Qn.

With the influence of technology, the society become a BIG BROTHER house. Critically assess the statement.

Essay

 

Surveillance has for a while remained a topical issue in the developed countries because of its rampant increase. The main controversial issues being personal privacy. Lyon comments that “the filed of surveillance studies has grown rapidly over the past two decades, spurred by both rapid developments in governance and new technologies on the one hand, and fresh initiatives in theoretical expansion on the other.” (2006: 3)

 

In a BBC News article on the 2nd of November 2006, the headline was “Britain is a surveillance society” this article goes ahead to say that there are 4.2 million cameras in the Britain, one for every 14 people. Christain Parenti in his book “The soft cage” talks about a similar situation in the United States. He mentions that ordinary American citizens in the 21st century are subject to CCTV cameras, smart cards, GPS chips in cell phones, electronic transaction are recorded and archived for data mining by the authorities and corporations.

 

Surveillance is an ambiguous and controversial term that has no single definition because of its complex nature. The term comes from a French word surveiller, which means to watch over and relates to words like inspect, view, espionage and infiltration.

 

David Lyon defines it as “a focused and routine attention to personal detail for purposes of influence, management, protection or direction” (2007:14)

 

The Home Office on the other hand defines it as recording, monitoring, observing and listening to individual’s movements, conversations and other activities or communications.

 

In order to get a full understanding of surveillance it is necessary to look at its history, current state and possible future.

 

Surveillance systems replicate Jeremy Bentham’s panopticon. Panopticon means all seeing. Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) was a utilitarian philosopher and theorist of British legal reform. He designed the panopticon in the 18th Century which consisted of a tower that lay in the centre of the building. The prison guards sat in the tower and could see into every cell. The central location of the tower meant that it was a constant reminder to the prisoners that they were being watched. The idea behind the mechanism is that the prisoners could not tell whether they are being watched or not which Jeremy Bentham refers to as  ‘sentiment of an invisible omniscience’ (Atkinson pg 85)

 

Michael Foucault (1926-1984), a French historian and philosopher took interest in Jeremy Bentham’s Panopticon. In his book discipline and punish he juxtaposes two kinds of punishment: Monarchical punishment which involves brutality and torture and Disciplinary punishment which psychologically gives professionals power over the prisoners.

He says  “Hence the major effect of the Panopticon: to induce in the inmate a state of conscious and permanent visibility that assures the automatic functioning of power.

In view of this, Bentham laid down the principle that power should be visible and unverifiable. Visible: the inmate will constantly have before his eyes the tall outline of the central tower from which he is spied upon. Unverifiable: the inmate must never know whether he is being looked at any one moment; but he must be sure that he may always be so” (p.195-228)

 

CCTV technology and the psychology behind it has similarities with the working of the panopticon however the general surveillance culture is comparable to George Orwell’s fictional book 1984. Nineteen Eighty-four is a dystopian novel, published in 1949. The writer George Orwell tells the story of Winston Smith and his dilapidation by the dictatorial super state Oceania. The novel describes a world of “Totalitarianism” where “Thought crime” means death through the dealings of “Thought Police”. The “Thought Police” were said to have placed Telescreens, hidden microphones and informers in every public place. This book explains the nature of the uninterrupted war, and exposes the truth behind the Party’s slogan, “War Is Peace; Freedom is Slavery; Ignorance is Strength.”

 

George Orwell’s depiction of society has similarities with the current surveillance culture for example there, is a believed notion that ‘big brother’ is always watching which is not unlike to day where you have surveillance cameras in almost all public places. 

 

There are two broad types of surveillance: mass surveillance also known as undirected surveillance and targeted surveillance. Mass surveillance is where the information gathered about all individuals for possible future use for example CCTV and databases.

On the other hand targeted surveillance “is surveillance directed at particular individuals and can involve the use of specific powers by authorised public agencies.

 

In 2004 Richard Thomas warned that Britain could be sleep walking into a surveillance society (BBC News) and Lord Norton of Louth described the surveillance state as ‘one of the most significant changes in the life of the nation since the end of the second world war. Today surveillance is almost becoming second nature and this is the case with countries like the UK who on top of having millions of cameras also have mobile phone triangulation, chip and pin, internet cookies, banking and iris scans that is always happening at certain airports like such Heathrow, Birmingham and Manchester.

 

David Leppard in The Sunday Times reported that the government was building a secret database to track down all the 60 million Britons when they are on holiday. This database would contain names, addresses, telephone numbers, seat reservations, travel itineraries and credit card details and this information would be stored for up to 10 years.

 

Further more, there have been public concerns about DNA databases that stored information about children. In guardian.co.uk, James Sturcke notes that “Genetic information taken from nearly 1.1 million children is now stored on the national DNA database, official figures show, and campaigners believe that as many as half of them have no criminal convictions” and goes on to say that Britain has the biggest DNA database in the world with profiles of more than 7% of the total population. The reason behind this rampant increase in surveillance is to cut down on criminal activities.

 

On the other hand surveillance has become a trend in entertainment as reality Television. There are several unscripted shows that document the lives of ordinary people. Show like “Big Brother”, I am a Celebrity Get Me out of Here” and Survivor are examples of the reality shows where participants are under constant surveillance. Hidden cameras and microphones are placed all over the set where the participants are likely to go in order to capture their interpersonal relationship. It’s the voyeuristic aspect of the show that keeps people tuning in. BBC News commented that “Television seems to be obsessed with fly on the on the wall documentaries” But this is only because they listen to their audience and give them what they want. More people are willingly happy to give up their privacy by opening social networking sites and sharing their personal information and images with many people in the world including total strangers. Many people are using websites to post videos of themselves on sites like U Tube. Unlike covert surveillance, the subject is aware that he is being observed and takes pride in that fact. It may be that people are willing to sacrifice some privacy for what they see as a greater reward, such as fame or riches. It may also be that the act of ‘choosing’ to go public empowers them to feel in control of the situation (however illusory that may actually be) in contrast to the situation where surveillance is non-voluntary.

 

The most foreseeable development in surveillance is the introduction of ID cards for all UK nationals and foreigners who intend to stay in the UK for longer than three months. According to the Home Office  “Each ID card will be unique, and will combine the cardholder’s biometric data with their checked and confirmed identity details and ‘biographical footprint’. These identity details and the biometrics will be stored on the national identity register. Basic identity information will also be held in a chip on the ID card itself.

In a report produced by a group of academics called the Surveillance Studies Network predicts that by 2016 surveillance will be mainstream culture. This is because surveillance systems will be everywhere and less obvious at immediate glance. They are referred to as “friendly flying eyes in the sky.

 

Shoppers could have an implanted chip to help them shop, therefore instead of credit or debit cards may have a part of their body scanned. Tagging and tracking children could be the norm, schools could bring in cards allowing their parents to monitor what their children eat and jobs may be refused to applicants who are seen as a health risk. The report was presented to the 28th International Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners’ Conference in London, hosted by the Information Commissioner’s Office.

 

Another likely development in surveillance is the microchip implant in children to prevent children from being abducted and also monitor their behavior. This idea was developed by the cybernetic professor Kevin Warwick of Reading University after the bodies of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman were found in a ditch. He says that a chip implant“ would send a signal via mobile phone networks to a computer, which would pinpoint her location on an electronic map.” (Megan Lane: BBC News Online magazine).

 

The notion surveillance society has also produced some tangible results, it’s claimed. Speed cameras have been known to cut down on over speeding and a number of road accidents have decreased considerably since their introduction and enforcement. In a police pilot scheme in Northamptonshire, speed cameras were installed and this saw the rate of accidents dropping by 67% and the number of over speeding motorists dropping from 73% to 7%. (BBC News 13th August 2001).

However there has been a contrasting concern that actually speed cameras may be a cause of traffic accidents. Dave Keenan from the university of Leeds did a research on the effect of speed cameras. In his report he says “The effect of the camera on driver behavior can create new problems such as erratic breaking and acceleration and distract drivers from traffic flow”(BBC News 23rd August 2002)

 

Security cameras can assist the process of tracking down criminals and obtaining evidence. A good example is the camera evidence collected about the 21st July 2006 London bombers that led to their arrest (Karen McVeigh Guardian.co.uk , July 10th 2007 accessed on 31st of March 2008).

Video surveillance cameras are creating a vastly increased rate of conviction after crimes are detected. Virtually everyone caught committing an offense on camera pleads guilty nowadays.

 

Once people know they have been videotaped, they admit the offense immediately. Such is also the case in Newcastle, where the installation of a 16‐camera system has resulted in a 100 percent incidence of guilty pleas.” Andrew Neil Show, BBC TV, 29 May 1996) cited inojotech.com

 

It is also claimed that the ‘shadow effect’ can improve crime in non-monitored areas. “Poyner (1991) evaluated a multi‐component scheme at the University of Surrey in Guildford, England, in which both the two parking lots received up‐graded lighting and foliage was cut back, but only the one parking lot received video surveillance cameras. Ten‐months after the program started, the author found that thefts from vehicles were substantially reduced in both improved parking lots.

 

In the camera‐equipped site, the monthly average of incidents declined by almost three‐quarters (73.3%), while in the second lot, they were almost eliminated (a drop of 93.8%)”

 

However despite the fact the surveillance systems have cost the taxpayer over £200 million, they do not prevent as much crime as it was recently thought. According to Peter Sayer of abc News, London has over 10,000 publicly funded CCTV cameras but only one in five crimes are solved. Dee Doocey, the Liberal democrats spokes person commented that “Our figures show that there is no link between a high number of CCTV cameras and a better crime clear-up rate…..Boroughs with thousands of CCTV cameras are no better at doing so than those which have a few dozen”

 

Ron Paul (2008), a member of the US House of Representatives says “One overriding point has been forgotten: Criminals don’t obey laws! As with gun control, national ID cards will only affect law-abiding citizens. Do we really believe a terrorist bent on murder is going to dutifully obtain a federal ID card? Do we believe that people who openly flout our immigration laws will nonetheless respect our ID requirements? Any ID card can be forged; any federal agency or state DMV is susceptible to corruption. Criminals can and will obtain national ID cards, or operate without them. National ID cards will be used to track the law-abiding masses, not criminals.”

 

Surveillance cameras can increase efficiency by monitoring staff. According to McCahill (2002:160) surveillance cameras in departmental stores not only track shoplifters and but are also used to monitor customer service, till operation and procedures” Inverse surveillance which refers to practice of reversalism on surveillance can has also been significant in monitoring working ethics of those in power for example ordinary people filming the police.

This was the case with George Holliday’s video that he filmed of the Los Angeles police violently beating up Rodney King. This video was later used in Court. Mydans comments that “The videotape… shows officers taking turns swinging their nightsticks like baseball bats at the man and kicking him in the head as he lay on the ground early Sunday,” (New York Times)

According to Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs, security comes second to the satisfaction of physiological needs. The need for security can be fulfilled by the thought of having ‘some one watching over us’. The uses and gratifications model on media audiences that were developed by Jay Blumler and Elihu Katz in 1974 was commented on by Branston and Stafford (2003:153).

 

Their thesis was that consumers of the media are in control and use the contents to gratify their own needs. For example, CCTV and the CCTV footage could also be used by the public to find out more about their surroundings. This could even be construed as inverse surveillance.

 

Similarly, television soaps, documentaries and other reality shows, present social issues and assist the public to understand modern social dilemmas.  For example, it was after ‘Big Brother’ 2006 that Tourrrette’s Syndrome was appreciated by the public as an illness and not just odd behaviour, and the fact that Pete Bennet who suffers from this illness won ‘Big Brother’ that year demonstrates rewards for both the watcher and the one who is being watched. The more some one knows about their environment the safer they feel, hence gratifying their need for security. However Benjamin Franklin’s  (as quoted by Gus Martin) said “They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

 

For those in favour of safety over privacy, the (Radio Frequency Identification Device) RFID technology is ideal. This device utilizes radio waves to transmit and automatically identify user specified information. RFID chips implanted in people with Alzheimers disease have helped track down people who wander off. This chip also contains all the necessary information about the owner’s medical history which means that even if they do not have speech or are confused they can still get the necessary medical care from the health personnel. This information comes straight on the screen when the chip is scanned. Roxane whose mother was implanted with this chip says “ It is one thing to tell the emergence room personnel over the phone that my mother has an allergic condition on her record…but with a signed record on the computer screen, they can just read and act without having to spend valuable time tracking me down” (Verichipcorp.com)

Surveillance has for longed posed privacy matters due to some very intrusive systems like communications interception kinds of surveillance. According to the UK parliament publications and record, it is noted that “In the opinion of many of our witnesses, the widespread use of surveillance technology poses a significant threat to personal privacy and individual freedom.

Liberty argued that the shift towards mass surveillance technology has the potential to affect large sections of the public, and to render privacy, and the personal autonomy that flows from it, vulnerable: “It is not only those that have something to hide that have something to fear, something to protect” (Pg. 103).

 

Talking about surveillance the House of Lords said “Many of these surveillance practices are unknown to most people and their potential consequences are not fully appreciated…Everyday an astonishing range of information is gathered, extending from phone calls, internet usage and e-mails to the Oyster cards used on London’s transport system and store loyalty cards” they also warned that this data may be exploited in ways the public would not anticipate. Increasing interaction between the public and private sector exacerbates this problem. Government utilisation of airline passenger manifests to record entry and exit into the UK is one example. (Times online)

In conclusion therefore the majority of people, when polled, are generally in favour of surveillance devices because of the sense of security that they give for example there is little complaint about speed cameras and this because this is helping to reduce the highest rate of road deaths in Europe. But concerns remain that personal privacy is becoming a thing of the past and that these huge amounts of information that are collected remain in the hands of those in power and could be misused at the expense of the ordinary person.  

 

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

 

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