Controlling Dissent: New Surveillance Technologies and the Policing of Social Movements in Brazil

This research seeks to study mechanisms of control and surveillance in interaction with social mobilization. Specifically, it focuses on the analysis of how new surveillance technologies have been incorporated into the policing of social movements in recent Brazilian context. In this country, the occurrence of mega-events, mainly the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics, was linked to huge investments in police technologies. In each city that hosted World Cup games an “Integrated Command and Control Center” (ICCC) was built. In these centers, police agents operate a great variety of technological devices: surveillance cameras, databases of criminal profiles, monitoring of social networks. Even though the official discourse for the implementation of these devices was based on security demands for the control of “risky situations” during the mega-events, these technologies constitute a legacy that is being operationalized in mobilization processes, in different arenas: on the streets, during demonstrations; in the judiciary, for the production of criminal proofs against activists; in digital spheres, in the monitoring of personal profiles and groups on Facebook. Based on this context, this study seeks to investigate the following question: how does the implementation of surveillance technologies transform the policing strategies of controlling dissent in Brazil? The theoretical framework is primarily based on contentious politics literature, specifically in what regards to the concepts of policing strategies and policing styles (Della Porta; Reiter, 1998; Della Porta; Fillieule, 2014; Earl, 2003; 2011), combined with contributions from surveillance studies (Lyon, 1994; 2003; 2006) in terms of how technologies transform power relations. Methodologically, this research is based on a qualitative approach oriented to the collect of data in the city of Porto Alegre (Brazil). The database is composed of mass media content and of interviews with public police agents and security managers. The results indicate an increase in the large-scale collection of information as an important feature of policing style of control social movements. These intelligence-led tactics do not exclude, however, the use of traditional and directly repressive tactics, like tear gas bombs. The combination of data collection and law and order tactics characterizes the development of a policing style of “strategic incapacitation”, which is a general trend identified in studies in other contexts (Gilham, et. al., 2013). In addition to this general trend, the results highlight specific issues related to the Latin American context, like the economic difficulties for the maintenance of technological devices, a lack of democratic culture (mainly in police institutions) and the absence of legislation on data protection. Therefore, a specific “configuration of power”, as suggested by Della Porta and Reiter (1998), leads to the construction and legitimatization of policing styles of social movements. The development of large-scale data collection tactics in this context relates to different variables, such as institutional and cultural characteristics of the police, legislative norms, economic investments, media framing of political conflicts, local government decisions and dynamic interactions between activists ant the police.