Surveillance Is an Endemic Feature of Modern Life - Essay Example

INTRODUCTION Surveillance is an endemic feature of modern life and has grown as a part of being modern (Ball, Wood: 2006). After the onset of internet revolution, the surveillance and security tools, from cctv to ID cards, have grown to unpredictable levels. We are under constant surveillance -- from airports and malls to credit cards/debit cards, loyalty cards, mobile phones etc, everything we use can be further used for our surveillance. We are identified more by our buying power or buying patterns in marketers databases or our social security numbers than our true selves. Surveillance through electronic means or digital surveillance is an important tool of governance in information societies. Of course, it all started with innocuous looking cameras in big shops and malls where it was necessary to stop cases of theft and shoplifting. But today, it has assumed enormous proportions with government coming in with its highly sophisticated identification and surveillance tools especially after the 9/11 terrorists attack. Today, surveillance raises several questions about privacy , power, about information policy, regulation, and resistance. Not only the security agencies, but the marketers as well are resorting to unscrupulous means to collect data to identify the buying patterns and preferences of the consumers to boost their sales. Currently, the privacy laws do not provide protection with respect to the information acquired through data mining activities. Moreover, there are no standards of data integrity or data collection across or within industries. The laws and regulations regarding ethical concerns are not only insufficient but also differ in different regions. For example, while the USA and European Union have established generally much stricter privacy laws, the legal responses to the rising problem of data security and privacy in the Asia-Pacific have been irregular and patchy (Endeshaw, 2001). DIGITAL SURVEILLANCE TOOLS Apart from the usual and visible tools such as CCTVs , there are others such as the new smart cameras or the new generation computer programs which provides information. Companies are working on new intelligent cameras which are IP (Internet Protocol) addressable and are now able to perform functions such as motion detection and pattern recognition. These have the ability to track an object. With object tracking, software in the camera can be programmed to identify and follow the subject. When the subject leaves the view of the camera, another camera picks up where the previous one left off. Similarly, Programmers have developed a next generation computer program called VISEC that turns the computer into a powerful global-wide video surveillance system in 5 minutes or less. It records all video activity, or just when motion is detected and is viewable from any location in the world via the Internet. In the motion detection mode the user can be alerted by email, cell phone or PDA when motion is detected and moreover it can be used as a stealth surveillance system allowing the program to operate secretly on the computer. Yet another safety tracking system which revolves around a bio-sensor chips and collects information from the reflectance of light on the human body and enables to monitor key vital signs, including heart rate and oxygen saturation levels. The SATS (Security Alert Tracking System), is a wearable surveillance device that can be worn as a bracelet or a watch. The purpose of the SATS is to measure unnatural fluctuation in the heart which might be caused by stressful situations, such as when a person is engaged in unlawful activities. ELECTRONIC VEHICLE IDENTIFICATION Electronic Vehicle Identification or EVI is a system for identification of the moving vehicle aided by the ability to identify the owner as well through information stored during vehicle registration. This system can be used for tolling purposes, Spotting the stolen or wanted vehicles, warning speeders , advising truck drivers of load-zoned or restricted lanes or identifying the emissions violators and monitoring congestion. But there are several social and ethical issues concerned with the introduction of such systems. On of the main view points against this system is that the monitoring of legal and personal activities such as driving is equivalent to unwarranted search and seizure. Since there is no watchdog agency as such, the same technology which is being touted as being helpful for nabbing criminals and defaulters can be used for tracking and persecuting people who disagree with the government or in political arena, unscrupulous politicians can use this for tracking people who are in opposition to them or for their own selfish personal agendas. There is a strong possibility of identity theft. Moreover, habitual defaulters or those with criminal bent can simply move their activities to areas where monitoring is not in place thus leaving only the law abiding common citizens under the surveillance. (Persad, Walton and Hussain, 2006) As far as the law is concerned, no court case has yet established an individual vehicle driver's right to privacy. Legally, the automated enforcement does not violate protection guaranteed against unreasonable searches. Law is generally silent on such issues. LYON'S FRAMEWORK David Lyon (2002), in a series of articles talks about different categories of surveillance and its effects on human society. His framework included Categorical Seduction and Categorical Suspicion as the main forms of mass and personal surveillance. Mass surveillance is the pervasive surveillance of an entire population, or a particular segment of society or a subculture in particular. It is usually done visibly or under cover with or without the consent of those under surveillance. For example, screening people to avoid or to detect diseases is a benign act though if this is used to gather data malicious intent, then it is an outright violation of privacy. Similarly, Personal surveillance is defined as the surveillance of an identified person when a specific reason exists for the investigation or monitoring. This is specifically targeted against individuals suspected of having terrorists links or indulging in other unlawful activities. This is generally followed by police departments all over the world. Categorical Seduction refers to the direct marketing that tries to recognize buying patterns of customers or their behavior such that they are able to boost their sales. Using Surveillance systems to get accurate information is thus an important prerequisite for a successful marketing campaign. But it is obvious that there is a fine line which divides the boundaries between collection of information and intrusion of privacy. Though this type of surveillance is not malicious or harmful, it can be used to cause embarrassment and harassment to innocent consumers if not used properly. On the other hand, Categorical Suspicion involves surveillance that is concerned with identification of threats to law and order - especially by terrorists. It includes troublesome and disgruntled men to organized criminals, and to information war using an array of advanced technologies from communications intervention devices to satellite cameras. Thus Categorical suspicion is important from the security point of view since it helps to avert any threats to society in general. EVI AND LYON'S FRAMEWORK Let us now take a look at Electronic Vehicle Identification in terms of above mentioned categories of categorical seduction and suspicion. It can be seen that EVI can be categorized under categorical suspicion. This system will be used by security agencies for spotting stolen and wanted vehicles. This can also be used to establish the route being taken or position of a particular vehicle in real time, if required. Vehicle identification can be done through sensors, cameras, etc. while the ownership can be identified by crosschecking the vehicle ID to a person and contact information maintained by the vehicle registration agency. Probably, the smart criminal may still be able to hoodwink the police by using stolen cars and other techniques, the actual law abiding citizen will probably have enough data of his on police computers - which is always a threat in the hands of corrupt officers or users. Moreover, EVI system can be used for mass surveillance as well as personal surveillance of a particular suspect. Unless, of course, ther is some substantial reason for individual surveillance, the random mass information that is being gathered is purely an individual privacy intrusion. CONCLUSION It is fairly obvious from the above discussion that digital surveillance is here to stay. Though it has the potential to cause unintentional or intention intrusion in our private lives, it is still a very important tool in terms of current security threats to human society by fanatical terrorists. We can only hope that the authorities keep the usage of these technologies limited to control and avert major disasters such as September 11 attacks. But there is no denying the fact that these measures have reduced us all to a mere caricatures of bits and bytes in some remote computer's memory which can probably be accessed by persons unknown to us and for reasons which may not serve our interests. This is the price of being a part of information world. REFERENCES Ball, K and Wood D.M. (eds.) (2006), A report on the surveillance society Lyon, D. (2001), Surveillance Society: Monitoring Everyday Life, Open University Press. Lyon, D. (eds) (2002), Surveillance as Social Sorting: Privacy, Risk, and Digital Discrimination. Lyon, D. (2003), Surveillance after September 11, Polity Press. Lyon, D. (2004), Identity cards: social sorting by database. Persad, K., Walton, M and Hussain, S. 2006, Electronic Vehicle Identification: Industry Standards, Performance, and Privacy Issues Read More