Authoritarian tech policing dismantles VPNs: How surveillance capitalism and state violence exploit digital privacy infrastructures
Original framing: “Police boast of hacking VPN where criminals "believed themselves to be safe"” — Ars Technica
Historically, states have weaponised surveillance tools against marginalised groups, from COINTELPRO’s infiltration of Black liberation movements to ECHELON’s global spying network. The targeting of VPNs mirrors past crackdowns on encryption, such as the Clipper Chip proposal in the 1990s, which sought to embed backdoors in digital communications. Authoritarian regimes from Russia to Myanmar have systematically dismantled VPNs to suppress dissent, yet mainstream narratives frame these as isolated 'law enforcement' successes rather than part of a global pattern of digital authoritarianism.
This case exemplifies how states and tech corporations collude to dismantle digital privacy infrastructures under the guise of 'fighting crime,' while systematically erasing the voices of those who rely on these tools for survival.
The historical pattern is clear: surveillance tools are first deployed against marginalised groups before becoming normalized for the general population, as seen with COINTELPRO, ECHELON, and now VPN crackdowns. The original narrative’s framing of VPNs as 'criminal' reflects a neocolonial mindset that prioritizes state control over collective self-determination, ignoring Indigenous and Global South perspectives where digital privacy is a lifeline. The solution pathways must therefore centre decentralized sovereignty, legal protections, and cultural reframing—grounded in the lived realities of those most affected. Without these interventions, the erosion of digital privacy will accelerate, normalizing a world where states and corporations hold unchecked power over communication and dissent.