Abstract
This chapter makes preliminary conclusions and signpost practical issues that ought to be tackled to bring about privacy respecting surveillance regimes. Three major issues are critically examined. First, it discusses the increasing liquification of surveillance practices in the region. The chapter links this liquification to the insatiable appetite for the acquisition of smart surveillance technologies by the political and security elite in the region. The chapter then relates this development to the second one: an increasing normalization of surveillance in the region. The consequences of both the liquification of surveillance practices and its increasing normalization are spelt out in this closing chapter. Third, we reimagine the future of digital and data justice in the context of ubiquitous and pervasive surveillance regimes in southern Africa. We also revisit the issue of ‘splinternet’, which is likely to be a major topic of discussion in so far as the reconfiguration of internet governance is concerned in a multipolar world order. We reflect on its likely implications on digital authoritarianism and surveillance futures.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
- 2.
The ministerial announcement can be followed here: https://www.newsday.co.zw/2021/11/govt-sets-up-team-to-monitor-social-media/.
- 3.
The Lesotho story can be followed here:
https://lestimes.com/govt-forges-ahead-with-draconian-spying-regulations/.
- 4.
Technical standards are to be understood as normative specifications enabling systems to communicate with each other and allowing interoperability of different software and hardware, whereas protocols consist in a set of recommendations and rules that outline specific technical standards.
- 5.
References
Andersen, R. (2020). The Panopticon Is Already Here. Retrieved April 13, 2022, from https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/09/china-ai-surveillance/614197/
Bateman, J. (2022). US-China Technological “Decoupling” a Strategy and Policy Framework. https://carnegieendowment.org/files/Bateman_US-China_Decoupling_final.pdf
Bauman, Z., & Lyon, D. (2013). Liquid Surveillance: A Conversation. John Wiley & Sons.
Breckenridge, K. (2014). Biometric State. Cambridge University Press.
Chambwera, C. (2021). Understanding Netflix’s Foray into Original Productions in South Africa: A “Jet Plane” and “Helicopter” View. In G. Motsaathebe & S. Chiumbu (Eds.), Television in Africa in the Digital Age (pp. 39–57). Palgrave Macmillan.
Cook, S., & Delrossi, M. (2021). The Worrying Expansion of the Social Media Surveillance-Industrial Complex. https://knightcolumbia.org/blog/the-worrying-expansion-of-the-social-media-surveillance-industrial-complex
Corrigan, T. (2020). Africa’s ICT Infrastructure: Its Present and Prospects. SAAIA Policy Briefing, 197. https://saiia.org.za/research/africas-ict-infrastructure-its-present-and-prospects/
Crush, J., & Dodson, B. (2007). Another Lost Decade: The Failures of South Africa’s Post-apartheid Migration Policy. Tijdschrift voor economische en sociale geografie, 98(4), 436–454.
Crush, J., & Peberdy, S. (2018). Criminal tendencies: immigrants and illegality in South Africa. African Portal Research Library. Accessed on 2 June 2022 at: https://www.africaportal.org/publications/criminal-tendenciesimmigrants-and-illegality-south-africa/
Cushing, T. (2021). Clearview Officially Kicked Out of Australia for Violation Country’s Privacy Laws’. Retrieved March 3, 2022, from https://www.techdirt.com/2021/11/11/clearview-officially-kicked-out-australia-violation-countrys-privacy-laws/
Dencik, L., Hintz, A., & Cable, J. (2016). Towards Data Justice? The Ambiguity of Anti-surveillance Resistance in Political Activism. Big Data & Society, 3(2), 2053951716679678.
Duncan, J. (2018). Stopping the Spies: Constructing and Resisting the Surveillance State in South Africa. NYU Press.
Duncan, J. (2022). National Security Surveillance in Southern Africa: An Anti-capitalist Perspective. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Erie, M. S., & Streinz, T. (2021). The Beijing Effect: China’s Digital Silk Road as Transnational Data Governance. New York University Journal of International Law & Politics, 54, 1.
Freedom House. (2018). Democracy in Crisis. Retrieved June 3, 2020, from https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2018/democracy-crisis
Fuchs, C. (2009). Social Networking Sites and the Surveillance Society. Forschungsgruppe.
Fuchs, C. (2010). Social Software and Web 2.0: Their Sociological Foundations and Implications. In S. Murugesan (Ed.), Handbook of Research on Web 2.0, 3.0, and X.0: Technologies, Business, and Social Applications. Volume II (pp. 764–789). IGI-Global.
Gagliardone, I. (2019). China, Africa, and the Future of the Internet. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Hawkins, A. (2018). Beijing’s Big Brother Tech Needs African Faces: Zimbabwe Is Signing Up for China’s Surveillance State, but Its Citizens Will Pay the Price. Foreign Policy. Retrieved July 24, 2018, from https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/07/24/beijings-big-brother-tech-needs-african-faces/
Heeks, R., & Renken, J. (2016). Data justice for development: What would it mean? Information Development, 34(1), 90–102.
Hoffmann, S., Lazanski, D., & Taylor, E. (2020). Standardising the Splinternet: How China’s Technical Standards Could Fragment the Internet. Journal of Cyber Policy, 5(2), 239–264.
Jacobs, S. (2022). Blurb on the Book, ‘National Security Surveillance in Southern Africa: An Anti-capitalist Perspective, by Jane Duncan, cited in Jane Duncan 2022.
Mabweazara, H. M., Muneri, C. T., & Ndlovu, F. (2020). News “Media Capture”, Relations of Patronage and Clientelist Practices in Sub-Saharan Africa: An Interpretive Qualitative Analysis. Journalism Studies, 21(15), 2154–2175.
MISA Zimbabwe. (2018). Reflections on the United Nations Human Rights Council. In D. Kaye (Ed.), Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression (pp. 77–99). New York: United Nations. Retrieved August 12, 2021 from, https://daccess-ods.un.org/TMP/7816334.3667984.html
Munoriyarwa, A. (2022). The Militarization of Digital Surveillance in Post-coup Zimbabwe: Just Don’t Tell Them What We Do. Security Dialogue. https://doi.org/10.1177/09670106221118796
Munoriyarwa, A., & Chiumbu, S. (2022). Powers, Interests and Actors: The Influence of China in Africa’s Digital Surveillance Practices. In Kperogi, F.A. Digital Dissidence and Social Media Censorship in Africa. New York: Routledge.
Ndlela, M. 2022. Algorithms, Bots and Elections in Africa: How Social Media Influences Political Choices. Retrieved April 5, 2022, from https://theconversation.com/amp/algorithms-bots-and-elections-in-africa-how-social-media-influences-political-choices-179121
NewsDay. (2017). Fresh Calls on MPs to Upgrade Educational Qualifications. Retrieved October 21, 2020, from https://www.newsday.co.zw/2017/05/fresh-calls-mps-upgrade-educational-qualification
Romaniuk, S., & Burgers, T. 2018. How China’s AI Technology Exports Are Seeding Surveillance Societies Globally. The Diplomat, 18.
Schmidt, E. (2022). Foreword. In J. Bateman (Ed.), US-China Technological “Decoupling” a Strategy and Policy Framework (pp. ix–xi). https://carnegieendowment.org/files/Bateman_US-China_Decoupling_final.pdf
Spier, S. (2017). Collective Action 2.0: The Impact of Social Media on Collective Action. Chandos Publishing.
Swaine, M. D. (2012). China’s Assertive Behavior Part Three: The Role of the Military in Foreign Policy. China Leadership Monitor, 36(6), 1–17.
Trottier, D. (2011). A research agenda for social media surveillance. Fast Capitalism, 8(1), 59–68.
Wood, D. M., & Monahan, T. (2019). Platform Surveillance. Surveillance & Society, 17(1/2), 1–6.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Munoriyarwa, A., Mare, A. (2022). Conclusions: The Bigger Picture of Surveillance Futures. In: Digital Surveillance in Southern Africa. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-16636-5_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-16636-5_7
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-16635-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-16636-5
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)