Privacy under Electronic Surveillance - Essay Example

Privacy under Electronic Surveillance Privacy under Electronic Surveillance While technological advancement has led to various benefits in the society, it has also brought electronic surveillance that has been somewhat controversial in the contemporary world. Electronic surveillance is mostly done through computers and establishment of surveillance cameras in various settings of the modern society. It has been adopted heavily in the business sector as the employers want to control the behaviors of their employees and in the security enforcement segment. In both settings, electronic surveillance has pros and cons. Here, most of the cons are projected towards its particular effect on privacy while the pros concentrate on security and avoiding time wastage when applied in the work environment. Therefore, in spite of the benefits that can be tied to electronic surveillance, there are also various cons associated with the same especially with respect to the setting within which the surveillance is applied. There are various pros. First, for employers, keeping track of the employees’ web surfing behaviors and emails sent to fellow employees. Here, the employers wish to ensure that the employees remain productive by not wasting time visiting websites to watch videos or to chat with their friends while at work (Heathfield, n.d). This ensures that productivity remains high. Based on the information collected, the employer can make various decisions such as to warn the employees and reward the most productive ones. When the employees are aware that the employer is monitoring their moves while at work, they focus their attention towards doing productive work, which ensures more profit making capability for the host organization. Surveillance can also deter the employees from doing personal work on company computers and company time. This implies that electronic surveillance can act as a moral check. Additionally, checking the emails sent by employees can help in preventing bullying where some employees would send harassing emails to other employees. Furthermore, when an employee files a lawsuit claiming unfair dismissal, the organization can defend itself by submitting surveillance information that acts as evidence for dismissing the subject employee. This implies that electronic can provide evidence. Second, electronic surveillance has also proven to be highly beneficial in the security sector. Various bombing incidents have been resolved using surveillance footage that captures the terrorist. In addition, armed robberies have been prevented through surveillance. However, this is only possible in the areas where there are many surveillance cameras. These areas are usually more secure and the residents feel more secure since the cameras are said to deter crime. Establishing the cameras on the streets increases the chance of capturing criminals in the act (Kelly, 2013). This helps in resolving crime case easily ensuring that the police can concentrate on other important aspects of their work. The law enforcement agencies are benefiting more from electronic surveillance especially when it is coupled with facial recognition software. Here, the images captured using the cameras can be used to identify an individual in real time and alert the authorities. This helps in deterrence of crimes in big cities. In the modern age of terrorism, electronic surveillance is of crucial importance. For instance, during the Boston marathon bombing, the police only took three days to release footage of the terrorists, which helped in identifying them (Kelly, 2013). In the previous traditional investigative nature, it would have taken many investigators and various months of arresting the wrong suspects and wastage of time. Therefore, surveillance helps in preventing time wastage by identifying the actual criminal among thousands of people. However, the key concern of the general public is privacy as it relates to electronic surveillance. In the workplaces, privacy concerns have also been raised in relation to surveillance. While there may be privacy violation at work, these concerns are usually raised by the poorly performing employees and those with things to hide. This is because surveillance does not give them an opportunity to undertake their own activities on company networks and company time. Surveillance is especially a key privacy issue when considering hidden cameras. In fact, privacy becomes a concern and key evidence in a case especially if the cameras involved were hidden. In addition, when the cameras are mounted in the streets, most civil liberties activists are concerned that the information collected may be abused by those that have access to it. This is because the cameras are mounted on almost all streets in a city and can keep track of an individual’s movements (Acton, 2012). This tracking can be done on an individual even across continents. People would like to feel that they have control of their lives. This is not possible when the government is keeping all information concerning their where about at all instances. People would like to visit places that the government does not necessarily need to know about. This gives a person control of their lives. In addition, surveillance has been taken to the next level to the point that it is being used for automated advertising for target individuals. When an individual uses a search engine to look for certain information on the Internet, this information is usually sold to other companies that market products related to the search. This then determines the search results that are displayed by various Internet enabled devices. This affects the privacy that a person should have in that the search results should be neutral and free of any targeted advertisements. This is because the targeted advertisements indicate privacy violation both by the company hosting the search engine and the advertiser. In various increasing situations, there have been increasing crimes in spite of the available large web of camera systems (Harris, 2009). Various cases have not been resolved although cameras are available in the areas where the crime took place. This implies that in spite of people sacrificing their privacy for the sake of better and secure streets, only a handful of violent crimes have been resolved in various areas. The information collected may be in use for other purposes besides securing the public. This is what raises privacy concerns as the people with access to the information can use it anyhow. The privacy concerns would increase if the camera systems become connected together at some point. The victims of surveillance or the public are not aware of how much information is stored about them. In most instances, the involved bodies claim to collect this information not only to keep people secure but also to improve their lives such as helping them find unfamiliar locations. If these are the main uses of surveillance, then the latter is their main concern because the former has not taken much effect (Diane Publishing Company, 1995). One of the companies that host the largest facial recognition system is Facebook; one of the companies that have acquired much attention from the public who submit information concerning their personal lives. This information can be tapped by any government or advertising company to be used for targeted advertising. This then leads to privacy concerns. In conclusion, various privacy concerns have emerged as a result of the implementation of electronic surveillance. This has taken place in almost all aspects of the modern society because surveillance can be done through mobile phones, on the streets, and even at work. Although these issues have not been pronounced in the workplace, the case is different in other societal settings. On the streets, there are cameras that track the moves that people make. This affects privacy directly. In addition, usage of mobile devices has also been invaded by targeted advertisements. These are usually based on the search phrases that people make on various search engines. Therefore, the cons of electronic surveillance outweigh the pros and better application of the system can be adopted to eliminate privacy concerns. References Acton, Q. A. (2012). Brain diseases: Advances in research and treatment. Atlanta: Scholarly Editions. Diane Publishing Company. (1995). Electronic Surveillance in a Digital Age Pennsylvania: Diane Publishing. Harris, C. (2009). Getting an eyeful: Camera surveillance systems are helping decrease crime, but they come with a price. Retrieved from http://americancityandcounty.com/pubsafe/pros-cons-camera-surveillance-200911 Heathfield, S. (n.d). Electronic Surveillance of Employees. Retrieved from http://humanresources.about.com/od/technology/a/surveillance.htm Kelly, H. (2013). After Boston: The pros and cons of surveillance cameras. Retrieved from http://edition.cnn.com/2013/04/26/tech/innovation/security-cameras-boston-bombings/ Read More