IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 18

Author Information
The author is with the university of Ontario, Institute of Technology, Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. Email:
Isabel.Pedersen@uoit.ca.

References

[1] CNN, "Obama: 'We're building Iron Man," YouTube, Feb. 25, 2014;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77pnVFLkujM&app=desktop.

OPINION

[2] I. Pedersen, Ready to Wear: A Rhetoric of Wearable Computers
and Reality-Shifting Media. Anderson: Parlor Press, 2013.
[3] I. Hart, "True skin sci-fi short nails that Blade runnervibe," Wired,
Oct. 16, 2012.
[4] J. Gallagher, "Electronic tattoo 'could revolutionise patient monitoring,'" BBC News, Aug. 12, 2011; http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/
health-14489208.
[5] K. Harmon, "Skinlike electronic patch takes pulse, promises new
human-machine integration," Scientific Amer., Aug. 11, 2011; http://
www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=skin-electronic-patch.

(continued from page 13)

a significant check on police power-or they could
people exclaim in wonderment when an incident,
become just another form of government surveillance.
like the beating of rodney King, "happens to" get
Similarly, drones are likely to be contested as well,
caught on camera. That is rapidly being replaced by
with both individuals and government agents trying
a new mindset in which the default expectation is that
to use the technology to increase their power. There
something taking place in public will be recorded.
is already a lot of pent-up demand among police
Thus you often hear expressions of disappointment
departments for this cheap aerial surveillance techwhen a disputed or dramatic public event is NOT
nology-but at the same time, the technology has
caught on video.
sparked widespread concern about privacy, includThere will inevitably be some chilling effects on
ing proposed regulations in 43 state legislatures, 8 of
people's behavior simply because of the predomiwhich passed such rules into law. Citizens are also
nance of distributed private cameras-but pervabeginning to use drones, as they do
sive, centralized, government-run
cellphone cameras, to watch over
surveillance would be far worse. In
We are moving
government. Drones have been used
a world where private cameras are
toward a new set of
by protesters around the world to
everywhere, most of the security
record the actions of riot police at
societal expectations benefits of government-run camera
demonstrations, for example, and by
systems can be achieved by simply
surrounding video
environmentalists and journalists.
having the police collect private
surveillance.
But some security experts are already
footage from decentralized sources
starting to express concern over the
after the fact when an incident
possibility of unmanned aircraft being used in terror
occurs. This is what happened after the Boston Marattacks - which raises the question of whether governathon. There is less and less reason for the government will seek a monopoly over the new technology
ment to be building centralized surveillance centers,
by citing fears of the potential for misuse.
which bring along the dangers and chilling effects of
As these battles over camera use move forward,
"Big Brother."
the law will be a crucial battleground. Currently, outIn the end, we'd like to see a world where citizens
side of a few private areas where people have a "reaare free to photograph their government, but the govsonable expectation of privacy," such as bathrooms
ernment does not routinely record the activities of citiand changing rooms, the law imposes few if any
zens without individualized suspicion of wrongdoing.
restrictions on photography-and, as the ACLu's
police cases have shown, the courts have broadly
Author Information
found a First Amendment right to photograph things
Jay Stanley (@JayCStanley) is Senior Policy Analyst with
visible from a public area.
the ACLu's Speech, Privacy and Technology Project,
We are currently transitioning toward a new set
where he researches, writes, and speaks about technologyof societal expectations surrounding video surveilrelated privacy and civil liberties issues and their future.
lance. The old expectation was that any given event
Jay is also the editor of the ACLu's "Free Future" blog
would not be photographed. In this mindset we hear
https://www.aclu.org/freefuture; email: jstanley@aclu.org.
18

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IEEE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY MAGAZINE

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SuMMEr 2014
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/ http://http:// https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77pnVFLkujM&app=desktop http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=skin-electronic-patch https://www.aclu.org/freefuture
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014
