Select Another Debate
May 2, 2014
It is the debate of the moment. In a risk-filled world, are democracies justified in turning to large-scale state surveillance, at home and abroad, to fight complex and unconventional threats? Or is the emergence of the surveillance state and the awesome powers it derives from information technology a new and pervasive threat to our basic freedoms? For some the answer is obvious: the threats more than justify the current surveillance system, and the laws and institutions of democracies are more than capable of balancing the needs of individual privacy with collective security. For others, we are in peril of sacrificing to state surveillance and exaggerated terrorist threats the civil liberties that guarantee citizens’ basic freedoms. To engage this global debate our spring 2014 contest moves the motion:
Be it resolved state surveillance is a legitimate defence of our freedoms....
Con wins with 13% vote gain.
“It is the security practitioners, those rarely in the headlines but whose craft and energy quietly break new ground, who keep us safe or put us in peril.”
“The state now is moving much more from reacting to violence to a proactive, preemptive, preventive mode of intelligence gathering.”
“Surveillance equals power. The more you know about someone, the more you can control and manipulate them in all sorts of ways. That is one reason a Surveillance State is so menacing to basic political liberties.”
“Every other country in the world looked at us as a role model for privacy and freedom. And we dropped the ball.”
Munk Debate members have access to past debate media downloads. Premium and Video members have access to all VIDEO, TRANSCRIPTS and PODCAST downloads. And Basic members have access to TRANSCRIPTS of the debates.
Debating the surveillance state requires that one first be clear about what it is and, more importantly, what it is not. Nobody opposes targeted surveillance...
L'affaire Snowden is big news. The relentless exposure of secrets, fed to us at regular intervals by (now awarding winning) journalists, has both captivated and outraged.
No state has ever survived without some surveillance, and no state deserves to survive if it has too much surveillance, particularly of its own citizens. A balance must be struck...
We Americans and Canadians have many shared values -- though we may never settle who’s really to blame for Justin Bieber -- an inalienable right to privacy is something secured...
As Glenn Greenwald so eloquently put it, "nobody opposes targeted surveillance." There is no question that some targeted surveillance is needed, and at times, vitally necessary...
Ever since the first Edward Snowden leak hit the news on June 5th, 2013 American citizens, government officials, and company executives have been publicly exercised about the implications...
It was billed as a debate, but even with the Maple Leafs out of the NHL playoffs, my recent evening in Toronto felt a lot more like Hockey Night in Canada...
March 3, 2014
Alan Dershowitz and Alexis Ohanian will join Michael Hayden and Glenn Greenwald to debate the motion: Be it resolved state surveillance is a legitimate defence of our freedoms...