Heinz Forum: Government Surveillance

Surveillance: close watch kept over someone or something (as by a detective) (merriam-webster)

Humans have been watching each other, nearly as long as recorded history. Those with power have been particularly interested in keeping tabs on others. 

"I cannot find a faithful message-bearer. How few are they who are able to carry a rather weighty letter without lightening it by reading." - Cicero writing to a friend about Caesar's persistent surveillance. (BBC)

In the US we’ve had laws about wiretapping ever since some enterprising business folks in the 1860s decided to snoop telegraph wires to get hot stock tips. (Smithsonian)

But the the US Constitution’s position on personal privacy, when it comes to the government watching us, is pretty hard to nail down. “The right to privacy often must be balanced against the state's compelling interests, including the promotion of public safety and improving the quality of life.” (livescience)

Today, most of us are pretty conditioned to the idea that we’re being watched by the government all the time. Our images, movements, purchases, relationships, communications, and more are potentially observable. The FBI likes to argue that encrypting and making this flow of personal data private is largely illegal (CNBC) and one FBI agent made this case recently here at Heinz.

We’re mostly willing to give up a little bit of privacy, in order to stay safe, right? Heinz and other CMU researchers are involved in expanding the net, allowing computer systems to watch and predict our behaviors. (CMU) Others are taking advantage of technology to keep industry accountable for air pollution. (CMU)

In the unequal world we live in, is who’s being watched and analyzed equal? Worried watchers of the watchers believe that “predictive policing perpetuates racial prejudice in a dangerous new way, by shrouding it in the legitimacy accorded by science” (Science)

Only have time to listen on the bus? Earbuds in.

• The US and China: A Tale of Two Surveillance States

• Should We Be Afraid of AI in the Criminal Justice System?

Fan of reading? Read on.

• Facebook’s encryption plan is a dream for child pornographers, FBI says (CNBC)

• A Brief History of Surveillance in America (Smithsonian)

• Can ‘predictive policing’ prevent crime before it happens? (Science)

• Predictive policing in Pittsburgh (The Tartan)

• CMU Cameras Provide 24-hour Monitoring Of Industrial Sites (CMU)

We have a lot of things we can talk about here:

• How much of your privacy are you willing to give up in order to feel safe?

• Who do you trust with your information?

• Is 24x7 accountability more of a force for good or bad?

• Would you rather have a human or a computer/algorithm monitoring you?