Panoptykon ends campaign against uncontrolled surveillance reaching 3M people
1 out of 5 Poles are aware of the constantly growing powers of the Polish secret service. And this lack of knowledge from the public leaves the door open for further expansion of the powers of secret service authorities.
According to a research published by CBOS (Polish research outlet) 1 out of 5 Poles are aware of the constantly growing powers of the Polish secret service. And this lack of knowledge from the public leaves the door open for further expansion of the powers of secret service authorities.
Panoptykon Foundation in Poland wants to change this by petitioning Polish authorities including the Polish President, Prime Minister, and Parliament, to increase scrutiny over the police and secret services. The petition was supported by almost 6 thousand citizens and over 20 civil society organisations. According to national regulations, state authorities must respond to the petition within 3 months.
The petition brings Panoptykon’s internet campaign “Nobody will tell you when they will follow you” to an end. The campaign aimed at increasing awareness of how unscrutinised powers of secret services affect the right to privacy, freedom and democracy. In the first push of the campaign Panoptykon published interviews with activists and a journalist who were under surveillance. These short video testimonials showed just how easily one can become subject to surveillance. In addition, Panoptykon shared a letter template, with secret service authorities, to inform people that they had been subjected to surveillance..
On its first day, the campaign reached almost 3 million people online.
(Contribution by: EDRi member, Panoptykon Foundation)