Questions
Does Having Concerns About Digital Surveillance Make You a Conspiracy Theorist?
Summary: No. Concerns about digital surveillance are warranted by the documented record — congressional hearings, ABA statements, leaked corporate research, and known data breaches all confirm that surveillance is a structural feature of contemporary digital life, not a fringe theory.
George Carlin's observation captures the dynamic better than dystopian fiction does: "You don't need a formal conspiracy when interests converge. These people went to the same universities and fraternities, they are on the same boards of directors, they're in the same country clubs. They have like interests. They don't need to call a meeting — they know what's good for them." Surveillance does not require a smoke-filled room. It emerges from convergent interests, predictable incentives, and shared assumptions about how to manage complex populations.
The documented record reinforces this. The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance held hearings in 2025 evaluating government surveillance patterns. The ABA has issued statements on FISA Section 702. The Facebook Files revealed how internal research was sidelined in favor of engagement metrics. None of this is conspiracy theory. It is a public record that informed Christians should engage with sober minds. The trick is to do so without spiraling into either paranoid speculation or naïve dismissal.
Key Takeaways: Documented Concern, Not Paranoia
- Core Concept: Surveillance emerges from convergent interests, not coordinated conspiracy.
- Scholar: Michael Shermer on "realistic conspiracy theories" as warranted.
- Documented Sources: 2025 House Judiciary hearings; ABA on FISA 702; the Facebook Files.
- The "So What": Christians can be sober, informed, and concerned without becoming dystopian or paranoid.
About the Author — James Spencer, PhD, is a theologian, author, and host of the Thinking Christian podcast, where he writes and speaks on Christian formation, political theology, and technology. He holds a PhD in Theological Studies from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and an MA in Biblical Exegesis from Wheaton College. He serves as president of the D. L. Moody Center in Northfield, Massachusetts, as an Associate Research Fellow at the Kirby Laing Centre for Public Theology, and as adjunct faculty in Wheaton College’s MA in Leadership program. His forthcoming book is Digital Discernment (InterVarsity Press). Learn more at thinkingchristian.org.