Abstract
This paper looks at the effects of surveillance on society today. It looks at the significance of surveillance, online safety, and uses the social networking site, Facebook as a case in point due to its popularity amongst the general population and the numerous privacy related issues that...
This paper looks at the effects of surveillance on society today. It looks at the significance of
surveillance, online safety, and uses the social networking site, Facebook as a case in point due
to its popularity amongst the general population and the numerous privacy related issues that the
company has experienced in the last one decade of its existence. Some form of surveillance is
vital to the security of users and related parties. But how far are we willing to let such platforms
go in securing our privacy? This paper does not seek to offer adequate answers to this question
but instead focuses on the effects of such surveillance both within and without social constraints.
, Introduction
Surveillance was not born by the new technology. In fact, a quest to uncover the origins of
surveillance might take us as far back as pre-civilized human societies. Uncivilized human
communities must have needed some kind of surveillance to keep predators at bay or to track the
movements of their prey. However, organized or systematic surveillance is a rather recent
phenomenon beginning in the early 20th century. The development of information and
communication technologies has played a cardinal role in ensuring the escalation of surveillance
in today's world. With this development in modern technologies, new threats to individuals,
communities, and even countries has increased exponentially. This is because such developments
have, in the past decades, increased the flow of personal data tremendously. This means that
governments and major ICT players have had to come up with policy and mechanisms to protect
their clientele from such dangers. Such measures have not always been received with open arms
and hearts. Some analysts have called it the 'end of privacy' (Alice, 2012).
The emergence of surveillance societies has taken an upward trend across the globe. These are
societies that have a collection of personal data at the core of their social functioning. This means
that there is extensive collection, recording, storage, analysis, and application of information,
such as website cookies, online activity, and physical movement captured on camera, on
individual members of such societies as they go about their private business (Surveillance
Studies Network, 2016). But even with such societies, nowhere has the issue of surveillance been
felt more than in social networking websites. Such websites, at their most basic, offer an online
platform for people to interact with other people with whom they have common interests.
Effects of surveillance on society
There have been a lot of cases, especially in the United States, of people accusing the
government of using powerful technology to digitally survey its citizens. This included listening
in on phone calls, watching people through laptop and telephone cameras, and monitoring online
activities. The most recent of this accusations came from a former NSA contractor, Edward
Snowden, leaked classified documents on a complex surveillance system operated by the
government.
Imagine knowing that all the activities you've to engage in in the safe confines of your house
have been watched by somebody somewhere. That all your intimate calls, emails, texts, and
other personal communication have been listened in on. The very thought that this could be true
send shivers down your spine. Soon after Edward Snowden leaked the surveillance documents, a
survey carried out by PEN America Center found out that 28% of respondents avoided social
media activities. Other people have avoided certain topics on during phone calls, texts, and
emails. This being the case then, we can conclude that the biggest effect of surveillance on
society is living in fear of being watched. This intrusion of privacy keeps people in fear.
Significance of surveillance
Due to multiple threats both online and otherwise, some kind of surveillance is necessary to the
well-being of society. It is the prerogative of the government to ensure that it collects enough
intelligence to avert terrorist attacks and other heinous crimes. Local police officers must be able
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