Dangerous labels

The identification of potential terrorists by the examination of metadata regarding their movements and contacts can be dangerously imprecise — as has been discovered by the bureau chief of an international TV station who is based in Islamabad. Metadata is the word used to describe a collation of small elements to build a big picture. This will include location (of the subject), who they phone and who phones them, the timing and length of calls and the content of text messages. All of this is within the capacity of the American National Security Agency (NSA). According to documents leaked by Edward Snowden, the aforementioned bureau chief was identified as a member of al Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood, which earned the journalist a place on the American terrorist watch list with all the implications that go with that. It is worth pointing out here that many drone strikes are carried out on the basis of metadata rather than human intelligence and much metadata analysis is done by computer software rather than by people, a reality that opens any number of chilling prospects.

In all likelihood, the journalist concerned was doing no more than go about his usual business — but that usual business inevitably meant meeting his contacts, talking with them by phone and exchanging text messages. He has protested his innocence, but probably to no avail as getting off a watchlist is harder than getting on in it. With the harvesting of data globally, especially from mobile phone signals now virtually ubiquitous and largely unregulated, this is a matter of grave concern. The collation of metadata has been the basis for drone attacks in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen. Whilst it cannot automatically infer intent, it can trap innocent people going about their normal lives. This has implications for anybody working in any of the media platforms in Pakistan. Collection and use of metadata is a violation of the individual’s right to privacy, which we protest in the strongest possible terms. 

Published in The Express Tribune, May 16^th, 2015.

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