Surveillance culture sneaks up on Europe, despite resistance
Julie Sell - December 16, 2008
VANVES, France — Despite the fact that fascism and repressive state security services dominated Europe — East and West — at different points in the 20th century, a new culture of surveillance is spreading, slowly, across the region again, using tools that the Nazis and the KGB never had.
The U.S. and Britain stepped up their internal surveillance networks after suffering some of the West’s deadliest terrorist attacks in the past decade, but now other European governments are embracing some of the same tools and techniques. The pace of adoption is slower on the Continent than it’s been in Britain because of public concerns about liberty and personal privacy.
Take Vanves, a community of 30,000 with ancient roots that has gradually adopted 21st century security measures. The middle-class suburb that adjoins the southern border of Paris was the headquarters for a Wehrmacht motorized division during the Nazi occupation in World War II.
Tags: Surveillance Society
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