Constitutional Control Of State Digital Surveillance: Protecting Citizens’ Constitutional Rights Through An Indonesian Model

Abstract

The development of digital technology has expanded the capacity of the state to collect, process, analyze, and monitor information concerning citizens through various instruments, including communications interception, metadata collection, biometric systems, algorithmic surveillance, and database integration. On the one hand, digital surveillance is necessary to support law enforcement, national security, and the protection of public interests. On the other hand, the expansion of surveillance capabilities potentially places citizens in a vulnerable position with regard to violations of constitutional rights, particularly the rights to personal protection, privacy, freedom of communication, and informational autonomy. This study aims to analyze the construction of constitutional protection for citizens against state digital surveillance, identify the constitutional limits of state authority in conducting digital surveillance, and formulate an ideal model of constitutional control. This study employs normative legal research using statutory, conceptual, case, and comparative approaches. The findings indicate that the principal problem concerning digital surveillance does not lie merely in the legitimacy of surveillance technology, but rather in the absence of an integrated mechanism for limiting state power that is preventive, independent, and accountable. The protection of constitutional rights cannot rely solely on the principle of proportionality; it requires a control architecture capable of operating before, during, and after surveillance activities are conducted. This study proposes the Constitutional Digital Surveillance Control Model, a constitutional control model for digital surveillance consisting of five layers of protection: legality, legitimate purpose, necessity, independent authorization, and accountability and effective remedy. The model is expected to establish a balance between state security interests and the protection of citizens’ constitutional rights while preventing the transformation of state digital power into practices characteristic of a surveillance state.