Understanding Surveillance Technologies

Everyone needs to understand surveillance technologies. Surveillance devices
are now everywhere and many people don’t even realize they’re
being surveilled, cataloged, and stored in a multitude of databases without
their knowledge. Here are some examples that show how important it is
to get a better understanding of how we are being observed:
• It is now possible to locate extensive detailed information on the
Internet about people who have never even logged on to the Net
nor even used a computer. It is even possible to quickly find out
the names, addresses, and phone numbers of their neighbors, providing
the data to create a composite picture of a neighborhood’s
residents and their social and economic characteristics. This book
provides a better understanding of who is collecting this information,
how they are doing it, and what they are doing with that
data once they have it.
• Some hospitals now routinely take DNA samples of newborn
babies and the U.S. armed forces require mandatory submission
of a DNA sample. This book explains the background and origins
of DNA matching and the possible social consequences of
its use. In many instances, your DNA can reveal your gender,
race, medical tendencies, and physical characteristics.

• Semi-nude and nude photos of unwary victims are being sold on the
Internet without their knowledge or permission. How is this possible?
This book explains how these technologies work and why bootleg images
may not yet be illegal. It further describes ethical and social consequences
of these new forms of exploitation.
• Gaming centers, hotels, and trade shows are now using magnetic access
cards to keep track of their guests. In casinos they can tell how often
patrons play, how much they spend, and how frequently they visit the
establishment. Even universities are beginning to issue student cards
that are also access cards. They work in vending machines, copy machines,
and in various retail outlets on campus. In some instances, this
information is stored in sophisticated databases. This text describes a
variety of types of access and article surveillance technologies that provide
travel suppliers, casinos, hotels, and retail outlets with detailed information
on their patrons.
• Law enforcement agencies are consolidating their forensic and criminal
databases and providing Internet access from any part of the country.
This is providing new ways to solve serial murders and to catch felons
who move from state to state, but it also makes a criminal less distinguishable
from a law-abiding citizen in a computer database. However
good the intentions of the law enforcement personnel may be, there are
good ways and bad ways to structure databases so they don’t violate the
rights of honest people and not all programmers who create the software
are aware of the ethical consequences of their software design strategies.
This text looks at some of the various databases that are being used
to fight crime and how we can take steps to support the efforts of law
enforcement officials without turning the country into a repressive Big
Brother society.
This is just a handful of the significant issues discussed in this book. There are
also notes on the history and current state of intelligence-gathering in America,
concerns about chemical and nuclear treaty surveillance and enforcement, and
information about new technologies that are allowing us to surveil space and
other planets.
Surveillance devices are used in virtually every field of endeavor, from handheld
magnifying glasses to sophisticated magnetic resonance imaging machines, ‘spy’
devices allow us to see beyond the basic senses that nature gave us in ways we
wouldn’t have imagined two hundred or even fifty years ago. This book is a
fascinating journey through technology and provides more than a little food for
thought as to how we can and should use these new devices.