Copaganda: narratives that sanitize the violent realities of surveillance technology and sell them as inevitable or even aspirational. Copaganda is Paw Patrol. Copaganda is Men in Black. Copaganda is Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales.

Surveillance technology looms large in our lives, sold to us as tools for safety, justice, and convenience. Yet the reality is far more sinister. From biometric tracking to predictive policing, centralized surveillance systems often serve to entrench systemic inequalities, infringe on privacy, and oppress marginalized communities. They are wielded not to protect us, but to consolidate power in the hands of the few.

For decades, speculative fiction has been used to glorify surveillance and law enforcement, often turning harmful technologies into unquestioned symbols of progress or, worse yet, cool, neat ideas that people want to buy and bring into their lives.

That’s why we have partnered with Fight for the Future, RightsCon, and COMPOST Magazine to present this special issue featuring the five winning stories from the Stop Surveillance Copaganda contest. The result is a collection that challenges the status quo of technology acceptance for the sake of progress and convenience.

In Christopher R. Muscato’s “A Charm to Keep the Evil Eye Away from Your Campervan; Or, Roamin’ Rights”, we see a far-right government encroaching on its citizens’ right to privacy in the name of sustainability. Corey Jae White and Maddison Stoff’s “Crisis Actors” examines the rise of digital technologies that allow law enforcement representatives to commit violence at a distance. “Curlews” by Cecilia Ananías Soto offers a chilling look at how fertility monitoring apps can be weaponised against people with wombs. Rich Larson’s “Murder in the Clavist Autonomous Zone” dives into the ways in which policing is used to shore up the status quo and suppress alternative modes of living. And in Christine Phan’s “Taking Back the City,” we witness the effects that the excessive collection of personal data can have on queer and immigrant communities in the US.

These stories are blueprints, provocations, and acts of defiance, pointing us toward a more just and free future. We are proud to share these works with you, and we hope they inspire you as much as they’ve inspired us.