Kuwait has no mass surveillance: Interior Ministry

Abu Dhabi: A fake account based in London has broadcast two-year-old recordings on social media suggesting Kuwait’s State Security closely monitors a number of citizens.

The leaks come at a suspicious time ahead of the Kuwait’s National Assembly’s voting on a no-confidence motion against Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Anas Al Saleh, scheduled for August 28, local media reported.

In the recordings, Director of State Security Talal Al Saqr appeared with Sheikh Hamad Al Mubarak Al Sabah, son of ex-Kuwait’s prime minister, Hamad Jaber Al Mubarak Al Sabah, Al Qabas reported.

The no-confidence motion can only go through if the majority of MPs vote in favour of it.

Minister Al Saleh quickly commented on the leaks, that talked about spying on a number of citizens and monitoring their accounts on social media. Al Saleh set up an investigation committee that will issue its findings within 48 hours, Al Qabas said.

Senior security sources told Al Qabas the leaks dated back to 2018, during the era of the former Minister of Interior. The sources said the State Security Agency does not have devices that spy on citizens, and that the leaks actually confirm Kuwait does not have mass surveillance devices.

“Kuwait’s director of State Security Service, Talal Al Saqr, was shown telling Al Sabah in the leaked videos, that his follow-up on some accounts were only modest individual attempts to follow the (social media) accounts,” Al Qabas reported.

The sources said that the State Security interviews were recorded and kept to ensure that there were no violations of the law.

Sources say questions have been raised about who was behind the leaks and how they hacked the State Security, describing these leaks as a “high treason” for which the responsible officer must be held accountable.

“And everyone who distributed and published these secret meetings must also be brought to justice,” the sources said.

Mass surveillance is the intricate surveillance of an entire or a substantial fraction of a population.

The surveillance is often carried out by local and federal governments or governmental organisations, such as the NSA and the FBI, but it may also be carried out by corporations (either on behalf of governments or at their own initiative).

Depending on each nation’s laws and judicial systems, the legality of and the permission required to engage in mass surveillance varies.

Mass surveillance has often been cited as necessary to fight terrorism, prevent crime and social unrest, protect national security, and control the population. Conversely, mass surveillance has equally often been criticised for violating privacy rights, limiting civil and political rights and freedoms, and being illegal under some legal or constitutional systems.

Another criticism is that increasing mass surveillance could lead to the development of a surveillance state or an electronic police state where civil liberties are infringed or political dissent is undermined by COINTELPRO-like programmes. Such a state could be referred to as a totalitarian state.

In 2013, the practice of mass surveillance by world governments was called into question after Edward Snowden’s 2013 global surveillance disclosure on the practices by the National Security Agency (NSA) of the United States. Reporting based on documents Snowden leaked to various media outlets triggered a debate about civil liberties and the right to privacy in the Digital Age.