Police and administration surveil University of Sydney protesters
Documents acquired under the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 reveal that staff and student protests against cuts at the University of Sydney were surveilled by both the university administration and police, who have been widely criticised for using excessive force at education protests. The university administration conducted "risk reviews" of protests and looked for links between education protest organisers and other political organisations. Emails include screenshots of social media posts and reveal the university administration used alerts from the AI surveillance company Dataminr, which has access to Twitter's firehose, to watch protesters and plans. It also used building lockdowns to disrupt campus activism.
Writer: Vivienne Guo, Shania O'Brien, and Marlow Hurst
Publication: Honi Soit