The mass surveillance industry is a multibillion-dollar economic sector which has undergone phenomenal growth since 2001. According to data provided by The Wall Street Journal, the retail market for surveillance tools has grown from "nearly zero" in 2001 to about US$5 billion in 2011. The size of the video surveillance market rose to US$13.5 billion in 2012, and is expected to reach US$39 billion by 2020.
Current developments
Fueled by widespread fears of terrorist attacks, the future of surveillance is particularly promising in the field of video content analysis, where computers analyze live camera feeds to count the number of people, register temperature changes, and automatically identify suspicious behavior via statistical algorithms. The following terrorist attacks have led to a significant increase in street-level surveillance:
In the aftermath of the 2001 September 11 attacks, U.S. cities spent billions of dollars in federal counter-terrorism funding to deploy video sensors in public areas.
are non-governmental corporations involved in the collection and analysis of information. Prior to the 9/11 attacks, such tasks were mostly performed by governmental agencies such as the National Security Agency and Central Intelligence Agency. After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the gathering of intelligence was rapidly outsourced by the U.S. government to private intelligence agencies, which function as independent contractors. According to The Washington Post, about one in four U.S. intelligence workers are contractors, and over 70 percent of the budget of the United States Intelligence Community is earmarked for payment to private firms. An examination by The Post found that 1,931 private companies work on programs related to intelligence in about 10,000 locations across the United States. The average annual cost of a contract employee is US$250,000, almost twice that of a federal employee.
is a publicly traded company that is majority-owned by The Carlyle Group, a global asset management firm specializing in private equity, based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1914 by Edwin G. Booz, Booz Allen Hamilton became one of the most profitable private contractors by supplying tens of thousands of intelligence analysts to the U.S. federal government. During the fiscal year of 2013, Booz Allen Hamilton derived 99% of its income from the government, and the largest portion of its revenue came from the U.S. Army. Half of its employees carry top secret security clearances. In the first half of 2013, Booz Allen Hamilton has won numerous contracts, including:
A US$900 million contract to strengthen cybersecurity
A US$5.6 billion contract with the Defense Intelligence Agency
A US$6 billion contract, shared with other companies, to develop a shopping hub for federal agencies looking to shield their computer networks from hackers.
In 2006, Booz Allen Hamilton was recognized by Fortune magazine as one of the "100 Best Companies to Work For". In 2013, Booz Allen Hamilton was hailed by Bloomberg Businessweek as "the World's Most Profitable Spy Organization".
Controversy
Commercial mass surveillance often makes use of copyright laws and "user agreements" to obtain 'consent' to surveillance from consumers who use their software or other related materials. This allows gathering of information which would be technically illegal if performed by government agencies. This data is then often shared with government agencies - thereby - in practice - defeating the purpose of such privacy protections. Reporters Without Borders' March 2013Special report on Internet Surveillance contained a list of "Corporate Enemies of the Internet", companies that sell products that are liable to be used by governments to violate human rights and freedom of information. The five companies on the initial list were: Amesys, Blue Coat Systems, Gamma, Hacking Team, and Trovicor, but the list was not exhaustive and is likely to be expanded in the future.
