The Tunisian government could be able to monitor the activities and movements of each of the thousands of delegates to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). That’s because the credit card-like registration badges that every delegate is issued with when registering for the summit contain a chip that has to be swiped when entering the summit facility - the Kram exhibition centre outside Tunis. Theoretically, this could enable the Tunisian authorities to store and access information about each delegate, but also to know which area of the summit venue each delegate is in and who else is in the same area.

The same system was used in Geneva and caused an uproar. “We don’t actually know, but I don’t think it tells anyone that I’m actually sitting in this room. There is less control,” said an internet policy expert, when questioned about the issue at a press conference.

Whether the Tunisian government is or isn’t using the technology to track the movements of delegates, its impossible not to feel watched in Tunis. High security at any major international summit has become the norm and Tunis is no exception.

Police gather on seemingly every street corner, while “men in suits” are everywhere, lining the highways and patrolling the corridors of the summit. At parallel civil society events that have addressed the issue of the human rights situation in Tunisia, security has been noticeably in attendance. When I tried to enter the venue for an event on Tuesday I was blocked by two security officials who told me that the venue was full. When I eventually got inside after one of the organizers intervened, there were plenty of seats available.

The entire area around the summit centre has been cleared of vegetation and roadblocks are common in the roads leading to the summit. Delegates are bussed into the exhibition centre from hotels and only authorized busses are allowed near the centre. Without an official badge or other forms of official authorization, it is impossible to enter the summit area.

In this context, its hard not to feel watched, and its hard not to feel that the summit is really a domain of the “haves” who have to be protected from the “have-nots”.