The mass surveillance industry is a multibillion-dollar

industry Industry may refer to: Economics * Industry (economics), a generally categorized branch of economic activity * Industry (manufacturing), a specific branch of economic activity, typically in factories with machinery * The wider industrial sector ...

that has undergone phenomenal growth since 2001. According to

data In the pursuit of knowledge, data (; ) is a collection of discrete Value_(semiotics), values that convey information, describing quantity, qualitative property, quality, fact, statistics, other basic units of meaning, or simply sequences of sy ...

provided by ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'', the retail market for surveillance tools has grown from "nearly zero" in 2001 to about US$5 billion in 2011. The size of the

video surveillance Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly tr ...

market rose to US$13.5 billion in 2012 and is expected to reach US$39 billion by 2020.

Current developments

Fueled by widespread fears of

terrorist attacks The following is a list of terrorist incidents that have not been carried out by a state or its forces (see state terrorism and state-sponsored terrorism). Assassinations are listed at List of assassinated people. Definitions of terrori ...

, the future of surveillance is particularly promising in the field of

video content analysis Video content analysis or video content analytics (VCA), also known as video analysis or video analytics (VA), is the capability of automatically analyzing video to detect and determine temporal and spatial events. This technical capability is used ...

, where computers analyze live camera feeds to count the number of people, register

temperature Temperature is a physical quantity that expresses quantitatively the perceptions of hotness and coldness. Temperature is measurement, measured with a thermometer. Thermometers are calibrated in various Conversion of units of temperature, temp ...

changes, and automatically identify suspicious behavior via statistical

algorithm In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm () is a finite sequence of rigorous instructions, typically used to solve a class of specific problems or to perform a computation. Algorithms are used as specifications for performing ...

s. The following terrorist attacks have led to a significant increase in street-level surveillance: * Shortly after the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings, police commissioner Edward F. Davis requested the installation of more

cameras A camera is an optical instrument that can capture an image. Most cameras can capture 2D images, with some more advanced models being able to capture 3D images. At a basic level, most cameras consist of sealed boxes (the camera body), with a ...

to boost street-level surveillance. The Mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg, said that the bombings are a "terrible reminder" of the importance of acquiring surveillance technology. * In the aftermath of the 2001

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...

, U.S. cities spent billions of dollars in federal

counter-terrorism Counterterrorism (also spelled counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, incorporates the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, business, and intelligence agencies use to combat or ...

funding to deploy video sensors in public areas.

Private intelligence agencies

Private intelligence agencies A private intelligence agency (PIA) is a private sector (non-governmental) or quasi-non-government organization devoted to the collection, analysis, and exploitation of information, through the evaluation of public sources (OSINT or Open Source IN ...

are non-governmental corporations involved in the collection and analysis of information. Prior to the 9/11 attacks, such tasks were mostly performed by governmental agencies such as the

National Security Agency The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collect ...

(NSA) and

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

(CIA). After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the gathering of intelligence was rapidly outsourced by the U.S. government to private intelligence agencies, which function as

independent contractor Employment is a relationship between two parties regulating the provision of paid labour services. Usually based on a contract, one party, the employer, which might be a corporation, a not-for-profit organization, a co-operative, or any oth ...

s. According to ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'', about one in four U.S. intelligence workers are contractors, and over 70 percent of the budget of the

United States Intelligence Community United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two f ...

is earmarked for payment to private firms. An examination by The Post found that 1,931 private companies work on programs related to

intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. More generally, it can be des ...

in about 10,000 locations across the United States. The average annual cost of a contract employee is US $250,000, almost twice that of a federal employee.

Stratfor

Strategic Forecasting, Inc., more commonly known as Stratfor, is a global intelligence company founded in 1996 in

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

. It offers information to governments and private clients including Dow Chemical Company, Lockheed Martin,

Northrop Grumman Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American multinational aerospace and defense technology company. With 90,000 employees and an annual revenue in excess of $30 billion, it is one of the world's largest weapons manufacturers and military techn ...

Raytheon Raytheon Technologies Corporation is an American multinational aerospace and defense conglomerate headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. It is one of the largest aerospace and defense manufacturers in the world by revenue and market capitali ...

, the

U.S. Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries. Its stated missions involve anti-terr ...

, the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, and the U.S. Marine Corps. In 2012–13, over 5 million internal

e-mail Electronic mail (email or e-mail) is a method of exchanging messages ("mail") between people using electronic devices. Email was thus conceived as the electronic (digital) version of, or counterpart to, mail, at a time when "mail" meant ...

s from Stratfor were released by

WikiLeaks WikiLeaks () is an international non-profit organisation that published news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous sources. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activist, is generally described as its founder and director and ...

Booz Allen Hamilton

Booz Allen Hamilton Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation (informally Booz Allen) is the parent of Booz Allen Hamilton Inc., an American management and information technology consulting firm, headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in Greater Washington, D.C., with 8 ...

is a

publicly traded company A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) company can be listed on a stock exchange (list ...

that is majority-owned by

The Carlyle Group The Carlyle Group is a multinational private equity, alternative asset management and financial services corporation based in the United States with $376 billion of assets under management. It specializes in private equity, real assets, and ...

, a global asset management firm specializing in

private equity In the field of finance, the term private equity (PE) refers to investment funds, usually limited partnerships (LP), which buy and restructure financially weak companies that produce goods and provide services. A private-equity fund is both a t ...

, based in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

Founded in 1914 by Edwin G. Booz, Booz Allen Hamilton became one of the most profitable private contractors by supplying tens of thousands of intelligence analysts to the U.S. federal government. During the

fiscal year A fiscal year (or financial year, or sometimes budget year) is used in government accounting, which varies between countries, and for budget purposes. It is also used for financial reporting by businesses and other organizations. Laws in many ...

of 2013, Booz Allen Hamilton derived 99% of its income from the government, and the largest portion of its revenue (16%) came from the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

. Half of its employees carry top secret security clearances.Sanger, David E. and Nicole Perlroth.
After Profits, Defense Contractor Faces the Pitfalls of Cybersecurity
" ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

''. June 15, 2013. Retrieved on June 27, 2013. In the first half of 2013, Booz Allen Hamilton has won numerous contracts, including: * A US $95 million contract with the

Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command The Naval Information Warfare Systems Command (NAVWARSYSCOM), based in San Diego, is one of six SYSCOM Echelon II organizations within the United States Navy and is the Navy's technical authority and acquisition command for C4ISR (Command, Contro ...

* A US $102 million contract with the Department of Transportation * A US $315 million contract with the

National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) is a combat support agency within the United States Department of Defense whose primary mission is collecting, analyzing, and distributing geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) in support of natio ...

* A US $900 million contract to strengthen

cybersecurity Computer security, cybersecurity (cyber security), or information technology security (IT security) is the protection of computer systems and networks from attack by malicious actors that may result in unauthorized information disclosure, t ...

* A US $5.6 billion contract with the

Defense Intelligence Agency The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) is an intelligence agency and combat support agency of the United States Department of Defense, specializing in defense and military intelligence. A component of the Department of Defense (DoD) and the ...

* A US $6 billion contract, shared with other companies, to develop a shopping hub for federal agencies looking to shield their computer networks from hackers. In 2006, Booz Allen Hamilton was recognized by '' Fortune'' magazine as one of the "100 Best Companies to Work For". In 2013, Booz Allen Hamilton was hailed by

Bloomberg Businessweek ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'', is an American weekly business magazine published fifty times a year. Since 2009, the magazine is owned by New York City-based Bloomberg L.P. The magazine debuted in New York City ...

as "the World's Most Profitable Spy Organization".

Controversy

Commercial mass surveillance often makes use of

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educatio ...

laws and " user agreements" to obtain (typically uninformed) 'consent' to surveillance from consumers who use their software or other related materials. This allows the gathering of information that would be technically illegal if performed by government agencies. This data is then often shared with government agencies - thereby - in practice - defeating the purpose of such privacy protections. Reporters Without Borders' March 2013 ''Special report on Internet Surveillance'' contained a list of "Corporate Enemies of the Internet", companies that sell products that are liable to be used by governments to violate human rights and freedom of information. The five companies on the initial list were: Amesys (France),

Blue Coat Systems __FORCETOC__ Blue Coat Systems, Inc., was a company that provided hardware, software, and services designed for cybersecurity and network management. In 2016, it was acquired by and folded into Symantec. In 2019 was, as part of Symantec Enterpris ...

(U.S.), Gamma (UK and Germany),

Hacking Team HackingTeam was a Milan-based information technology company that sold offensive intrusion and surveillance capabilities to governments, law enforcement agencies and corporations. Its "''Remote Control Systems''" enable governments and corporatio ...

(Italy), and Trovicor (Germany), but the list was not exhaustive and is likely to be expanded in the future.''The Enemies of the Internet Special Edition : Surveillance''
, Reporters Without Borders, 12 March 2013

References