SOCIETAL AND IDEOLOGICAL IMPACTS OF DEEP PACKET INSPECTION INTERNET SURVEILLANCE
Abstract
This paper analyses societal and ideological impacts of Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) technologies. DPI surveillance technologies are communications surveillance tools that are able to monitor the traffic of Internet data, including content data. The analysis presented in this paper is based on product sheets, self-descriptions, and product presentations by 20 European security technology companies that produce and sell DPI technologies, as well as on whitepapers, research papers, news articles, and opinions of privacy advocates, civil society groups, and consumer protection groups. The results show the complexity of societal dimensions of DPI and the importance of the analysis of power and political economy in assessing these implications. They are interpreted in the light of the emergence of a new mode of governmentality, in which the economic interests of the security industry and state interests interact. The analysis also shows that there is a variety of ideological explanations employed by the security industry for justifying its sales of communications surveillance technologies.
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Deep packet inspection constantly scans traffic and provides automated surveillance for authorities.
“Other techniques, such as deep packet inspection, constantly scan traffic and provide automated surveillance for authorities (Fuchs, 2013).”
From How Dictators Control the Internet: A Review Essay (2020) · cites this paper as Fuchs, 2013
Private companies have profited by selling users' personal data to law enforcement; selling network-based surveillance technologies to governments in Syria, Iran, and Libya; selling spyware; and selling artificial intelligence tools used for broad surveillance and repurposed for repressive ends.
“Private companies have profited by selling users’ personal data to law enforcement (78, 79); selling the technologies needed to conduct network-based surveillance to governments in Syria, Iran, and Libya (31); selling spyware that draws on zero-day exploits to turn mobile phones into mobile surveillance tools (80, 81); and selling artificial intelligence tools that are used for broad surveillance”
From Physical and virtual repertoires of contention (2022) · cites this paper as [31]
Cites
Labor in Informational Capitalism and on the Internet
Fuchs, C. (2010) · The Information Society · doi:10.1080/01972241003712215 · Cited by 630 · see citing works
Self-citation
Flagged first, then by citations
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Earl, J. (2022) · Science Advances · doi:10.1126/sciadv.abl8198 · Cited by 250 · see citing works
Bergström, A. (2015) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2015.07.025 · Cited by 167 · see citing works
How Dictators Control the Internet: A Review Essay
Keremoğlu, E., & Weidmann, N. B. (2020) · Comparative Political Studies · doi:10.1177/0010414020912278 · Cited by 131 · see citing works
Repression in the Digital Age: Surveillance, Censorship, and the Dynamics of State Violence
Gohdes, A. R. (2024) · Oxford University Press · doi:10.1093/oso/9780197743577.001.0001 · Cited by 59 · see citing works
Nationwide shutdowns and government offensives
Gohdes, A. R. (2024) · Repression in the Digital Age · doi:10.1093/oso/9780197743577.003.0005
- Authors
- Fuchs, C.
- Affiliations
- University of Westminster (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Fuchs, Christian
- ORCID
- Fuchs, Christian
- Venue
- Information, Communication & Society
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2013-10
- Volume
- 16
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 1328-1359
- ISSN
- 1369-118X (ISSN-L)
- 1468-4462
- OpenAlex
- W2138760663
- Cited by
- 58
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 15 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 8 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 13.42
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Information Communication & Society (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- FP7 Security
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Privacy, Security, and Data Protection
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Cybersecurity and Cyber Warfare Studies
- Social Sciences › Communication › Cultural Studies and Postmodernism
- Keywords
- deep packet inspection, online surveillance, communications surveillance, security industry, governmentality, privacy, ideology, civil society, consumer protection, state interests
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