Saturday, September 30, 12noon Galerie Rabus

Ivika Kivi
Surveillance – Welcome to Estonia! – Privacy does not exist in Estonia

Post-Soviet countries, Estonia among them, have a history of repressive surveillance practice. The KGB and other agencies turned the communist state into an Orwellian reality. Today the surveillance systems are more hidden or, in contrast, openly consumable. When Estonia gained its independence in 1991, there was no time or place for a critical discourse of the democratic society – everything left behind was considered bad and everything new great. Now Estonians are proud of a society full of surveillance technology:
- E-government, -elections, -tickets, -tax reports, -banking;
- All-in-one ID card project;
- Mobile parking, shopping, tickets, positioning;
- Micro-chipped pets, etc.
Approximately fifteen years after achieving independence, the Estonian society has also achieved stability. Though debates about surveillance and privacy issues are finally arising, a critical theory that fits the Estonian context is still lacking.


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