Ethical ecosurveillance: Mitigating the potential impacts on humans of widespread environmental monitoring

Ecosurveillance has proliferated in recent years, generating vast amounts of data on the natural environment. Ecosurveillance also has significant potential impacts on humans; therefore, researchers and policymakers need new conceptual tools to anticipate and mitigate any negative effects. Surveillance studies is an interdisciplinary field in the social sciences, providing a number of insights and practical lessons for predicting and managing the complex impacts (positive and negative, intended and unintended) of surveillance tools and practices. We draw on surveillance studies literature to propose two tools to guide designers and practitioners of ecosurveillance—a ‘red flag checklist’ to anticipate potential problems, and a ‘considerations guide’ to inform design decisions across a wide range of ecosurveillance systems. These tools will help ensure that the coming era of ecosurveillance is guided by responsible and ethical practices towards wildlife and humans alike, while also realizing the potential of these technologies for improving environmental outcomes.publishedVersio

Privacy, Visibility, Transparency, and Exposure

This essay considers the relationship between privacy and visibility in the networked information age. Visibility is an important determinant of harm to privacy, but a persistent tendency to conceptualize privacy harms and expectations in terms of visibility has created two problems. First, focusing on visibility diminishes the salience and obscures the operation of nonvisual mechanisms designed to render individual identity, behavior, and preferences transparent to third parties. The metaphoric mapping to visibility suggests that surveillance is simply passive observation, rather than the active production of categories, narratives, and, norms. Second, even a broader conception of privacy harms as a function of informational transparency is incomplete. Privacy has a spatial dimension as well as an informational dimension. The spatial dimension of the privacy interest, which the author characterizes as an interest in avoiding or selectively limiting exposure, concerns the structure of experienced space. It is not negated by the fact that people in public spaces expect to be visible to others present in those spaces, and it encompasses both the arrangement of physical spaces and the design of networked communications technologies. U.S. privacy law and theory currently do not recognize this interest at all. This essay argues that they should

Visual surveillance: Contemporary sociological issues

The topic of this dissertation is visual surveillance. The research addresses two aspects of surveillance in the social world. First, how surveillance cameras oversee people and activities in social space, and second, how the individuals and technology of surveillance are organized. The introduction describes the recent proliferation of surveillance. The literature review describes what I call the six sociological tenets of visual surveillance. The methodology describes the qualitative techniques used in this research, including the issues and problems encountered in studying secret organizations. The results of interviews and interactions are presented as an ethnographic narrative that describes: a history of surveillance, surveillance practices, and surveillance organizations. The findings of this research propose an ideal-typical characterization of visual surveillance organizations

Zaštita privatnosti u zemljama Zapadnog Balkana: tipologija građana prema njihovim stavovima

This study examines which segments of population with similar attitudes towards privacy, data protection and surveillance exist in selected Western Balkan countries, and whether they can be differentiated by demographic characteristics and by country of residence. The data collected by survey were analyzed using factor analysis, k-means cluster analysis and chi-square test. The findings indicate that there are three groups of citizens with similar attitudes in selected Western Balkan countries: (1) pro-surveillance oriented citizens, (2) citizens concerned about being surveilled, and (3) citizens opting for better data protection. The identified groups of citizens differ in age, education, employment and country of residence. The results provide insights on how individuals form their attitudes on contemporary privacy, data protection and surveillance issues.U ovom se radu ispituje postoje li skupine građana sa sličnim stavovima o privatnosti, zaštiti podataka i nadzoru u odabranim zemljama Zapadnog Balkana i razlikuju li se ti stavovi s obzirom na demografska obilježja i zemlju porijekla ispitanika. Anketni podaci su analizirani uporabom faktorske analize, k-means klaster analize i hi-kvadrat testa. Rezultati ukazuju da postoje tri skupine građana sa sličnim stavovima: 1) građani koji zagovaraju nadzor, 2) građani zabrinuti zbog nadzora koji se nad njima provodi, i 3) građani koji zagovaraju bolju zaštitu podataka. Identificirane skupine razlikuju se prema dobi ispitanika, stupnju obrazovanja, statusu zaposlenja i zemlji porijekla. Rezultati istraživanja pružaju uvid o tome kako pojedinci formiraju svoj stav prema suvremenoj problematici privatnosti, zaštite podataka i nadzora u regiji

Vigilância camuflada? Compreendendo a contra-vigilância como prática e discurso crítico

In 2008, an exhibition center in Northern Spain hosted a project called Situation Room which tried to recreate an “open” control room drawing, on the one hand, on the experience of previous hacklabs or medialabs set up by social movements, and, on the other, on an operations room designed in the 70s in order to gather and analyze economic data to organize the Chilean economy under Salvador Allende’s government, called Project Cybersyn. The fact that an artistic/activist project would use a government initiative of surveillance as a reference brings to the fore questions about what it means to subvert the surveillance society, and the limits of privacy in the information society. What is identified as the problem in critical discourses, the ability to monitor people’s everyday moves and store personal data or the aims of surveillance? Or maybe it is the ideology or political affiliation of the surveillants that makes the difference? Are there instances in which the massive storage of personal data could be justified? Is all surveillance wrong or can control and data-mining be put to the service of dissent or the common good? This paper explores how definitions of counter-surveillance, sousveillance , privacy and data protection have been theorized in the existing literature and artistic practices and confront them with recurring themes in critical surveillance studies.En los últimos años diferentes proyectos artísticos se han inspirado en prácticas de vigilancia y los procesos sociales capturados por éstas. De la misma forma que en los estudios de vigilancia existe un debate sobre las diferencias entre las diferentes formas de contravigilancia, estos proyectos ofrecen diferentes perspectivas en torno a la posibilidad de recrear, cooptar o denunciar la vigilancia, y se relacionan con el fenómeno de formas diferentes. Apartir de una selección de seis proyectos artísticos sobre la vigilancia y el análisis de las cuestiones relacionadas con el poder, la tecnología y la agencia, este artículo utiliza el arte como puerta de entrada para la exploración de cuestiones que permanecen abiertas en el debate académico: ¿en qué consiste la subversión de la sociedad de vigilancia?, ¿cuáles son las diferencias entre recrear, co-optar y denunciar cuando se pretende concienciar sobre los aspectos cotidianos de las sociedades vigiladas? A partir de estos seis ejemplos artísticos, exploramos las formas en que los proyectos artísticos han planteado estas temáticas y las contraponen a la evolución de tratamiento de estos temas por parte de los estudios de vigilancia. Mientras que la mayor parte de los debates académicos se nutren de contribuciones académicas, este artículo propone una mirada al estado de los estudios de vigilancia desde las prácticas artísticas y las reflexiones que éstas sugieren como punto de partida, encontrando sorprendentes similitudes entre estas dos perspectivas, y sus debilidades actuales.Nos últimos anos, diferentes projetos artísticos se inspiraram nas práticas de vigilância e nos processos sociais capturados por elas. Do mesmo modo que nos estudos de vigilância existe um debate sobre as diferentes formas de contra-vigilância, estes projetos oferecem diferentes perspectivas sobre a consistência de recriar, cooptar ou denunciar a vigilância, além de se relacionar com o fenômeno de maneiras variadas. A partir da seleção de seis projetos artísticos sobre vigilância e a análise de quais seriam suas compreensões sobre as questões relacionadas ao poder, a tecnologia e os agenciamentos, este texto utiliza a arte como porta de entrada para a exploração de assuntos que permanecem indefinidos no debate acadêmico. Em que consiste a subversão na sociedade de vigilância? O que diferencia recriar, cooptar e denunciar quando o que se pretende é conscientizar sobre aspectos cotidianos da sociedade vigiada? A partir destes seis exemplos artísticos, este artigo explora como tais projetos desenvolvem a temática da vigilância, traçando paralelos com as abordagens acadêmicas

The social impact of surveillance in three UK schools : 'angels', 'devils' and 'teen mums'

Drawing upon the preliminary findings of a broader ESRC-funded project on the 'surveilled', this paper examines the social impact of 'new surveillance' technologies on the lives of school children living in a Northern City. We conducted fifteen one-hour 'focus groups' with eighty-five 13 to 16 year-old children in three schools. The pupils were asked a range of questions designed to document their awareness, experience and response to 'surveillance' as 'school children', but also as 'regular citizens' going about their business 'outside' of the school. We show how children's experience and response to surveillance varies across 'social positionings' of class and gender, before going on to discuss the implications of our findings for the major theoretical debates on surveillance

Yet Another Prying Eye: Surveillance as a Consented Cultural Phenomenon?

Authorities locate citizens through their e-trail because everything we do online is recorded. Information technologies are transforming our connections but most people forget using electronic devices is a trade-off. We are surrounded by tools that can trace our steps; yet, the desire to keep up to date with a fast-moving reality has made individuals relinquish secrecy and privacy in their daily relations. This paper is a nutshell reflection on what’s happening and resorts to the notion of consent to explain the depth of modern surveillance practices. It begins by depicting a random day focusing on gadgets that monitor us. It continues by looking at surveillance and shedding light on critical discussions on the topic; and common yet misleading slogans head the following sections. The main argument that surveillance is becoming a cultural phenomenon through technological development is presented in the last segment. It makes way for the conclusions, such as sustainability and transparency being keys to unlocking a healthier tech future.As autoridades localizam os cidadãos através do seu e-rasto porque tudo o que fazemos online é registado. As tecnologias da informação estão a transformar as nossas ligações, mas a maioria das pessoas esquece-se que usar aparelhos eletrónicos é uma troca. Estamos rodeados por ferramentas que podem seguir os nossos passos; porém, o desejo de nos mantermos atualizados com uma realidade veloz tem levado os indivíduos a abdicar do sigilo e privacidade nas suas relações diárias. Este trabalho é uma reflexão concisa do que está a suceder e recorre à noção de consentimento para explicar a profundidade das técnicas modernas de vigilância. Começa por retratar um dia aleatório com enfoque nos dispositivos que nos monitorizam. Continua olhando para a vigilância e trazendo luz a discussões essenciais sobre o assunto; e comuns, embora traiçoeiros, slogans titulam as secções seguintes. O principal argumento de que a vigilância está a tornar-se um fenómeno cultural através do desenvolvimento tecnológico é apresentado no último segmento. Este prepara o caminho para as conclusões, tais como a sustentabilidade e a transparência serem chaves para se desbloquear um futuro tecnológico mais saudável

Beliefs and attitudes of citizens in Germany towards smart surveillance and privacy

This document presents the German results of a qualitative study undertaken as part of the SMART project – “Scalable Measures for Automated Recognition Technologies” (SMART; G.A. 261727). The analysis and results are based on a set of three focus group discussions comprising of 22 participants, which were held in order to examine the beliefs and attitudes of citizens towards smart surveillance and privacy. The focus group discussions were conducted in line with a discussion guide mainly consisting of different scenarios aimed at stimulating a discussion amongst the participants. While some scenarios dealt with surveillance in everyday contexts likely to be encountered by research participants, other scenarios were hypothetical in nature and their aim was to elicit the feelings, beliefs and attitudes of the participants in relation to dataveillance, the massive integration of data from different sources, and the “security versus privacy trade-off”.Scalable Measures for Automated Recognition Technologies (G.A. 267127). The project was co-financed by the European Union within the Seventh Framework Programme (2007-2013).peer-reviewe

Regulating CCTV

Given that the number of CCTV cameras in the UK is the largest in the world, and given that it is unclear when video data should be regarded as Personal Data (or what rights a blanket definition would reasonably provide to the surveilled) it is claimed that a CCTV Act is needed in the UK. This claim appears to be supported by the police authorities [Bal06a], although in addition to a broad claim regarding protection of privacy, their view is that private CCTV should be forced to be of sufficient quality and sufficiently accessible, to be of use to the police. Given the Office of the Surveillance Commissioners� [OSC] existing role in oversight of police surveillance operations, it is suggested that the OSC be made responsible for licensing and regulating CCTV systems and operators. Protection of raw video data as a potential source of Personal Data when processed is necessary (and currently outside the scope of the Office of the Information Commissioner [OIC]). Where raw video data is sufficiently processed to produce Personal Data or where it is linked with other data sufficient to identify individuals, the data would then pass to the aegis of the OIC. Specific proposals for securing data and infrastructure are suggested, in addition to some general Surveillance Protection Principles. This record was migrated from the OpenDepot repository service in June, 2017 before shutting down

Beliefs and attitudes of citizens in Slovenia towards smart surveillance and privacy

This document presents the Slovenia results of a qualitative study undertaken as part of the SMART project – “Scalable Measures for Automated Recognition Technologies” (SMART; G.A. 261727). The analysis and results are based on a set of 3 focus group discussions comprising of 28 participants from different age groups, which were held in order to examine the awareness, understanding, beliefs and attitudes of citizens towards smart surveillance and privacy. The discussions were conducted in line with a discussion guide consisting of different scenarios aimed at stimulating a discussion among participants. While some scenarios dealt with surveillance in everyday contexts likely to be encountered by the participants, other scenarios were hypothetical in nature and their aim was to elicit the participants’ feelings, beliefs and attitudes in relation to dataveillance, the massive integration of data from different sources and the “security versus privacy” trade-off.Scalable Measures for Automated Recognition Technologies (G.A. 267127). The project was co-financed by the European Union within the Seventh Framework Programme (2007-2013).peer-reviewe