The Age of New Media - Essay Example

The Age of New Media (Is a 'surveillance society' inevitable in the age of new media) "You won't be able to hide from the system by closing your dooror closing your curtains or hiding behind a wall," said privacy campaigner Christopher McDermott1. Today we are in an information society. The world is in fact divided in different segments depending upon the availability of the information and the relevance of the information to the existing circumstances. In fact the rapid pace of advancements has also led to a situation when we need to update the information available with us in order to remain relevant to the latest situation. The globalisation policies have helped bringing the world together. Information technology led networking has made it possible to communicate with anybody around the world with ease. This has not only helped the business community, but it has also helped in carrying out research activities, information exchanges, telemedicine, IT-enabled services etc. But, the flip side to all such developments is that the technology is also being used by some anti-social groups to carry out some destructive activities. For example, the terror network of groups like Al-Qaida etc. has been quite active in making use of networking, satellite communication etc. to shape up the nasty designs and thus causing tension in the society. Well, such groups have their own versions of truth, which they claim to be the motivation behind such acts. Therefore the governments of the world are supposed to come out with measures which can detect such designs and take corrective steps. The business world today has become quite competitive. With shrinking profit margins and high levels of competition, the corporate world has been trying to minimise the costs associated with the production and manufacturing of goods and services. Minimising the pilferage happens to be another key motive during the production and transportation of goods and services. Therefore the company management tries out ways and means to take effective control of such happenings and plan out strategies to counter them. Similarly, the retail industry is known to have a number of items on display in such a manner that customers can have a reassuring look at the items and if they feel convinced, they can purchase those products. But there are occasions when some unscrupulous elements try to lift the items without the knowledge of the sales person. To avoid such shop-lifting attempts, retail stores are supposed to put in place a mechanism so that they can keep an eye on suspicious elements. All such developments point out to one common phenomenon known as surveillance. If we take a look at the history of surveillance, the image of a burly spy in trench-coat standing on the roadside corner in the rain keeping an eye on the movement of the general public immediately comes to our mind. But the system of surveillance has graduated from this scenario and today the spy is not required to sweat out in the hot summer or drench himself in the rain, he can gather all the information on his desktop, laptop, palmtop, mobile or other handy gadgets, at the press of a button, thanks to the information gathering network. Though the modus operandi defers depending upon the importance and strategic nature of the surveillance, but one factor common in all such acts is the monitoring of our actions in different measure. While on the one hand we have biometrics machines on airports, railway stations, bus station, important offices etc. the RF tagging is used to keep an eye on goods as well as the movement of the workforce at many companies. A report brought out by the surveillance society in the year 2006 pointed out that the heightened concerns in view of the levels of intrusion in citizen's lives2. There are of course the incidents like the 9/11 attacks, the London bombing, the Mumbai shootout, the Pakistani bomb blasts, the Afghanistan war etc. which require intelligence inputs so that the terror elements are not in a position to work out similar incidents, but at the same time the citizens do expect that the info-age doesn't put them in embarrassing situations. Loss of privacy, intimidating acts, frequent delays, heightened security mechanism etc are some circumstances leading to discomfort of the citizen in general. The report by the surveillance society has pointed out that people actions are increasingly being monitored. Monitoring of credit card transactions, mobile phone conversation, usage of loyalty card, and CCTV footage are some of the acts of surveillance, which have been put into the category of 'dataveillance' by researchers (BBC, 2006). From time to time concerns have been raised by human rights groups about the intimidating nature of the surveillance being carried out by the security agencies, but all such voices seems to have no significance, if we take a look around us. While on the one hand security agencies appear on their toes to avoid recurrence of the terror incidents, the stray incidents happening here and there seem to have a negative impact on the morale of our security forces. Such circumstances force us to think about the inevitability of leading a life full of surveillance at different places. But the moot point is 'how is too much' as far as such intimidation is concerned. The report presented by the Surveillance society of UK (2006) predicts that at this rate the level of surveillance is expected to increase to such an extent that by the year 2016 shopkeepers might be using scanning as a means of surveillance on shoppers entering into their stores. Similarly in future schools could come out with cards which would allow their parents to monitor the daily routines of their kids in the class rooms. Such futuristic monitoring might also provide a tool to the employers/ companies to read through the behavioural patterns of the prospective employees, before undertaking the interviews. There have been incidents when companies have tried to spy on the movements of their employees by placing RF tags in their identity cards. Access to water, food, clothing, housing etc have the traditional necessities for a decent living, but with the advancement of technology, the new-age media have also impacted the patterns of our living standards. Availability and applicability of a number of facilities like netbanking, online trading, credit card usage, e-business etc. have now become integral parts of the new info-age. But the surveillance regime seems to have found ways and means to monitor the usage of such newer IT tools as well. The stated reason for such close scrutiny is to avoid disaster like situations. But the question arises as to how will the surveillance agencies make sure that such measures are not misused by some elements within the security setup. Increasing cases of banking and credit card frauds are an indication towards the vulnerability of the hapless citizen on such matters. Christopher McDermott, a privacy campaigner said3, "The X-ray eyes of the state and of big corporate houses will be able to see through those, and will be able to see right into your very personal and private life." Taking a look at the history of development of information society, science and the security environment will help us in tracing the path of the race between the security agencies and the anti-social elements. On the one hand the security agencies have been able to upgrade their skills with the help of latest scientific techniques, but the anti-social elements too have come out with innovative ideas to harm the social fabric. For example who would've thought that two jumbo jets of USA will bring down their own WTC twin towers Whether we take the methods of transporting explosive materials in the form of liquid gels or transmitting messages hidden in pixels of photographs (steganography), the criminal elements have always placed the security agencies on their tenterhooks, thus necessitating the assistance of fool-proof security measures. Such developments have forced the security agencies to undertake steps like; Using biometrics at strategic locations Monitoring the usage of credit card, telephone, mobile phone, net-banking etc. Using CCTV cameras at strategic location in a building, on the roads, in the streets etc. Blocking communication signals at different times Regulating the internet traffic Physical frisking of the individual and all his/her belongings Biometrics, for example, has now become an important element of security setup. As of now Biometrics are being used in two ways. First is identification of the individual by comparing a measured biometric against stored database records. This is essentially a one-to-many comparison. Second is verification of the claimed identity by the person which involves a one-to-one comparison between a measured biometric and one stored about a particular person. Though there are extremely reliable biometrics methods like fingerprint analysis, retinal scans etc. for establishing the identity, but most of such methods are considered unacceptable by users except in certain circumstances like high level security alerts, military establishments, nuclear establishments and other such highly vulnerable targets. Monitoring of the usage of credit card, telephone, net-banking etc. too have not become frequent in countries around the world. While the stated objective might be good enough behind this measure, the misuse of such provision by the political set-up in different countries to settle scores with their political opponents. The US Patriot act (2005) of USA was introduced by the then US government to take on the terror suspects. Under the act, government has been authorised to intercept telephonic calls of individual with potential threat to the sovereignty of the country. But subsequently the political misuse of this act resulted in the voices from opposition parties that this act is in gross violation of the basic human rights. Similarly, incidents came to light in UK where the authorisation of phone tapping was misused by some police officials themselves. Bone (2007) mentions one such incident when two police officials were convicted of illegally bugging phones and hacking into computers of hapless citizens. These officials were doing this at the behest of a private detective agency. Use of CCTV cameras has also resulted in more controversies than providing the intended info that it was meant for. There have been many instances when the CCTV cameras were put up in hotel bedrooms by some hotel staff and then followed the saga of illegal filming of the private acts. Such films would subsequently find way on the internet and grey market, thus defeating the very purpose of installing of CCTV cameras. The Royal Academy of Engineering of UK came out with a warning that 'surveillance and the collection of personal data could endanger privacy and even put lives at risk' (Harris, 2007). It has been pointed out in the report that CCTV footage can often be misused on the internet my miscreants and can be watched for voyeuristic reasons. In addition such CCTV footage might also provide the terrorist the information about the best location for carrying out their acts, setting off bombs etc. Taking a cue from the advancement in technology and the encouragement being provided by the governments, the corporate sector too has started making use of the surveillance techniques like Radio frequency identification (RFID) technologies. This technology has proved to be of great help for major distributors and manufacturers in tracking the movement of their material and goods. These companies can locate the exact location of the vehicles and goods on the way to the company warehouses or to the customer's locations. Similarly, the RG tags can be very helpful for the logistics operations like health-care system, defence industries etc. (Ranky, 2006). Now doctors implant small RF chips inside the bodies of their patients and track the functioning of their different body parts. This helps in translating a truthful picture about the functioning of the body parts and thus taking a better care of the patient. With the levels of competition rising in almost all fields of business, maintaining an efficient supply chain helps the business entity to save on the costs and make efficient use of resources. But at the same time there were some reports suggesting that the RF tags are also being misused by the management to snoop on the workforce. It is such misuse of the technology which gives rise to concerns about the surveillance regime. In fact the surveillance regime has spread to an extent that it seems almost impossible to escape from it. A report by Slack (2008) pointed out that about 800 public bodies in UK have been granted powers to do surveillance on the telephone records and private correspondence of its citizens. It is found that the surveillance powers have been granted to 'prison bosses, the police, Environment Agencies, NHS Trusts, fire chiefs, Post Offices and 474 local councils'. The human rights groups and civil liberty organisations have been making efforts to dissuade the government agencies from making us all live in a 'surveillance society', but so far such efforts seems to have met with limited success. What makes the task of such human rights groups difficult is the recurrence of terror related incidents, involving high levels of technology usage. The anti-social elements are in fact making use of latest devices and technologies to come over the preparedness of security agencies. Another key aspect of the surveillance regime is the importance of the info-war. Gathering the all important information about the opponents in order to counter their power or unleash a propaganda war requires that the surveillance mechanism is able to deliver timely information. The world community has been experiencing a number of conflicts amongst ideologies and objectives. Some such conflicts are; Conflict between the Chinese government and the Tibetan people The Middle-East conflict between Israel and Palestine The war like situations in Iraq and Afghanistan The acts of terror unleashed by organisations like Al Qaeda in different parts of the world The marketing and information wars amongst corporate world for taking control of strategic markets As a result of such conflict of interests the world is witness to heightened levels of technology warfare on many fronts. In the recent past the Tibetan government in exile headed by the religious guru Dalai Lama accused the Chinese government of cyber snooping of the Dalai Lama's office. The issue came to light when in the recent past the staff of Dalai Lama's office sent an email to a foreign diplomat for a meeting. But even before the staff could follow the mail with a call, the Chinese government called up the diplomat and warned against such a meeting. It is reported that the mail sent by the Dalai Lama's office was snooped on by the intelligence people in China (Victor, 2009). The fact will never be established as such tasks are done in a secretive manner. Similarly, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have kept the US and allied forces on their tenterhooks. Despite their best efforts to nab the terror elements, the forces have so far achieved modest success only, as the terror network is still in a position to strike at will. Though the communication system and movement of armoured vehicles are being continuously monitored by the intelligence network of allied forces, but the fact that all this has so far not been successful in putting a stop at the activities of the terror network imply that they too have mastered the art of surveillance. That leaves us with an all important question, as to what could be the solution to this menace Are we supposed to lead a life with literally no privacy and all our actions being watched by someone, somewhere Well the available indications so far do point towards the inevitability of such a situation. In today's context, snooping appears to be all pervasive. Be it in the usage of some computer software, music downloads, net-banking, iTunes, internet access, credit card usage, strolling around the streets, airports, railway stations etc. In fact couple of years back when Apple came out with iTunes music software, the company was criticised for collecting the data about the usage of tracks by the users. This was ostensibly done by the company to find out the popularity of the tunes so that the company could accordingly prepare itself for future demands, but it amounted to surveillance of the user. Company had to issue clarification that once the info is analysed, it is safely discarded (BBC, 2006a). Apple stated that, "iTunes sends data about the song selected in your library to the iTunes Music Store to provide relevant recommendations. When the MiniStore is hidden, this data is not sent to the iTunes Music Store". Companies like Microsoft, RealNetworks etc. have also faced similar situations in the past. Therefore, howsoever sinister it might appear the surveillance regime appears all set to invade into our privacy. References: 1. BBC (2006). Britain is 'surveillance society'. available online at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6108496.stm (March 26, 2009) 2. BBC (2006a). 'Snooping fears plague new iTunes'. Available online at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4608882.stm (March 26, 2009) 3. Bone, Victoria (2007). How 'Hackers Are Us' worked. BBC. Available online at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6767019.stm (April 2, 2009) 4. Harcourt-Webster, Adam (2006). Is business the real Big Brother Available online at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/5015826.stm (April 2, 2009) 5. Harris, Jan (2007). Report warns on misuse of CCTV. Available online at http://www.cctvcore.co.uk/27-03-2007-report-warns-on-misuse-of-cctv.html (April 2, 2009) 6. Ranky, Paul G (2006). 'An introduction to radio frequency identification (RFID) methods and solutions'. Assembly Automation. 26/1 (2006) 28-33. Emerald Group Publishing Limited. 7. Slack, James (2008). Revealed: 800 public bodies now have powers to 'snoop' on our phones and emails. Available online at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-510991/Revealed-800-public-bodies-powers-snoop-phones-emails.html (April 2, 2009) 8. Victor (2009). China, Tibet and Cyber Snooping. Available online at http://committeetoprotectbloggers.org/2009/03/31/china-tibet-and-cyber-snooping/ (April 2, 2009) 9. Wood, David Murakami (2006). A Report on the Surveillance Society. Available online at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/02_11_06_surveillance.pdf (March 26, 2009) Read More