What is the Five Eyes Alliance, and how does it fuel global surveillance?

What is the Five Eyes Alliance?

The Five Eyes Alliance, also known as FVEY, is an intelligence coalition, which includes Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Established after World War II, it is the oldest and most prominent of the global intelligence-sharing agreements. The alliance originated from the UKUSA Agreement, in which the above countries agreed to cooperate for signals intelligence (SIGINT). These partner countries collaborate closely, exchanging a wide spectrum of intelligence in a highly coordinated and unified manner, making it one of the most integrated multilateral intelligence arrangements globally.

The danger of the Five Eyes Alliance

Privacy experts have raised concerns that the cooperation within the Five Eyes enables extensive and potentially invasive monitoring of individuals in member countries, allowing them to gather information on their own people by proxy. For instance, while it may not be legal for the UK to directly surveil its citizens, the UK could request the US, a fellow FVEY member, to conduct the surveillance and share the information.

Another significant threat posed by the Five Eyes is the lack of transparency and accountability in its operations. The alliance’s secretive nature means that citizens have little insight into how their data is being collected, shared, and used, making it difficult to hold governments accountable for potential abuses of power. The Snowden revelations in 2013, which revealed the NSA’s spying, also brought to light the FVEY’s involvement.

What can you do to avoid the Five Eyes Alliance?

While it’s challenging to achieve complete privacy on the internet, there are steps you can take to reduce the risks posed by the Five Eyes Alliance. By being proactive and using various tools, you can enhance your online security and protect your personal information. Here’s what steps you can take to do so:

• Use encrypted communication tools. Only use messaging apps that offer end-to-end encryption. They will ensure your chats stay confidential.
• Use a VPN. A virtual private network (VPN) hides your internet activity by sending your data through its encrypted servers instead of the commercial ones owned by your ISP. So the chance to be tracked with a VPN is very low. If anyone tried to decipher your traffic, it would be total gibberish to them. For example, while your ISP will see that you’re using a VPN, it won’t be able to see what you do or which websites you visit. Select a reputable VPN service with a no-logs policy, like NordVPN, to ensure your activity isn’t recorded. VPNs are legal in all Five Eyes Alliance countries and most others, but it’s wise to check your local laws.
• Use secure browsers and search engines. Simply using private browsing options like incognito mode will not hide your browsing from your ISP. They just ensure that your activity isn’t saved in the device’s history and remove any cookies after the session. Browsers like Tor and secure search engines keep your online footprint private.
• Avoid tracking cookies. Cookies track your online behavior across different websites, compromising your privacy. Clear your cookies regularly and use a tracker blocker.
• Minimize data sharing. Be cautious about what personal information you share online and with whom, because it can be used for profiling and surveillance. Adjust privacy settings on social media to make your posts and personal information available only to your network.
• Secure your devices. Make sure your operating system and applications are always up to date because outdated software can contain vulnerabilities that hackers can exploit, potentially exposing you to spyware and other threats.

FAQ

What is the Nine Eyes Alliance?

The Nine Eyes alliance includes the original five members of the Five Eyes as well as Denmark, France, the Netherlands, and Norway. These countries entered into an alliance as an intelligence-sharing partnership to enhance their surveillance capabilities. The goal of the Nine Eyes Alliance is to counter terrorism and other security threats.

What is the Fourteen Eyes Alliance?

The Fourteen Eyes is an intelligence alliance that unites 14 countries — the original nine from the Nine Eyes agreement (the US, UK, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, and Norway) and an additional five: Germany, Belgium, Italy, Spain, and Sweden. The alliance was formed in 2010 when participating countries signed a series of agreements to expand their intelligence-sharing capabilities.

How do the Nine and Fourteen Eyes Alliances differ from the Five Eyes Alliance?

The main differences between the Five Eyes, Nine Eyes, and 14 Eyes alliances are the number of member countries and the scope of their activities in the field of surveillance and intelligence sharing.

The Five Eyes Alliance formed after WW2, when, after the Cold War, the UK and US agreed to collaborate on intercepting the Soviet Union’s secret activities and share mass surveillance data.

On a mission to penetrate mainland Europe, four more countries joined to create the Nine Eyes. These four additional countries (Denmark, the Netherlands, France, and Norway) can use the same resources as the Five Eyes but cannot access all of the data collected by them. Nine Eyes nations may also share their data with the NSA or GCHQ secret agencies.

Then five more countries joined the Nine Eyes to create the Fourteen Eyes. The Fourteen Eyes alliance is not as potent in its activities as the Five Eyes. It can be seen as an affiliate of the other alliances, but that is not to say it is any less involved with mass surveillance and intelligence sharing.