Tag: Electronic surveillance

Smart CCTVs: Third Eye of Secure Cities

CCTV
Courtesy Steve Rotman/Flickr. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

This article was originally published by the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) in December 2016.

Synopsis

Many cities around the world are exploring the use of Smart CCTVs as advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) offer operational value for homeland security. However, cybersecurity and overreliance could impede the technology’s potential.

Commentary

Following recent terrorist incidents, Germany’s Interior Minister announced in August 2016 that CCTV cameras at airports and train stations will be enhanced with facial recognition technology. Likewise, the New York Police Department has developed the Domain Awareness System that uses similar technology to track and monitor potential suspects.

Globalisation increases the exposure of cities to myriad transnational threats even as growing urbanisation is putting the strain on law enforcement by increasing the densities of population, property and critical infrastructure to be safeguarded in each precinct. These inherent challenges in protecting cities – population and economic centres that make attractive soft targets – necessitate the early warning and identification of threats. Smart CCTVs support this function as the third eye of cities by complementing the vigilance of police officers and the community.

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Does Surveillance Mean the Death of Democracy?

NSA Grafitti in Stockholm, Sweden. Image: beppek/Pixabay

This article was originally published by openDemocracy on 29 October, 2015.

In computing, a “segmentation fault” occurs when a program tries to access information that it has no business accessing.

Emotion vs. reason. Instinct vs. analysis. Heart vs. brain. Perhaps there is no other dichotomy in our intellectual history that still holds similar sway. From an early age, we are taught to dissect what goes on in our minds and neatly compartimentalise it into these two boxes. When, in 2015, we survey the challenges facing our democracies, it is easy to slide back into this old habit.

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Why Would the US Spy on its Allies? Because Everyone Does

People in Berlin protesting the NSA surveillance program. Image: Digitale Gesellschaft/Wikimedia

This article was originally published by The Conversation on 24 June, 2015.

The spotlight must be an uncomfortable position for intelligence organisations that would far prefer to remain in the shadows. But since Edward Snowden fled the United States in the summer of 2013, there has been an almost constant drip-feed of stories concerning the operations of the US National Security Agency (NSA) and the UK Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ). Yet the most recent scoop – originating from Wikileaks – has shown that we would do well to consider these kinds of “revelations” with a little greater care.

At its heart, the claim that the NSA spied on French presidents Jacques Chirac, Nicolas Sarkozy and Francois Holland, effectively boils down to: “country A spied on country B”. As a piece of news, this surely sits alongside the Pope’s status as a Catholic. What else would we expect a national intelligence gathering agency to do? The fundamental purpose of such organisations is to seek out national advantage, in whatever field – whether it is political, economic, military, or otherwise.

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Surveillance and American Liberty

Statue of Liberty
Statue of Liberty at dusk. Photo: gimmeahug/flickr.

CAMBRIDGE – Ever since Edward J. Snowden disclosed the National Security Agency’s ongoing collection of massive amounts of electronic-communications data generated by United States citizens and non-citizens alike, attention has been lavished on his personal status. But the more important issue, even before Russia granted him temporary asylum, is the status of American civil liberties. Is the US guilty of hypocrisy, as Russia, China, and others have charged?

To answer that question, it is important to distinguish between two issues that have become conflated in public debate: electronic espionage against foreign entities and domestic surveillance of a government’s own citizens.

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Protecting Privacy in a Surveillance Society

1984 CD
1984, a George Orwell novel - and Van Halen CD, photo: aresauburn/flickr

While new technologies have enhanced user freedoms, they have also created opportunities for dramatic invasions of privacy – including by governments against their own citizens. How can governments better balance national security needs against citizens’ right to privacy?

This ISN Special Report contains the following content:

  • An Analysis by Peter Buxbaum about crafting sensible public policy on electronic surveillance and data mining.
  • A Podcast interview with Bruce Schneier suggests that technology is neither a magic bullet that can stop terrorism nor a catalyst for invading privacy.
  • Security Watch articles about the impact of electronic surveillance in Turkey, the US, Belarus and more.
  • Publications housed in our Digital Library, including a recent Center for European Policy Studies paper on the human rights implications of global technology transfers.
  • Links to relevant websites, such as last week’s Economist article on “Privacy and the Internet.”
  • Our IR Directory, featuring the human rights group, Privacy International.