A new documentary from HBO takes a deep dive into the world of surveillance technology and its impact on privacy, security, and human rights.
Surveilled, which is produced and partially narrated by the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ronan Farrow, includes interviews with the Citizen Lab’s Ron Deibert and Elies Campo, who draw on the Lab’s work investigating mercenary spyware.
A key focus of the film is the Citizen Lab’s research on the use of surveillance technologies in Catalonia to target members of the Catalan independence movement, including Members of the European Parliament, activists, politicians, and journalists. These efforts demonstrate a global trend of government-sponsored surveillance, a central theme of Surveilled.
The film takes viewers on a journey from the headquarters of the NSO Group in Israel, the company behind Pegasus to The Citizen Lab, where Ron Deibert sheds light on not only the technical aspects of surveillance but also emphasizes the devastating human cost of such insidious technologies.