Surveillance's Influence on the Society - Essay Example

Surveillance, Technology and Society The United Kingdom had the world’s most extensive electronic surveillance systems even before 2001, as well as the harshest policies governing communication access (Coleman and McCahill, 2010:51). Some of the new legislations vary with the concept of a safe, liberal, and free Britain. Additionally, the current internet surveillance policies may not be effective against organized crime or terrorism. However, democratic oversights and limited safeguards may fail to protect law-abiding and innocent citizens. The main challenge is whether the surveillance security measures are product, or whether they threaten the freedom of the society that they seek to protect. Jacques Ellul argues that supervision of everyone is vital in apprehending criminals and reducing crime rates (No-CCTV). However, there has been no significant change in crime rates even after the establishment of a surveillance society in the UK. This paper seeks to highlight the benefits and risks of surveillance in the UK society, with emphasis on technology and the society. History of Surveillance The world is slowly transforming to a surveillance society, as most rich nations suffuse everyday life with surveillance encounters, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. The current CCTV system in UK does not only capture images of individuals numerous times a day, the system represents a complex infrastructure that perceives that gathering and processing personal information is very essential in the contemporary life, especially with regards to reducing crime rates (Lyon, 2007:34). Since the beginning, forms of surveillance have been in existence, with people watching over each other for mutual benefits, moral caution, covert information discovery, and mutual care. However, this changed about 400 years ago when rational forms of surveillance flooded the market. The result was destruction of informal social controls and networks that governed everyday business (Hier and Greenberg, 2007:132). Surveillance was now rule-centered and impersonal, as social ties became irrelevant. Advancement in information technology revolutionized the surveillance bureaucratic administration. Further development in tracking and identification technology developed by the police and military departments led to the current surveillance systems in the UK and other countries. The growing security needs and the concept of protection from threats contribute to the growth of surveillance in the contemporary society. This increasing need for security and the consequent growing perception of these needs highlights the global modern insecurity (Coleman and McCahill, 2010:135). The current perception of crime in the world is that it is a normal commonplace phenomenon in the modern society. Therefore, there have been arguments on the need of re-conceptualizing crime as a great risk to secure and the need to intervene before occurrence of crime, justification being that it is more economical to prevent loss than retrospective punishment. The concern and efforts for crime intervention and prevention highlights the importance of controlling behaviors of large groups. Consequently, the approach necessitates the common sense and natural manner of utilizing technological advancement for collecting and processing data. In this regard, there is diverse application of technological techniques in managing risks. These technologies include Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR), Closed Circuit Television (CCTV), and electronic monitoring (EM) of convicts. Radio frequency Identification (RFID) cards, biometric recognition, DNA profiling, iris scan, and PIN numbers are used for identifying individuals (Hier and Greenberg, 2007:67). These surveillance techniques allow surveillance data storage, recording, and processing into digital forms over space and time, making the concept of global surveillance a reality. Past adoption of surveillance technology, seem to stimulate further the growth of surveillance. In this regard, we can say that surveillance tends to disperse and operate in various social settings, and through its sprawl, spatial, and complex decentralization, it becomes self-sustaining in that surveillance leads to more surveillance. The past two decades has seen enormous growth of surveillance in application and number. Among the most affected countries, with emphasis on CCTV systems include the UK, US, and other Western nations. In UK for, for instance, the numbers of surveillance CCTV cameras grew from 100 (1990) to 400 (1994), to about 5,200 in 1997, to more than 40,000 in 2002 (Wang, Haines, and Tucker, 2011:34). By 2006, Britain had more than four million surveillance cameras, translating to about one for every four people in the nation. Current technologies allow integration of CCTV surveillance cameras with other techniques like ANPR. Today, there are more than ten thousand ANPR cameras capturing data for the police. The Global Positioning System (GPS) is another technology applied in surveillance, especially in the electronic monitoring of convicts. By the beginning of the new millennium, majority of the UK had the most advanced EM technology in the world. Other surveillance techniques include DNA profiling, applied in data profiling (Lyon, 2007:138). In this technology, every member of a community is a possible suspect, until proven otherwise by the risk profile. This presents a prime example of surveillance technologies that target an entire population. The growth of internet and its application in the day-to-day life has led to surveillance finding its way in the industry. The tapping of communication (telephones and mobile cell phones) has encroached on internet and email click-stream monitoring. In 2009, the UK government proposed plans of authorizing the police force to monitor all public communication, storing the data in national databases. Another significant UK surveillance regulation was the Interception Modernization Program (IMP) of 2010 that allowed monitoring the website and email visits of UK residents, as well as storing that data for a year. The current technological structure permits surveillance techniques to work more vigorously and forcibly online (Hier and Greenberg, 2007:135). The internet allows codes to replace norms and rules, inscribing the codes into the algorithm formulae and rendering deviation from surveillance impossible. Indeed, technological advancements enable surveillance to expand to unimaginable heights in the world. However, this expansion has led to power imbalances between the surveillance regime and those under surveillance, leaving no room for negotiation between the two groups. The surveillance regime captures and store data that may be useful at a future date and place. Those under surveillance, on the other hand, has concerns over where, how, and when the data is stored, and the possibility of fabrication. Problems of Surveillance There are various views regarding surveillance. Proponents of the system argue that it is a product of modernity. Those against it consider it a malign plot by evil and powerful individuals, as well as thinking that surveillance is primarily a product of technological advancements (Gilbert). Surveillance has two facets, and both the bad and the good sides need to acknowledgement. Surveillance systems often adopt the design of a large-scale system. This means that dangers and risks are always present. Indeed, large-scale technological infrastructures face large-scale problems, and a single ill-advised or inadvertent keystroke may give rise to national havoc. For instance, the UK surveillance system covers a wide region, from closed circuit television (CCTV) to internet and telecommunication surveillance. A devastating example is the 2006 AOL release of the twenty million web search queries, and searcher number 4417749, easily exposed after simple connection of names and records (House of Lords Select Committee on the Constitution). However, the surveillance theory underpins this risk, justifying the intrusion of privacy by claiming that surveillance incorporates several processes rather than the societal-level process. Another important consideration is the skewed and corrupt visions of power. The thought of access to medical databases and social security by some wicked tyrant is a disaster. Some of the corruption of power includes leaders who justify extraordinary or unusual tactics through appealing to the public on some supposed good for the greater majority, like apprehending criminals. In the United States of America for instance, Muslim Americans are marked as unfit to travel in the no-fly lists, or subjected to condemnation in numerous contexts and racial profiles for the nation’s manifest unfairness. However, the government and political theory view the concept of identity as a contentious issue in various ways of government discourse rather than hypothetical markers for subjectivity. The current world of global commerce and high technological advancement presents unintended consequences resulting from policies and actions of a well-meaning nature. For instance, corporations need to know their customers well, which will assist them in advertising and locating their businesses appropriately (Gilbert). This may prompt business managers to seek credit check services from companies like Experian. It is justifiable in the sense of increasing profitability. However, the unintended results of perusing through records to create highly profitable clienteles may result in special treatment of certain groups that pay well than the other groups. Additionally, there is compromise on the privacy of the clienteles. According to social theory, the most significant problem of surveillance practices and processes is the fact that they portray a world where there is no trust. In other words, surveillance fosters suspicion. The CCTV cameras in the streets, the telecommunication interceptions, and the internet surveillance means that government authorities do not trust its citizens, a fact made possible by the minority population of criminals (Emma). Trust is the foundation of societies and social relationships, but the current imposition of surveillance of everyone simply translates to social suicide. Conclusion The surveillance technologies rapid growth indicates two important points: that surveillance is good, and that the problem of surveillance is overcome by improved surveillance technology by police. The current increase in crime rates dictates that surveillance is the only viable option for prevention. However, surveillance presents several issues affecting the society, including violation of privacy and human rights as well as possibility of identity fabrication and identity theft (Lyon, 2007:167). Additionally, there are other social implications, like killing the societal and community relationships that are the foundation of the society as a whole. Surveillances practices and processes are based on necessity and risks, complicating efforts to oppose or resist such practices. Another important feature in the concept of surveillance is the vital role of technology in advancing surveillance techniques. Current technology allows adoption of surveillance techniques in a non-defiant manner, as it possible to replace surveillance codes with norms and rules. Ultimately, surveillance offers a cost effective method of reducing losses, as opposed to retrospective sentencing of criminals (Emma). However, the full potential of surveillance is realized in communities where the surveillance system approaches perfection. Bibliography Coleman, R., and McCahill, M., 2010. Surveillance and Crime. London: SAGE. Emma, 2011. Privacy International accuses British government of giving UK companies “carte blanche” to sell dangerous surveillance tech to Iran. Retrieved on Feb 17, 2012 https://www.privacyinternational.org/article/privacy-international-accuses-british-government-giving-uk-companies-%E2%80%9Ccarte-blanche%E2%80%9D-sell-da Gilbert, N., 2007. Dilemmas of Privacy and Surveillance: Challenges of Technological Change. The Royal Academy of Engineering. Retrieved on Feb 17, 2012, from http://www.raeng.org.uk/news/publications/list/reports/dilemmas_of_privacy_and_surveillance_report.pdf Hier, S. and Greenberg, J., 2007. The Surveillance Studies Reader. New York: McGraw-Hill. Lyon, D., 2007. Surveillance Studies: An Overview. Cambridge: Polity Press. No-CCTV. Exposing Naked Scanners in the EU and beyond – again. Anti-CCTV Articles. Retrieved Feb 17, 2012, from http://www.no-cctv.org.uk/news.asp Select Committee on the Constitution. Surveillance: Citizens and the State. Volume I Report. Retrieved on Feb 17, 2012, from http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200809/ldselect/ldconst/18/18.pdf Wang, V., Haines, K., and Tucker, J., 2011. Deviance and Control in Communities with Perfect Surveillance – The Case of Second Life. Surveillance & Society 9(1/2): 31-46. (Wang, Haines, and Tucker, 2011:34). 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