The Nature Of Surveillance Example

The Nature Of Surveillance Example The Nature Of Surveillance â€" Essay Example > IntroductionSurveillance is defined as the collection and processing of person data, which can be either, personally identifiable or not, with a view to managing or exerting influence on the people whose data or information has been gathered (Humphreys, 2011). Notably, the definition of surveillance involves gaining power to exert influence over other people, as well as the fact that in some circumstances, the people being watched may have no idea that somebody is collecting their personal data (Humphreys, 2011). Since the occurrence of 9/11, governments across the world, particularly the US have expanded their surveillance systems dramatically (ACLU, 2016). The surveillance is being directed not only at criminals and other suspicious characters but to every citizen. The government has for years been examining financial records, emails, telephone conversations, travel itineraries, website visits, as well as digital images from surveillance cameras in metadata programs that seek to establish suspicious associations and patterns (ACLU, 2016). Despite this surveillance capability that the US government has built and is implementing, US citizens do not have a clue about the extent to which the government is using such data. This fact begs a number of questions including whether the government should disclose how surveillance metadata is used and whether national security can be used as an excuse to infringe on individual rights and freedoms (ACLU, 2016). This paper examines the meaning of surveillance in the information age and seeks to establish who the spies are, and their targets, as well as the impact of surveillance on both privacy and security. Surveillance in the information ageTechnology has had a revolutionary effect on surveillance. Before the advent of technology, the use of technology in surveillance was limited to using telescopes while watching a surveillance target. On the contrary, contemporary surveillance is characterized by the use of techno logies such as video and photographic gear, covert listening devices, and night vision aids, cameras mounted on drones, as well as beacons and programmable scanners. Such technology has become even more successful as surveillance tools because of the use of personal computers that that are used for storage and analysis of collected information (Burton, 2007). In addition, the internet has made surveillance easy because people are volunteering to give personal information freely on the internet in the name of social networking. Actually, it is very easy to know the basic information of people nowadays, including their names, location, family ties, appearance, appearance of neighborhood in which they live, etc. , courtesy of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. People post personal information, images, videos, etc. on these sites, which can be used for surveillance purposes. Some of the aspects of modern surveillance include security cameras mounted to businesses, tr affic lights, homes, street corners, and even on drones. Other cameras like those of news segments, television program, movie shoot, music video, cameras on mobile phones, etc. are also likely to take images of unsuspecting people if there is something peculiar with them. If such images make their way to the internet, then the data about that specific person or event is recorded forever. Mobile phones even have a GPS system, which enables any interested person to know one’s location at any time (Sau and Randol, 2012).