Marginalised Groups “Under Surveillance”: A Meta Analysis

Existing and emerging surveillance technologies have become an omnipresent reality, used for both targeted and mass surveillance purposes (e.g., by governments). In this paper, we analyse the state of research on surveillance of marginalised and/or vulnerable groups in society. More concretely, by means of a systematic literature review (N=86 included articles), we investigated which marginalised groups that are affected by targeted or mass surveillance, are on the scientific research agenda. Further, we aim to identify potential trends in how the literature has evolved and who is involved in setting the agenda. The findings indicate that a wide range of marginalised and vulnerable groups need protection from mass surveillance. These include for instance people experiencing a low socio-economic status; activists, journalists and whistle blowers. While the majority of investigated studies adopted a people-centred approach, most research is conducted by single-disciplinary teams. In this paper, we argue that cryptography, and more specifically, people-centred approaches to cryptography could help protect vulnerable groups and to mitigate adverse ethical implications of targeted and mass surveillance.