Benefits and Concerns of Surveillance

Many of us go about our day with little thought we ar being watched. We take our privacy for granted. In some instances where we go or what we do is recorded by CCTV cameras. These little cameras ho personad in a black round domes seem to be everywhere hanging altogether over our heads. Are they invading our privacy? Are they there to protect us? in that location is always a make do discussing the benefits and disquiets of charge. What is direction? management is a French word meaning watching over.It is in like manner the monitor of activities and behaviours of the great unwashed usu bothy individuals or groups from a distance. It is used by political science agencies and rightfulness enforcement to maintain social control and prevent criminal activity. management come in other forms than a CCTV camera. There is computer superintendence, foretell surveillance, Biometric surveillance, aerial surveillance and to a greater extent. With the increasing speed of computers and the internet it is non further the government and private corporations watching us it is also ourselves. Our culture has changed dramatically over the past two decades.It used to be personal surpass held characterisation cameras that recorded those family milestones such(prenominal) as a babys first step or a birthday. Now the personal video camera has now turned into the instrument to catch the unexpected, but non in our personal life but the humankind. So not wholly has surveillance invaded our privacy we have also made it a cut off of lives to use surveillance on others. There atomic number 18 many benefits and concerns to surveillance. The debate is what are the true benefits and concerns of surveillance in our parliamentary procedure? speech sound & Biometric directionAudio surveillance has been a major component in surveillance monitoring since wiretapping began on telegraph lines. Audio surveillance became much awkward with the introduction of the telephony , as the rate of information increased dramatically. Audio surveillance has vex easier with the advancements in recording ability and computing place. Traditionally telephone calls had to be heeded to live and transcribed to paper. Today human agents are not required to monitor calls. The first Speech-to-text machines was inclosed in 1952, but was restricted to recognizing communicate numbers.Almost sixty years later software now creates readable text from intercepted audio and is then processed by automated call-analysis programs (Charles Piller, 2002). Audio surveillance provides raw information for investigations and has been successful for many law enforcement agencies. In the united states agencies have million dollar contracts that require phone companies to cargo deck all call records easily searchable and accessible (Singel, 2007). The private sector benefits in audio surveillance by using software programs in cal centers that assign phrases used frequently.These tren ds can be used by analysts to identify dominance problems so actions can be taken. These early identifiers can garter snip call volumes, improve the bottom line, and greatly increase customer atonement (Wint). Software based audio surveillance provides a certain amount of money of privacy. The entirety of an audio recording might be available to listen to, but the huge amount of audio information being produced forthwith means that software has to be used to search for key words. This helps introduce a level of privacy for the public and also gives the general public a higher level of safety.Law enforcement agencies and direct their man business leader to calls with repeated illegal activity instead of jeopardizing the privacy of the public. With increased power comes increased responsibility. The software searching through audio is controlled by humans, this introduces concern on privacy. Operators could use these systems for their own benefit instead of the greater not bad (predicate) of a company or nation. Biometrics is the study of measurable biological characteristics (Random House Dictionary). Biometrics is concerned with the analysis of biological info obtained from video, audio nd even physical data. Face, fingerprint, retina, signature, veins, and voice recognition are all examples of biometric identification schemes (Random House Dictionary).Biometrics really helps to enhance current surveillance technologies. It allows for the automated identification of individuals. Automated identification is the major benefit and also the biggest concern. Currently biometrics is used to track and quickly identify channelizes and its solicitd that they are completely useless without a well constructed threat dash to track. (Biometrics Whos Watching You? 2003)The biggest current threat with using biometrics is the assault on individuals to gain secured access with a biometric device (Biometrics Whos Watching You? , 2003). For example, in 2005, Malayan car thieves cut off the finger of a Mercedes-Benz S-Class owner when attempting to splay the car. (Kent, 2005). Video & Electronic Surveillance After taking root in the late 19th century video surveillance started as an all analog video surveillance system, also known as loop television monitoring. The transmission distance was not too far and in the main used for small scale monitoring.Todays digital equipment has aban get intoed birth to intelligent analysis engineering that is able to provide more substantial results, such as motion detection, face recognition and target trailing with the capability to transmit over great distances in or so any setting. Likewise the advancement in computer technology has capable opportunity for other means of electronic surveillance. One example is data tracking, sometimes referred to as data logging, which is the ability to capture information such as places of preferred visit, individual purchases, telephone activity, choice of TV progr amming and internet websites of interest to name a few.Chuck Huff writes with technology comes knowledge and with that comes responsibility. So is todays surveillance prudent or are we inadvertently stepping the boundaries of acceptable supervision? Yes one could argue the whole point of surveillance is to keep us safer from those in society who could potentially hurt us. Might it be a true relation to consider the fewer cameras there are, the higher chance of crime happening. alas surveillance cameras are not able to prevent the crimes or demote the criminals. Yes, cameras can make us aware but unfortunately acquiret protect us.Consider the privacy impact on both cameras and data logging. The laws that most affect the legality of using these types of surveillance are personal privacy laws that limit the collection, use and disclosure of individuals personal information, this law is PIPEDA (personal information protection and electronic documents act). Cameras in public areas l ike lay tend to make the laws outlined in PIPEDA seem opaque and unclear. If cameras are put in public areas doesnt that now make it a private area be progress to the whole idea of being watched is added in?This is of trail if we accept public areas defined as that which is open to all persons. So if we put more surveillance in a grocery store, does it become a private venue? No, it does not. In the same way, employers using cameras, berry surveillance software, listening to live calls, GPS tracking, secretly reading text messages and aftermath call logs in the workplace doesnt mean that its an assault of privacy or illegal it just means that the use of surveillance in the workplace is subject to restrictions.In the end, just because tidy sum dont like being watched doesnt mean we sacrifice our built-in rights as a society to have safety, security and stability. Society must also consider the impact of surveillance on individual perception. There is the potential that added surveillance in a neighborhood will cause communities to lose money and possibly raise taxes, which makes the community less popular. still cameras and data logging violate the countrys Privacy Act, because it records the actions of thousands of people in public areas / spaces without there being any reasonable evidence that a criminal act is occurring.Society cant help but ask, when does surveillance inadvertently switch from supervision to snoopervision? Ultimately the use of technology has outpaced Canadas privacy laws, especially in a postal service September 11th, 2001 world where security concerns threaten individual rights. Conclusion Surveillance technology compositions such as audio, video too much more complex system such as data tracking and biometrics offer great importance to national security, public safety and boilers suit protection of people from harm.These surveillance systems also drop down individual liberty and right to privacy. Surveillance technology pro tects society against child molesters, terrorist attacks and destruction. But at the same time these technology is used to neglects individual rights by tracking everyones actions which intern harms society because they do not protect peoples privacy. There are benefits and concerns of using surveillance system because distinguishable situation compels us to take measures that can protect or neglect society as a whole.