The Private Security State? Surveillance, Consumer Data & the War on Terror

When businesses are required to send customer data to government, their systems and their employees become part of a wider security framework. Their commercial activities become shot through with insecurities and they are placed in a kind of double jeopardy: a failure to address these regulations can result in both national and commercial insecurity.

The Private Security State? is the first full-length academic text to address the enrolment of the private sector in national security surveillance regimes. Through detailed empirical analysis, it questions how private organizations achieve compliance with demands for customer data.

The book revolves around case studies of two public-private surveillance regimes: Anti-Money Laundering/Counter Terror Finance in retail financial services and the EBorders in the retail travel industry.