ENG103 Essay: Surveillance and its effects

Abstract This paper looks at the effects of surveillance on society today. It looks at the significance of surveillance, online safety, and uses the social networking site, Facebook as a case in point due to its popularity amongst the general population and the numerous privacy related issues that the company has experienced in the last one decade of its existence. Some form of surveillance is vital to the security of users and related parties. But how far are we willing to let such platforms go in securing our privacy? This paper does not seek to offer adequate answers to this question but instead focuses on the effects of such surveillance both within and without social constraints. Introduction Surveillance was not born by the new technology. In fact, a quest to uncover the origins of surveillance might take us as far back as pre-civilized human societies. Uncivilized human communities must have needed some kind of surveillance to keep predators at bay or to track the movements of their prey. However, organized or systematic surveillance is a rather recent phenomenon beginning in the early 20th century. The development of information and communication technologies has played a cardinal role in ensuring the escalation of surveillance in today's world. With this development in modern technologies, new threats to individuals, communities, and even countries has increased exponentially. This is because such developments have, in the past decades, increased the flow of personal data tremendously. This means that governments and major ICT players have had to come up with policy and mechanisms to protect their clientele from such dangers. Such measures have not always been received with open arms and hearts. Some analysts have called it the 'end of privacy' (Alice, 2012). The emergence of surveillance societies has taken an upward trend across the globe. These are societies that have a collection of personal data at the core of their social functioning. This means that there is extensive collection, recording, storage, analysis, and application of information, such as website cookies, online activity, and physical movement captured on camera, on individual members of such societies as they go about their private business (Surveillance Studies Network, 2016). But even with such societies, nowhere has the issue of surveillance been felt more than in social networking websites. Such websites, at their most basic, offer an online platform for people to interact with other people with whom they have common interests. Effects of surveillance on society There have been a lot of cases, especially in the United States, of people accusing the government of using powerful technology to digitally survey its citizens. This included listening in on phone calls, watching people through laptop and telephone cameras, and monitoring online activities. The most recent of this accusations came from a former NSA contractor, Edward Snowden, leaked classified documents on a complex surveillance system operated by the government. Imagine knowing that all the activities you've to engage in in the safe confines of your house have been watched by somebody somewhere. That all your intimate calls, emails, texts, and other personal communication have been listened in on. The very thought that this could be true send shivers down your spine. Soon after Edward Snowden leaked the surveillance documents, a survey carried out by PEN America Center found out that 28% of respondents avoided social media activities. Other people have avoided certain topics on during phone calls, texts, and emails. This being the case then, we can conclude that the biggest effect of surveillance on society is living in fear of being watched. This intrusion of privacy keeps people in fear. Significance of surveillance Due to multiple threats both online and otherwise, some kind of surveillance is necessary to the well-being of society. It is the prerogative of the government to ensure that it collects enough intelligence to avert terrorist attacks and other heinous crimes. Local police officers must be able to pick up footage from CCTV camera along highways and other public places in order to solve crimes in our local areas. Online business platforms such as eBay and Amazon need to collect vital information from people who use it in order to ensure the safety of their clientele. Social networks too need to be control of what data comes in and out of their websites in order to ensure that they are not used for negative purposes. Whenever any of the above calls for surveillance, it is for the common good. It is an accepted fact that for common rights to be extended, some individual rights must be given up. While the discussion around this analogy has never been put to a conclusive rest, we can all agree that we must be willing to give up some personal privacy for the sake of our country's well-being. However, this should not give the powers that be absolute power to surveil on unsuspecting citizens. There lies a huge danger of misuse of surveillance power when it gets to the core of our societal systems, structures and the interests they represent (Surveillance Studies Network, 2016). Surveillance is not a sustainable form of management of modern social life. Because of the complex nature of the systems used for surveillance tasks, it is almost impossible for governments to ensure that each employee working on the system is not using it to his/her own means. As the system gets bigger and becomes uncontrollably complex, the question of human rights arises. Individual rights to privacy, civil rights, and the law must be central to any discussion and implementation of any program that interferes with personal data of citizens. Great and eloquent reasons have been given by proponents of surveillance to justify the system. However, the debate on the rights it might infringe on must be held sooner than later. Once surveillance becomes too embedded in our social life for us to feel the negative impact it has on our social interaction, thoughts, and free expression, the discussion of human rights will be impossible to have. Additionally, the state will not have the moral justification to protect citizens whose right to privacy gets infringed upon by other citizens or corporations.