Rethinking Digital Freedom: Practices and technologies of intrusive surveillance in Turkey in relation to the EU

Abstract

Rapid advancement in digital technologies has also raised new questions around individuals’ online privacy and freedom. Acknowledging this complication mainly caused by the electronic surveillance practices, the European Union (EU) implements a discursive strategy, calling it “digital freedom”. Aiming to provide insights on the intrusive technologies (tools that are mainly used for electronic surveillance) and their relation to the EU’s digital freedom discourse, this study focuses on Turkey as a case. Moreover, the spy tool named the Remote Control System (RCS) is chosen as the object of the research. In the course of this, the following research question is central to this thesis: To what extent do the practices and technologies of intrusive surveillance in Turkey corroborate or conflict with the discourse of digital freedom in relation to the EU? To tackle the research question, the circuit of culture is implemented as a theoretical framework that allows the use of a ‘meaning’ based perspective on intrusive technologies and provides a practical entry point to study the notion of digital freedom as a cultural value. The framework not only grounds this work, but also allows for an exploration of discursive production as a methodology. The research also relies on the surveillance studies to reinforce and add depth to the theoretical dimensions, particularly with regards to the issue of online privacy and freedom.