Writers Say They Feel Censored by Surveillance
A
survey of writers around the world by the PEN American Center has found
that a significant majority said they were deeply concerned with
government surveillance, with many reporting that they have avoided, or
have considered avoiding, controversial topics in their work or in
personal communications as a result.
The
findings show that writers consider freedom of expression to be under
significant threat around the world in democratic and nondemocratic
countries. Some 75 percent of respondents in countries classified as
“free,” 84 percent in “partly free” countries, and 80 percent in
countries that were “not free” said that they were “very” or “somewhat”
worried about government surveillance in their countries.
The
survey, which will be released Monday, was conducted anonymously online
in fall 2014 and yielded 772 responses from fiction and nonfiction
writers and related professionals, including translators and editors, in
50 countries.
Smaller
numbers said they avoided or considered avoiding writing or speaking on
certain subjects, with 34 percent in countries classified as free, 44
percent in partly free countries and 61 percent in not free countries
reporting self-censorship. Respondents in similar percentages reported
curtailing social media activity, or said they were considering it,
because of surveillance.
The survey
included only writers affiliated with PEN, the writers’ group
emphasizing freedom of expression, and others the group was able to
contact, and did not necessarily reflect the views of all writers. But
the executive director of the PEN American Center, Suzanne Nossel, said
that the findings, taken together with those of a 2013 PEN survey
of writers in the United States, indicate that mass surveillance is
significantly damaging free expression and the free flow of information
around the world.
“Writers
are the ones who experience encroachments on freedom of expression most
acutely, or first,” Ms. Nossel said. “The idea that we are seeing some
similar patterns in free countries to those we’ve traditionally
associated with unfree countries is pretty distressing.”
The results of the survey, which was conducted by the nonpartisan research firm FDR Group, arrive amid continuing debate over the data collection programs of the National Security Agency,
as well as increased broader concern about the erosion of privacy in
the wake of various leaks and hacks, including the recent cyberattack on
Sony.
The
British novelist Hari Kunzru, a member of English PEN currently living
in New York, said fears of government surveillance were a significant
concern, even if the information being gathered was not necessarily
being put to improper use by officials.
“The
feeling that the Internet is looking over your shoulder is now
universal,” he said. “But it’s the government that has the techniques
and tools to look in at will.”
He
added, “We are really putting into place a system that might be used by
more tyrannically inclined governments in the future.”
The
survey found that mass surveillance by the United States government had
damaged its reputation as a defender of free expression, with some 36
percent in other “free” countries and 32 percent in “less free”
countries saying freedom of expression had less protection in the United
States than in their nations.
The 2013 PEN survey of American writers
provoked some comment that writers’ fears were overblown, and there was
little evidence that the American government took particular interest
in the communications of writers.
But
Ms. Nossel said that subjective perceptions of surveillance matter,
particularly among those who rely on freedom of expression as “their
lifeblood.”
“Just
the fact that so many writers say they are deeply concerned and are
actually changing their behavior is significant,” she said. “Whether we
consider it justified or not, it isn’t something that should be
ignored.”
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