Kuda Hove

There is a growing concern, based on credible technical evidence that the government of Zimbabwe recently started using IMSI Catchers to track its citizens' movements and mobile phone usage within certain defined zones. Originally designed for military purposes by the U.S Government to track terrorists in Afghanistan and Iraq, an IMSI catcher is a cell phone false tower fitted with an eavesdropping device used for intercepting mobile phone traffic and tracking movement of mobile phone users. The confirmed deployment of these devices in Zimbabwe is widely seen as part of government's current plans to enhance state control over national cyberspace by actively using surveillance and data mining as means to confuse and entrap actual and perceived opponents such as protesters. Since 2013, the government has also been working on a number of laws, forensic and data mining tools which will help it to further repress digital rights, with a major repercussion on the country's political processes. While most IMSI catchers have been detected on cell phone towers of the government owned cell phone provider Net One, government may be installing these on privately cell phone towers. This assertion is backed by government's recent pressure on private mobile service providers to share their base stations under the infrastructure sharing regulations. There have been several incidents when cellphones have routinely responded to these catchers as shown on Fig.1 below. This is part of the emerging worrying evidence that the government of Zimbabwe has been deploying IMSI catchers on Mobile Cell phone towers boosters across the country.

States are increasingly developing and deploying large scale surveillance and AI-enabled analytical capabilities. What is uncertain, however, is the impact this surveillance will have. Will it result in a chilling effect whereby individuals modify their behaviour due to the fear of the consequences that may follow? Understanding any such effect is essential: if surveillance activities interfere with the processes by which individuals develop their identity, or undermine democratic processes, the consequences may be almost imperceptible in the short term but profound over the long term. Currently, surveillance-related chilling effects are not well understood, meaning that insufficient weight is given to their potentially society-wide impacts. This article seeks to help redress this balance. Drawing on empirical research in Zimbabwe and Uganda it highlights how State surveillance has chilled behaviour, with significant implications for rights essential to individual development and democratic functioning, specifically the rights to freedom of expression and to freedom of assembly. Importantly, this qualitative research identifies a pattern of common themes or consequences associated with surveillance in general, allowing us to move beyond hypothetical or individual experiences, and providing a greater understanding of the nuances of surveillance-related effects that can help inform decision-making surrounding large scale digital surveillance.