Comedians on Ethics: Louise Reay on Surveillance

Isn't the best thing about democracy the opportunity to vote for leaders who take away our human rights?

On 6 June, Theresa May said in response to the London Bridge terror attacks she'd remove the human rights legislation blocking her crackdown on terrorists. Her exact words were: “If our human rights laws stop us from doing it, we’ll change the laws so we can do it.”

The need for tough talk and immediate action following three terror attacks on UK soil in three months notwithstanding, in any other context those words would feel deeply alarming and authoritarian. Indeed, a UN high commissioner for human rights blasted May’s remarks as “a gift for despots… a gift from a major western leader to every authoritarian figure around the world who shamelessly violates human rights under the pretext of fighting terrorism.” We have become so used to our fear of terror being hijacked to remove our civil liberties; a trend started under Tony Blair, we now barely notice this alarming erosion of our freedom. Are some fundamental human rights more equal than others?

Battlefield number one for creeping surveillance has been cyberspace. Theresa May mentioned it specifically in the wake of the recent terrorist attacks to justify further widespread monitoring of our internet usage. Yet, the UK has already recently passed what is known as the 'Snoopers’ Charter': unanimously considered the most extensive and authoritarian piece of surveillance legislation ever to be passed by a democracy. Home Secretary Amber Rudd herself proudly claims it is "world-leading legislation.”

However, its very legality is currently being examined by the European Court of Justice. Phone and web companies are now forced by law to keep your browsing history for 12 months and give it to the police or government should they request it. Furthermore, UK streets have become the most surveilled in the world, with security experts estimating there are six million CCTV cameras across the country. That is one CCTV camera per 11 people. On an average day in an urban area, you will be captured by over 300 CCTV cameras. Do you feel safer now that you have no secrets?

We have known since scientific experiments in the 1920s that the simple fact of being surveilled fundamentally alters the way humans behave. In fact, we’re so sensitive to being watched that even a drawing or photograph of a pair of eyes influences our decisions. Humans care so much about being watched that we change our behaviour and choices without even realising. While studies have shown it can make people more generous and less likely to commit crime, they’ve also shown surveillance actually makes people feel more threatened, increasingly stressed and less creative.

Surveillance is intertwined with censorship – how can we speak and act freely when it’s all caught on tape? The self-censorship that follows is fundamentally changing our society under our noses. Would you think twice about googling 'why am I lonely?' or 'hottest [insert strange fetish] porn' if you knew someone could read it? We’re in urgent need of a rigorous public debate about the assumption that we cannot be safe if we are free. And, free as we are to vote in a lunatic, if the day comes, the damage already done to our civil liberties is such that parliament would be a funfair. As Goethe said: “None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.”

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Louise Reay: Hard Mode, The Stand Comedy Club 4 (28 York Pl), 3-27 Aug (not 14), 5.55pm, £7-£8