How Someone's Every Move Can Be Monitored by Surveillance - Article Example

How Someones Every Move Can Be Monitored By Surveillance Information is the currency of the day. Nations, companies, conglomerates thrive on it and have been known to stalk and kill for it. Everyone knows that social security numbers are important and must be kept safe, but not many think twice about safeguarding their driver’s license numbers or high school information. This seemingly unimportant information about a person can be worth a lot of money. Information is important because it makes the powerful even more so. And this means the huge corporations and governments spend lots of money, time and effort in order to gather more information on the movement, habits and behavior of entire populations. It is important for them to know how people move and behave and they have this information on entire nations at time. The way governments are putting up the state of the art surveillance systems to spy on their own people; it is not paranoid to think that someone is lurking in the shadows but it may rather be the truth (Lee 2011). It may not be correct to think that Big Brother style surveillance does not happen in the United States. There are plenty of cases held up in American courts to prove it wrong. Aarons Inc. is a huge supplier of furniture and electronic equipment for rent. Last year the company was sued by a young couple for putting spyware into a PC they had rented from Aarons. A manager had come to their house to repossess the PC, mistakenly thinking that it had not been paid off. However, when Brain Byrd showed him the receipt the manager pulled out a picture of his taken by the computers webcam. BrainByrd believes that the reason to show the picture was to pressurize the couple into giving up the computer for repossession easily. Companies like Aarons are legally allowed to use software like “kill switch” that can switch off these rented devices remotely if customers fall behind on payments but customers must be explicitly told of this as well. In the case it seems like Aarons has been storing and accessing information that they had no right to. This begs the question: why would a rental company go to such an extent to spy on its customers? Brain Byrd said that his wife uses the computer to check her grades. He said they have a son who spends a lot of time running around the house naked after a shower before getting dressed up. Who would want such private information and pictures of their family in unconcerned hands? (Mandak 2011) The technology advances of today have made it extremely difficult to remain anonymous. Many people spend endless hours online, updating their facebook and myspace pages with every “event” taking place in their life; oblivious to the fact that facebook turns over its user’s information to the U.S. government readily. Google also has special patents allowing it to store and use the data on its user’s search terms. Cell phones are homing devices that can signal government to a person’s whereabouts. For those in power, the temptation to hear what people say about them is too much to resist. Unfortunately, they have all the tools to do so at their disposal. For Americans, it is unimaginable to think that they are being subjected to surveillance like people in Russia and China. However, it has become an undeniable fact that the people of the United States and United Kingdom are the most closely spied on people in the world (Lee 2011). Electronic eyes are everywhere as American government prepares to put its citizens under British style surveillance. The government is not only watching but also tracking every move with GPS and online data. Police says that strict surveillance leads to better security, and in order to feel safe on the streets, Americans must subject themselves to it. Latest in surveillance technology are the aerial drones operated in Afghanistan and Iraq and soon enough U.S.A., Miami, Ogden and Utah police department have sought licenses to operate them in their jurisdictions. The U.S. Department of Defense operates more than seven thousand aerial drones. Add to that the twelve thousand unmanned ground systems and there will not remain a place in America where a person could be alone (Lee 2011; Ratnam 2011). People do not know how they leave a trail while performing their regular duties for others to find. The traces may be invisible for a common person, but those who know what to look for can find a person out in an instant. Usually these stalkers are found in places where people would least suspect them. Market research specialists spend millions of dollars for information on peoples spending, eating and living habits. This information can be used to serve corporate purposes to open up new niche markets or it can be used for more sinister intention of spying on people. Governments regularly scan the crowds to differentiate any terrorist elements and of course, to get the dirt on their opposition. Corporations spy on their customers to assess their spending habits (Lee 2011). Information hunters are present everywhere and even worse than the government and corporations are criminals. Identity is a hot commodity and many people never get to know that they have lost their identity until they find out that some Italian mobster has created an X-box account using theirs. It is true that constant surveillance will reduce crime and terrorism rates in U.S. but it will also bring about opportunities for abuses. These technologies were used to spy on Vietnam War protesters and later to spy on civil rights leaders during the Watergate scandal (Nemati and Barko 2004). Cell phones provide the easiest route into our lives to these information hunters. All cell phones have cameras and mobile phones and the right software can easily tap into them to see and hear private conversations. It is no secret that Apple and Android phones track their users everywhere and send bits of information to their servers regularly. In the 1990’s, project Echelon was the material spy movies were made of. The American government has confirmed the existence of Echelon in which intelligence agencies were tapped into people’s phone, email, fax and mobile grids analyzing each sentence for specific keywords (Nemati and Barko 2004). The head of CIA, General David Patreus has been quoted as saying that internet gadgets are the next generation in spying gadgets. This means agencies will not have to plant bugs or other spyware to enter people’s homes. They will be able to “download” personal information from T.V’s and web radios etc. American homes are filled with gadgets that can be controlled with various “apps”. CIA chief claims that these devices can be “read” via the internet. A day will come when these internet ready devices will be able to tell where their owners are and what they are up to. Google maps and similar applications will easily map these locations and send relevant information to the concerned authorities. (Rob 2012) Since 9/11, both the Pentagon and the CIA have stepped up the spying on American citizens. New York Times reported that these entities issue subpoenas to American financial institutions for financial records of citizens in order to investigate probable terrorism. This initiative is a part of the “Force Protection” program i.e. the defense of military installations on American soil. These subpoenas are otherwise known as the “National Security Letters” and are used by FBI mostly because they do not necessitate a judge’s authorization. Americans are being subjected to unlawful searchers by the thousands, their privacy is being violated all in the name of security and no one is asking the right questions. According to the Department of Justice, more than nine thousand of these letters were issued investigating more than three thousand American citizens and green card holders. These are just some of the cases of government spying on Americans. (Singel 2007; Mazetti 2007) The American constitution, particularly the fourth amendment protects Americans from unlawful search and seizure of their property. It also allows police to obtain a search warrant if there is evidence of some wrong play. However, after 9/11, the Patriot Act removed many of the safety measures given by the fourth amendment. People were in grip of fear and terror at the time and no one took the time to think of the disastrous consequences the Patriot Act would have on the American concept of security. The people of this nation have forgone many of their rights but it has not resulted in improved or better security. According to the Patriot Act, law enforcement agencies can call an individual “a person of interest” and then rip them of all their constitutional rights. This person can be detained for an indefinite period and have tier phones and emails tapped and wired without any warrant or consultation with a legal counsel. American government has deeper interests in this information than the mere security of its people. Americans, as a nation, need to think about the potential dangers of surveillance. It must be understood if it is worth living in a “1984” style society in which powerful people can go to any length in order to secure their authority and strength for the sake of security (Solove 2011). Works Cited Lee, Forest. Someones Watching You!: From Micropchips in Your Underwear to Satellites Monitoring Your Every Move, Find Out Whos Tracking You and What You Can Do About It. Avon, USA: Adams Media, 2011. Print. Mandak, Joe. "Rental Company Aarons Inc. Allegedly Spied On PC Users Via Webcams." Huffington Post. 5 Mar. 2011. Web. 26 Mar. 2012. . Nemati, Hamid R, and Christopher D. Barko.Organizational Data Mining: Leveraging Enterprise Data Resources for Optimal Performance. Hershey, PA: Idea Group Pub, 2004. Print. Ratnam, Gopal. "Military, Police Drones May Lead to Supreme Court Ethics Fight." Bloomberg. 21 Sep. 2011. Web. 26 Mar. 2012. . Solove, Daniel J. Nothing to Hide: The False Tradeoff between Privacy and Security. New Haven [Conn.: Yale University Press, 2011. Print. Rob, Waugh. "The CIA Wants to Spy on You through Your TV: Agency Director Says It Will transform Surveillance." Daily Mail. 16 Mar. 2012. Web. 28 Mar. 2012. . Singel, Ryan. "Pentagon And CIA Involved In Domestic Spying." Wired. N.p., 16 Jan. 2007. Web. 28 Mar. 2012. . Mazetti, Mark. "Cheney Defends Efforts to Obtain Records." New York Times. N.p., 15 Jan. 2007. Web. 28 Mar. 2012. . Read More