Thread by @TRF_Stories

🗽 The Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks killed thousands and changed a generation forever.

⭕ They also launched a new era of mass surveillance and human rights violations.

🚨 Here’s how 9/11 reshaped the world as we know it. 🧵👇

1️⃣ New security laws

⚖️ From the Patriot Act to the UK’s Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001, governments launched new anti-terrorism policies.

💻 This ranges from mass data collection to the use of AI tools.

👨‍💻 Remember Pegasus spyware? 👇

news.trust.org/item/202108110…

2️⃣ Language became a weapon

🗣️ “By using imprecise and vague terms [and] confusing terminology... officials bypassed laws, avoided norms, and approved expansive policy measures,” writes @KarenGreenberg3, director at @CNSFordhamLaw

news.trust.org/item/202109091…

3️⃣ A world under watch

🔎 9/11 also prompted the U.S. to begin exporting advanced surveillance tech.

📈 Just as governments were looking to track user data and keep tabs on people, society’s reliance on the internet took off.

4️⃣ A global displacement crisis

🔴 At least 37 million people fled their homes in the
8 most violent wars the U.S. military has been involved in since 9/11.

⭕️ Yet less than 1% of @refugees are resettled each year, according to the @UN.

5️⃣ Human rights abuses

🚨 The "war on terror" was used by governments to crack down on civil liberties, advocacy groups say.

💭 "9/11 threw the privacy-security balance badly out of whack," said @SteveJFeldstein of @CarnegieEndow.

🗣 "Governments took advantage of America's 9/11 anxiety and exploited the threat of terrorism to advance their own repressive agendas," @SteveJFeldstein writes.

Do you agree? 👇

🔴 Read more about how the 9/11 attacks launched an era of increased surveillance, human rights violations and mass displacement.👇

news.trust.org/item/202109091…