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Surveillance abuse is the use of surveillance methods or technology to monitor the activity of an individual or group of individuals in a way which violates the social norms or laws of a society. Mass surveillance by the state may constitute surveillance abuse if not appropriately regulated. Surveillance abuse often falls outside the scope of lawful interception.

Covert surveillance by police and the use of informants to conduct surveillance was introduced in the 16th century in Europe. In the mid 1800s in the United States, most large cities had police forces which covertly surveiled suspected criminals and others deemed "radical" or otherwise undesirable. Allegations of surveillance abuse increased as this practice became more common (Marx & Fijnaut).

In modern times, surveillance abuse has become more widespread through corporate and industrial use of private security firms which may be used to conduct industrial espionage, monitor competitors, and target trade union leaders.

During the FBI's COINTELPRO operations, there was widespread surveillance abuse which targeted political dissidents, primarily on the political left.

Women’s privacy rights are particularly vulnerable to video surveillance technology. “Up-skirting” and “down-blousing”—using camera cell phones to surreptitiously take pictures up women’s skirts or down their blouses—has become something of a trend on college campuses and city streets. Police officers have used video surveillance cameras to engage in such conduct.

• Police misconduct
• Police state
• Political repression
• Category:Surveillance scandals

• Churchill, Ward and Jim Vander Wall. (1988) Agents of Repression: The FBI’s Secret Wars Against the Black Panther Party and the American Indian Movement. Boston: South End Press.
• Churchill, Ward and Jim Vander Wall. (1989). COINTELPRO Papers: Documents from the FBI's Secret Wars Against Dissent in the United States. Boston: South End Press.
• Davis, James Kirkpatrick. (1997). Assault on the Left: The FBI and the Sixties Antiwar Movement. Westport, CT: Praeger.
• Donner, Frank J. (1980). The Age of Surveillance: The Aims and Methods of America’s Political Intelligence System. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
• Donner, Frank J. (1990). Protectors of Privilege: Red Squads and Police Repression in Urban America. Berkeley: University of California Press.
• Fijnaut, Cyrille and Gary T. Marx. (1995). Under Cover: Police Surveillance in Comparative Perspective. The Hague: Kluwer Law International.
• Marx, Gary T. (1988).Under Cover: Police Surveillance in America. Berkeley: Twentieth Century Fund/University of California Press.
• Ney York Civil Liberties Union. (2006). Who's Watching
• O'Reilly, Kenneth. (1988). "Racial Matters:" The FBI's Secret File on Black America, 1960—1972. New York: Free Press.
• Staples, William G. (2000). Everyday Surveillance: Vigilance and Visibility in Postmodern Life. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

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