relating to the surveillance, diagnosis, and possible transformation of individuals' (Foucault 2004: 7) studied here is intended to halt or prevent deviant behaviour, in the sense used by Howard Becker for whom 'deviance is not a quality of the act the person commits but rather a consequence of the application by others of rules and sanctions to an "offender"' (Becker 1963: 9; italics in the original). 2 The diverse nature of the institutions analysed here (the army, the police, a political organisation, and a consulate), all within a 'Turkish context', 2 is heuristic insofar as it is thus possible to compare different levels of coercion and test more general hypotheses relating to the similarity of practices and their transfer between institutions. Some are institutions of the sovereign State (the police, the army, and a consulate), whilst others are illegal (the PKK); some are open and exert weak coercive power (the consulate) whilst others are total (the army and PKK), that is to say 'cut off from wider society for

The Surveillance, the Control and Invisible Violence

The encrypted signals, the artificial intelligence, all gadgets and electronic mechanisms, in some way, put humanity in its dependence. Insofar as that, the advances converge to a utopia not performed in its fullness, the man heading towards his disappearance as a leading man and the individual lends his physical body and, in exchange, increasingly wraps the meandering of technological paraphernalia. The present paper has as objective, build a thought about the individualization and invisible violence in the context of surveillance and control, taking the body as its largest distinctive sign. The latent visibility into our society literally sees in the speed of gadgets your biggest indicator, the social draining and made the territorial extensions were abolished and with a push of a button, the communication is performed. The local site is completely protected. The surveillance is controlled by cameras in the distance. The death of the body is declared, as far as it virtualizes. The world around does not exist but there is no physical interaction. Natural elements are no longer available, and everything is measured by the interrelation of virtual bidders. The immateriality becomes spectrum and in this relationship it is more important that the contact in itself. What may have happened to the physical contact? Lost in time or shrunk by electronic devices that run on marketing, there are virtually no more. The bodies do not interact and superficiality takes account of family and business meetings. The meetings are lost to the distancing; the "des-Virtual meetings" are more "alive". It is the life, which takes away the technological few and offers opportunities, which supposedly we believe to be important. In this condition, humanity walks for its retrenchment and oblivionism that, before was only remote, appears with force and puts us in a condition never before imagined with the loss of the senses. Create devices to provide security for persons with lightning speed, as if this condition would be able to control and maintain the social order, which has been imposed upon us a subtle and poetic by sweetie advertisements, but fierce, is betting as being the redemption and the solution to all the problems and the evils of humanity. Connect and be connected without interruption, represents security up to where the limit allowed. The existing violence and foggy, confronted with the social dislocation that cannot be measured as behavior assigned to a society. This bond conditions, is in anyway, always raised discussions as being curtailed and deprivation. However, when it becomes a common and asks that we be free through the surveillance cameras, chip cards and mobile phones, shows in fact that we are trapped and most of the times we accept this condition. Who make a profit? People, businesses of technologies that develop gadgets, promising results with its discarded products and outdated? To feed this technological race, people prepares all day a way to sell more things that each time we need less. Is this the key to discontent and sense of freedom that both seek since ancient times? To be free, we must deprive of choice or at least be tied to anchors who owns the capital. The central proposal is, understand how the body fits in this context, in which the power exerts safety function, in that war daily by a piece of people that are sold, as by-products, to which the companies of consumption may in some way to offer the most diverse products. The pocket or the body is who pays the price of the technology to the extent that the invisible violence is bypassed or arbitrarily presented as trivial. In this panorama, not distinguished accuser and accused, and we can only redeem what remains of the crumbs scattered. Big Dates, museums, image files and of monitoring data to preserve a society that prefers to archive to live. What is the participation of this body, in a society that walks, to the disappearance, toward the virtual in its fullness? In this sense, thinking body, is thinking sensorial dimensions and in virtual the sensorium is unsettled by complete and cadenced according to who has the absolute power. The downtime and the sedation behind of bunkers residential brings the denial of the body as productive agent. The inertia of the will pulse is stagnation of life and social agent, insofar as the disappearance of the body is inevitable. In a world plagued by speculations about surveillance, power and control, this research is based on authors who recommend reading and more in-depth reflections about this proposed theme. Some of the authors who contribute more directly and significantly to this thesis are Virilio (1998), Bauman (2001), Rüdiger (2002), Lyon (1994) and Trivinho (2007), who sought to study the impact of digital technologies on social life. On the other hand, Castells (1999), Bourdieu (1999) and Foucault (1979) analyze the condition of surveillance and control, ranging from the social to the technological domain. Wiener (1978) analyzed the developments in society marked by cybernetics. As early as the 1970s, other and equally important authors, such as Toynbee (1971), identified the technological power wielded by companies. In more recent times, authors such as Postman (1993) and Julian Assange (2012) – the latter is one of the most emblematic examples – stated that the technological condition is favorable to the one who wields power, since the rules are not egalitarian. Nevertheless, although ordinary users demand privacy, governments and corporations violate this condition in order to exercise strict control over them. In fact, for the microsphere of power, information must be crystal clear to enable the maintenance of surveillance of people.

Surveillance, normalisation, and repression. Original French version also available

European Journal of Turkish Studies Social Sciences on Contemporary Turkey, 2014

CRITICISM TOWARDS SURVEILLANCE publish IJLA

Humanbeing has been striving for seizing power and objectifying other humans throughout the history. Powers, who never hesitate using any violence and punishment methods to create a disciplined society and to protect their own authority, found that surveillance is more effective than punishment by the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century and started to discipline societies in this way. Foucault refers to a dystopia called " Panopticon " and states that powers are giant towers that observe society. Believing to be constantly observed, societies get objectified through a horror culture. Invisible powers sometimes make their presence visible through symbols like ideology, media and police. In these "control societies" as defined by Deleuze, a human type obeying to or gets objectified by authority comes to forefront rather than individual freedom. As a prominent and unique author of Turkish literature, Turgay Nar fictionalizes plays within the scope of social and political criticism through metaphors, symbolic expressions, insecurity, mythological elements, fairy tale heroes. He makes audience watch plays with a critical approach, but also preserves the idea of Brecht who suggests that theatre should also educate audience. In his plays titled Tepegöz (Cylops), Çöplük (Trash), Şehrazat'ın Oyunu (Scheherazade's Game), Can Ateşinde Kanatlar (Mevlana) (Wings Made of Spirit Fire-Mevlana), Gizler Çarşısı (Mall of Secrets) and Hitit Güneşi (Hittite Sun), the author treats the tragedy of humanbeing objectified by power. Holding of authority by one person summarized as "Idolized Person" by Althusser and psychic life of power can be found in his artworks. He expresses even the most complex social and philosophical concepts by frequently applying to grotesque elements in a lyrical poetry through unique metaphors and symbols. This study aims to analyze critical approach towards despotic power concept through surveillance society in Turgay Nar's plays. Özet İnsanlığın kendi türü üzerinde iktidar sahibi olarak gücü ele geçirmesi ve hemcinsini nesneleştirme çabası tarih boyunca devam edegelmiştir. Disiplinli bir toplum yaratmak ve kendi gücünü korumak amacıyla her türlü şiddet ve ceza yöntemini uygulamaktan kaçınmayan baskıcı iktidarlar; özellikle 18. yüzyılın sonu ve 19. yüzyılın başından itibaren gözetlemenin cezalandırmadan daha etkili olduğu sonucuna varmış ve toplumu bu yolla disipline etme yöntemine başvurmuşlardır. Foucault; " Panoptikon " adını verdiği bir kara ütopyadan bahsederek, iktidarların toplumu gözetleyen dev bir kuleden ibaret olduklarını ifade eder. Sürekli gözetlendiğine inanan toplumlar, bir korku kültürüyle nesneleşir. Görünmez iktidarlar, zaman 523 zaman ideoloji, medya ve polis gibi semboller üzerinden varlıklarını görünür kılar. Deleuze'nin " kontrol toplumu " deyimiyle tanımladığı bu toplumlarda bireysel özgürlükten ziyade otoriteye boyun eğmiş veya otorite karşısında nesneleşmiş insan tipi öne çıkar. Turgay Nar, Türk Edebiyatında özgün yanıyla öne çıkan ve yapıtlarında metaforlar, simgesel anlatımlar, tekinsizlik, mitolojik unsurlar, masal kahramanları vasıtasıyla sosyal ve politik eleştiriler bağlamında oyunlarını kurgulayan bir yazardır. O, oyunlarını kurgularken Brecht'in, tiyatronun seyirciyi eğitmesi gerektiği anlayışından sapmadan seyircinin eleştirel bir gözle oyunu izlemesini sağlar. Çöplük, Can Ateşinde Kanatlar (Mevlânâ), Gizler Çarşısı ve Hitit Güneşi oyunlarında iktidar karşısında nesneleşen insanın trajedisini işler. Althusser'in: " Kişi Putlaştırması " şeklinde özetlediği otoritenin tek kişide toplanması ve iktidarın psişik yaşamı onun eserlerinde karşılık bulur. En karmaşık toplumsal ve felsefi kavramları bile lirik bir şiirsellik içinde sıklıkla grotesk unsurlara da başvurarak, özgün metafor ve imgelerle anlatması onun oyunlarının kavranmasında farklı bir birikimi ve çok özel ön okumaları gerektirir. Bu çalışmada Turgay Nar'ın oyunlarında gözetim toplumu üzerinden despotik iktidar kavramına yönelik eleştirel yaklaşımı analiz edilmeye çalışılacaktır.

The Sticky-Stalker State Subject: Surveillance of Dissent in Turkey

Criminalisation of Dissent in Times of Crisis , 2024

Despite the emergence of high-tech surveillance tools, conventional forms of undercover surveillance have not become obsolete. In this chapter, drawing on an ethnographic case study from Turkey and addressing the ever-increasing deployment of undercover police surveillance and informant activities in policing dissent, I ask: Why in an era of unprecedented development in digital surveillance technologies, undercover police activities are still employed? Building upon the existing body of literature that illuminates the role of undercover policing in controlling and manipulating dissidents, I argue that another crucial aspect of undercover policing is its capacity to transform the state—a sociological abstraction—into a tangible, material entity, albeit one that is deeply unsettling and menacing, within the daily lives of targeted populations. Through insidious undercover policing practices, the state emerges as an adhesive, predatory presence that sticks to the body and infiltrates the mind, depriving its targets of a feeling of freedom.

Online Surveillance in Turkey Legislation Technology and Citizen Involvement

Efe Kerem Sözeri Vrije Unversiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands. eksozeri@hotmail.com The AKP government has constructed an online surveillance regime (not to mention censorship) via various legal and technical means. This article analyzes the emergence and expansion of online surveillance within the context of the AKP's authoritarian practices that are interwoven with its nationalist and populist politics. It begins with an overview of legal and technical initiatives aimed at enhancing online surveillance, data collection and retention. It then focuses on the AKP's recent strategies designed to bolster this online surveillance regime such as the institutionalization of online " snitching " via a newly-introduced social media app that enables citizen-informants to " report terrorists " to the authorities. The article argues that the AKP's recent strategies and rationalities to regulate the conduct of online users are aligned with principles of " go...

Telecommunications Interception in Turkey: Rights to Privacy vs. Discourses of Security (original) (raw)

Related papers