42 Int. J. Electronic Security and Digital Forensics, Vol. 1, No. 1, 2007 Copyright © 2007 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. State surveillance of the internet: human rights infringement or e-security mechanism? Murdoch Watney University of Johannesburg, South Africa E-mail: mwatney@uj.ac.za Abstract: Crime has always existed in the physical world. However, the transition of crime to an electronic medium brought about new challenges that had hitherto been unknown in the physical world. Besides the problems experienced in cyber crime prevention and investigation, the seriousness and consequences of cyber crime has gradually escalated, for example the distribution of child pornography, the growing prevalence of ‘identity theft’ and money laundering to name but a few. Since the 11 September 2001 terrorist attack on the USA, attention has increasingly focused on the control of the internet in combating terrorism and cyber crime. This paper focuses on the evolution of unregulated internet use to regulated use with the emphasis on state control by means of state surveillance in the interest of national security and combating crime. Keywords: state surveillance; human rights; e-security; crime; terrorism; surveillance technology. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Watney, M. (2007) ‘State surveillance of the internet: human rights infringement or e-security mechanism?’ Int. J. of Electronic Security and Digital Forensics, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp.42–54. Biographical notes: Murdoch Watney (BA, LL B, LL M, LL D (UJ), LL M (SA)) is a Professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. She has been appointed as the Head of the Department of Criminal Law and Procedure with effect from January 2007. She has been focusing her attention on cyberlaw since 2002. She has published more than 40 papers in accredited South African law journals, mainly on the law of criminal procedure and cyberlaw with specific emphasis on cybercrime. She is admitted as an Advocate of the High Court of South Africa. 1 Introduction The purpose of this paper is to investigate the use of state control in the form of state surveillance as safeguard against the abuse of the internet for the commission of terrorism and crime. The internet can be compared to the genie in the fable, Aladdin (Poore, 2002). Once the genie (the commercialisation of the internet) is let out of the bottle, its powers are unleashed for both good and evil. Our interconnectivity through the internet enables