Karma Police
Nation Involved: United Kingdom
Time Period: Since 2008
While it might not technically be an experiment that you’re used to seeing, it technically was. However, it is formally called a “surveillance program.” Edward Snowden happens to be the one that alerted us to it. This is officially run by the United Kingdom’s Government Communications Headquarters or GCHQ. Snowden came across it while working for the U.S. National Security Agency, finding that the UK ran this program since 2008. Karma Police was being implemented to collect the IP addresses of internet users who visit websites.
They did not make anyone aware of this, as there was really no oversight formed specifically because they knew how people would feel. Of course, this program is a big deal as IP addresses can be cross-referenced to allow the UK government to collect other data from people. What was the main goal of the program? They wanted a web browsing profile for every visible person on the internet or a user profile for every visible website on the internet. The name comes from Radiohead’s song of the same name, which references: “this is what you’ll get when you mess with us.” Nothing dark there at all.