You may have little ability to know what information is generated about you, who can access it, how long it is retained, how it is analysed, and whether it has been used to make decisions that have impacted you /AI ILLUSTRATION
In Kenya, surveillance has moved from something done to particular suspects to something embedded in the infrastructure of our everyday life. The danger is not that the regime or corporations know more about us.
The danger is that we’re living in a country where surveillance has intersected with police abuses, and the information generated by our normal daily activities has determined whether we get watched, followed, targeted, or protected.
Today, we have become part of a surveillance system without our consent. The infrastructure has become so deeply embedded in our daily routines that its presence is almost invisible.
If you just sent money using your phone, connected online, and simply placed a call or sent an SMS, you may not be aware that you have generated intelligence. The reality, however, is that this connectivity leaves behind information that can be used to reconstruct virtually every aspect of your life.
This reality has changed the meaning of being “innocent”. Traditionally, surveillance manifested when the regime watched you because it suspected you. However, the ubiquitous technical surveillance has reversed this logic. Now, everyone generates data first, and the suspicion comes later.
This shift has consequential implications for your freedom and presumption of innocence. Your location history and communication patterns may serve as the basis for the authorities to determine whether you are a person of interest.
This ubiquitous surveillance was the heart of newly published research by British independent investigative journalist Namir Shabibi, who examined advancements in mobile network infrastructure, location intelligence techniques, and the transfer of AI-augmented military-intelligence analytic tools into routine civilian policing.
Through his investigations, which included the voices of those involved in the operation of state crime and those deeply affected by it, Shabibi’s work established itself as a crucial contribution to understanding the overlooked role of telecom mobile networks in providing Kenya’s public digital infrastructure and as the go-to vector for state surveillance and consequently state crime.
The study – Telecoms, Ubiquitous Surveillance and State Crime: A Case Study from Kenya – found that the most significant surveillance threat in the country is not the highly specialised spyware installed on individual phones, but the ubiquitous surveillance built into telecom networks used by millions of people like you every day.
Mobile networks, the study found, continuously generate increasingly precise data on your location, movements, communications, and relationships, often even when the phone is not actively being used. Thus, the mobile phone user is, without their knowledge, effectively wearing a GPS ankle tag.
The study notes that advances in network technology, data retention, and machine-learning analytics are enabling capabilities once associated with military intelligence to enter everyday policing, including bulk surveillance, predictive identification and tracking of targets. More about the research can be found here: https://disruption.institute/
In the Kenyan context, these concerns have deadly consequences if the regime targets you, and therefore, surveillance cannot be reduced to privacy alone. Doing this causes us to lose sight of the bigger picture. The fundamental point is that surveillance should be understood as a matter of life-and-death.
The country has a documented history of enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, renditions, and repression of state critics, which has been facilitated by the integration of telecom infrastructure with police and intelligence operations.
Therefore, knowing where someone is has consequences far beyond something private to them. The regime’s ability to locate and track you can become the ability to target you.
This research was conducted in the framework of the 2025-2026 fellowship at the Disruption Network Institute in Berlin, which produced reports on the Kill Cloud, a term coined by US military whistleblowers Lisa Ling and Cian Westmoreland in 2021.
The Kill Cloud refers to an intensifying, networked global infrastructure dominating the full spectrum of warfare – sea, land, air, space and cyberspace. This interconnected infrastructure deploys AI, satellites, and communication tools, among other things, to track, target, and conduct autonomous warfare across all domains, particularly affecting the global majority.
It is important to understand that these advancements have created power imbalances, and, given the severe consequences already outlined here, the roles of telecoms and the state become even more critical.
You may have little ability to know what information is generated about you, who can access it, how long it is retained, how it is analysed, and whether it has been used to make decisions that have impacted you.
But state agencies and telecoms have the capability to collect, analyse and act upon that information. And this creates a dangerous accountability paradox, considering that documented cases have exposed instances in which critical evidence for investigating state crime was available, yet victims’ access to it was itself frustrated.
Telecoms have responsibilities when their infrastructure becomes part of systems that can violate our fundamental rights. The regime has an even greater responsibility because when it exercises its power of surveillance without meaningful oversight, it has resulted in grave human rights violations.
We need to sustain public scrutiny, and it is important that you engage in ongoing discussions. On November 27, 2026, Shabibi will present his findings at the Disruption Network Lab’s conference 'Testing Grounds: The Kill Cloud, AI & Migration Control' in Berlin, hosted by Disruption Network Lab (also streamed online). Events like this provide a crucial platform to continue demanding accountability against unchecked surveillance. More about the conference can be found here: https://www.disruptionlab.org/testing-grounds
Oduor is a PhD researcher in communication and a senior communications officer at the Kenya Human Rights Commission; Bazzichelli is the founder and director of Disruption Network Lab, Berlin
