Development of a Surveillance Cameras System - Article Example

Name Professor`s name Course title Date The acceptance and widespread use of the modern state of art technology provide us either great benefit that could either be social, cultural or even economical. Every user of the modern technology that includes the internet or other digital media platform is determined to fulfill a certain duty that could be economical of social or both. Therefore the constant use of the internet and the other media platform that are digital has led to every person to be under constant surveillance by either the government or commercial organization who correct the data for certain use. The collected data is later analyzed using algorithms which determine certain likely patterns that could otherwise not be determined by the human being. Surveillance can arguably be defined as the constant cumulative process of the interlocked networks through which data is collected, analyzed and purposely used to forge a future visibility (Trottier, 2012). In this article or rather the paper, we shall discuss how various digital media platforms and the internet have enabled the act of surveillance to be carried out without the prior knowledge of the target victims and how the collected data is used and the likely parties’ that have benefit from this act of surveillance. Also we shall look into the issues and implications that have resulted from the act of surveillance on personal data and how they have been handled by the victims or rather the users of the modern technology which is the internet and other digital media platforms that simplified how we communicate with the rest of the society. The modern digital media platforms and the internet have provided the users with an ideal environment for them to actually voluntarily provide personal details either in the interests of sharing or in return for a service especially the websites (Rolls, 2006). Social sites such as the Twitter, Facebook have been established to request personal information from the users for them to be able to use their services. Same case has also applied to the e-commerce sites where accurate personal details are actually required so that you can use their services. The idea that the modern people can have total privacy to their data is largely considered a myth in the modern day setting and age. When we provide data to such parties we actually never know what they will do with our data or if they will share it with third parties with a prior knowledge form the users. We have had several cases where the Homeland Security in America has monitored the tweets from various users since the 9/11 disaster on the American soil. When they monitor the users’ tweets in the twitter, they will also have the personal details about the users account and can be able to track down the users to the location they actually reside. Figure: The image of the 9/11 attacks in USA In public places such as shopping malls, leisure parks, worship areas there are closed circuit television cameras (CCTVs) have been installed and at times introduced to certain places that make it difficult for us to know they are actually there. These closed circuit cameras usually collected data from us; the data is stored in a database where it can later be analyzed for a certain specified reason. We actually can note how our personal privacy has been breached and how data is now being collected without our prior knowledge and cannot know how they collected data will be used and for what purpose (Uemura & Murata, 2009). Digital communication devices like the mobile phones have enabled the collection of data from other persons to be very simplified and this act of data gathering can be timely carried out without the victim ever noticing. Mobile phone applications such as Bluetooth and the wireless fidelity (wifi) have enabled user’s phones to the accessed remotely and their personal data like the emails to read, the contact lists to be harvested and other sorts of information deemed to be personal. When a user walks through a public place with the Bluetooth or the wifi networks activated, the hackers r rather the data harvester can get connected to the wifi or the Bluetooth networks and thereafter access a person’s personal data without any prior permission from the victim (Stephenson, 2011). Global positioning (GPS) tools and applications that can be installed on the mobile phones and the computers connected to the internet have readily enabled the harvesting of personal data. In mobile phones that support this application, a person`s data of where he has been travelling to several days can be harvested hence breaching the privacy of a person. This data harvesting is normally carried out remotely. In America, the BlackBerry mobile phones were established to have a data bank where they actually transmitted user’s data to. We actually cannot evaluate what our personal data would be used for. These modern trends of technologies are easing the process of data gathering (Uemura & Murata, 2009). Commercial companies such as those majoring in the clothing industry have lately been established to monitor their products without informing the buyers of their products. The radio frequency identification (FDID) tags have been established to have been introduced on goods such as clothes to give off readable information about the purchasing choices and the tastes and hence help the manufacturing companies improve their goods to realize better profits in the future and purposely remain relevant in the industry of practice (Karmakar et al, 2012). It should be noted that as we leave our digital footprints that behind, it is very important to understand the characteristics that enable surveillance of the digital media in online environments. Social sites such as Facebook, Twitter, e-commercial sites such PayPal, all collect, record and finally organize their user’s personal data in multiple formats such as the text, audio and video (Lipton, 2010). It is very important to note that the data that we may view has not very important, it is everyday increasingly being collected, recorded and analyzed by the very large organizations behind daily online use and the data collected is at times sold to the third parties for huge sums of money (Lyon, 2007). Data harvesting is normally carried out by the government itself or essentially undertaken by private or public entities on the behalf of the government. In the modern setting of the 21st century, widespread surveillance is a social feature that every online user has evolved to cope with since it is very difficult to know that your personal data is under surveillance. Users have evolved to provide false information on online sites so as to protect their privacy. The data that has been obtained through surveillance has found its way to numerous uses, from the business fields to the security realms. In the business field, advertisements that we come across in the various websites such as those in the WebPages of the search engines, social sites, e-commerce sites are all as a result of surveillance on the users’ data. The adverts perform well since the proprietors of these adverts already know our interests, habits, the demographics of the certain products from the documented data they have previously gathered from us without our understanding or permission. We therefore can state that these adverts are reflective of our general interests and the habits. Figure: The examples of Social Media Sites Mobile phone companies have also collected and recorded data about the mobile phones users. The vast data is stored in databases and can be passed on to the third parties at a cost which involves large sums of money. We note how these big corporations behind our daily use of the internet and other digital media platforms are bankrolling from our data which they collect without our knowledge or permission. In as much we may view the surveillance as negative, it is very important to note and acknowledge how important it has enabled the public of every nation in the world enjoy high levels of security and medical care attention. Since the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the American soil, several world governments have embarked on surveillance programs to track down the persons and groups deemed to be a threat to the nation’s security. The FBI, CIA and the Homeland Security run very secretive surveillance programs worldwide that have enabled the tracking down of the terrorists and the terrorists to be. We have observed how high level terror cells such as the al Qaeda and their leaders have been brought down by the use of the surveillance programs where their digital communication equipments such as the mobile phones have been under surveillance through a period of time to reveal their identities and the location they currently reside. The public have been the major beneficiaries of this kind of program since they are the major targets of the terrorists. Several terror attacks have been foiled since the surveillance programs enable the law enforcers to actually and in time know what the terrorist are actually planning to undertake. In the medical field we have also observed how certain diseases have been classified to affect certain populations of the society from specific geographical areas. This has been possible due to the surveillance of the data we offer the medical personnel when we visit the hospitals. When such data is collected and analyzed properly, the public stands a chance of the first beneficially since proper medical measures will be timely introduced to avert spread or even occurrence those certain diseases. We can therefore conclude that the surveillance programs have yielded both positive and negative results to the public of the modern society. There are certain implications that have resulted as a result of surveillance on our privacy and the freedom of expression and generally the security. Several world governments have already introduced high tech measures in order to tackle the growing menace of radicalization and terrorism. Since the advent of the 9/11 on the American soil, the United States of America government has installed more than five million closed circuit television cameras throughout the country for security purposes. Wiretaps and the ear dropping programs with the intention of data harvesting have been secretly introduced in the country and several civil societies have termed the programs as acts of excessive infringement on civil liberties (Lyon, 2007). We can now see how two British tourists (Leigh Van Bryan and Emily Bunting) were barred from touring America upon their arrival at the Los Angeles airport because of their tweeter feeds that read, “Destroying America”. They were deported back to their origin. We can actually now understand how surveillance on a suspect`s personal data can be used against the victim in courts of law. The two tourists were deemed as a threat to America`s security (Nelson 2012). We also remember when the Australian hacker by the name Julian Assange leaked details about the surveillance programs run by the American government (Domscheit-Berg, Klopp & Chase, 2011). The reaction from the victim nations’ was very cold and they demand and explanation from the America. They also wanted a halt to such programs since it was also pinpointed that they had ear dropped on some presidents so that they could actually get information and other relevant data about them. It was a hard time for the American nation since some of the world nation had threatened to break diplomatic ties with the America because of its secretive surveillance programs. We therefore the users of the 21st century technology we should do away with the notation that privacy of our data will exist when third parties are involved. We cannot determine how the third parties will essentially do with our data that we voluntarily give to them in return for a service or a good. Therefore privacy of any data in the 21st century can only be termed as a myth. References Nelson, S. C., 2012. Leigh Van Bryan and Emily Bunting Banned from Entering US After Twitter Joke About ‘Destroying America’. The Huffington Post, [online] 30 January. Available at: [Accessed 10 June 2012]. Lyon, D., 2007. Surveillance Studies: An Overview. Cambridge: Polity Press. Lipton, J. D., 2010. Digital multi-media and the limits of privacy law. Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law, 42 (3), 551. TROTTIER, D. (2012). Social media as surveillance rethinking visibility in a converging world. Farnham, Surrey, England, Ashgate. http://public.eblib.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=1019403. UEMURA, W., & MURATA, M. (2009). Development of a surveillance cameras system in ad hoc network. 355-356. DOMSCHEIT-BERG, D., KLOPP, T., & CHASE, J. S. (2011). Inside Wikileaks: my time with Julian Assange at the world's most dangerous website. New York, NY, Crown Publishers. COULDRY, N. (2012). Media, society, world: social theory and digital media practice. Cambridge, Polity. SHARMA, R., TAN, M., & PEREIRA, F. (2012). Understanding the interactive digital media marketplace: frameworks, platforms, communities and issues. Hershey, PA, Information Science Reference. ROLLS, A. (2006). New media. Bronx, NY, H.W. Wilson. STEPHENSON, M. M. (2011). Web-empowered ministry: connecting with people through websites, social media, and more. Nashville, TN, Abingdon Press. KARMAKAR, G., DOOLEY, L. S., KARMAKAR, N. C., & KAMRUZZAMAN, J. C. (2012). Object Analysis with Visual Sensors and RFID. Read More

Digital communication devices like the mobile phones have enabled the collection of data from other persons to be very simplified and this act of data gathering can be timely carried out without the victim ever noticing. Mobile phone applications such as Bluetooth and the wireless fidelity (wifi) have enabled user’s phones to the accessed remotely and their personal data like the emails to read, the contact lists to be harvested and other sorts of information deemed to be personal. When a user walks through a public place with the Bluetooth or the wifi networks activated, the hackers r rather the data harvester can get connected to the wifi or the Bluetooth networks and thereafter access a person’s personal data without any prior permission from the victim (Stephenson, 2011).

Global positioning (GPS) tools and applications that can be installed on the mobile phones and the computers connected to the internet have readily enabled the harvesting of personal data. In mobile phones that support this application, a person`s data of where he has been travelling to several days can be harvested hence breaching the privacy of a person. This data harvesting is normally carried out remotely. In America, the BlackBerry mobile phones were established to have a data bank where they actually transmitted user’s data to.

We actually cannot evaluate what our personal data would be used for. These modern trends of technologies are easing the process of data gathering (Uemura & Murata, 2009). Commercial companies such as those majoring in the clothing industry have lately been established to monitor their products without informing the buyers of their products. The radio frequency identification (FDID) tags have been established to have been introduced on goods such as clothes to give off readable information about the purchasing choices and the tastes and hence help the manufacturing companies improve their goods to realize better profits in the future and purposely remain relevant in the industry of practice (Karmakar et al, 2012).

It should be noted that as we leave our digital footprints that behind, it is very important to understand the characteristics that enable surveillance of the digital media in online environments. Social sites such as Facebook, Twitter, e-commercial sites such PayPal, all collect, record and finally organize their user’s personal data in multiple formats such as the text, audio and video (Lipton, 2010). It is very important to note that the data that we may view has not very important, it is everyday increasingly being collected, recorded and analyzed by the very large organizations behind daily online use and the data collected is at times sold to the third parties for huge sums of money (Lyon, 2007).

Data harvesting is normally carried out by the government itself or essentially undertaken by private or public entities on the behalf of the government. In the modern setting of the 21st century, widespread surveillance is a social feature that every online user has evolved to cope with since it is very difficult to know that your personal data is under surveillance. Users have evolved to provide false information on online sites so as to protect their privacy. The data that has been obtained through surveillance has found its way to numerous uses, from the business fields to the security realms.

In the business field, advertisements that we come across in the various websites such as those in the WebPages of the search engines, social sites, e-commerce sites are all as a result of surveillance on the users’ data. The adverts perform well since the proprietors of these adverts already know our interests, habits, the demographics of the certain products from the documented data they have previously gathered from us without our understanding or permission. We therefore can state that these adverts are reflective of our general interests and the habits.

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