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| | | -- By ChengyuanZhou? - 29 Nov 2024 | |
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< | What Do You Pay for Your Safety？ | >
> | A Serious Talk | | | | |
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< | Are you willing to give up a certain level of personal privacy for the purpose of improving social security? Most people would say yes. However, people hardly have the right to determine how much of their privacy would be shared with the government. Another group of people simply argue that public surveillance can't promote social governance at all. There is also such a concern that we would live in a world as described in the book 1984, where people's every movement is monitored by the government. Anyway, with the development of modern technology, the intensity, breadth, and depth of government surveillance will inevitably increase to a new level in the foreseeable future. | >
> | On my way to school in an UBER car, I talked to the driver about the US ban on TikTok? . I said that although these social media have the risk of leaking privacy, we are just ordinary people and actually do not deserve the government's attention. Social media sacrifices some privacy but provides us with convenience. At this time, the driver told me seriously that Americans don't think so. An ordinary person may not be worthy of attention, but what if his child becomes a celebrity? The privacy between relatives is closely related, so everyone’s personal privacy should be respected absolutely. These words touched me deeply and made me think a lot. Cameras and social media are both important components of public surveillance. Perhaps we should discuss the potential impact of public surveillance on our personal lives from the perspective of individual rights rather than convenience. | | | Public Surveillance and Public Health
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< | China has more cameras than any other country in the world. Outside of China, the cities with the most CCTV cameras include Delhi, Seoul, Moscow, New York and London. In addition to preventing crime and tracking criminals, public surveillance system can also be used in other areas, such as traffic enforcement, handling public emergencies and improving community management level.
Another important format of public surveillance is monitoring your online activities and your communications with others. It’s a common practice that the police often arrest people for posting comments on social media that endanger public safety. By monitoring the network, they also punish acts that have very bad social impacts, such as child pornography. Spies and terrorist attacks are another story, where such surveillance are not subject to restrictions made by the law.
However, the operation of police power always has the tendency of expansion, and in this process the limit and scope of the original power may be ignored, thus leading to the violation of civil rights. Public surveillance by itself cannot constitute a serious violation of civil rights, the problem is that when it is combined with other government regulatory means, the potential harm is incalculable. For example, if you belong to a group of people concerned by the government, it can know where you appear and track your movements, if you are detected by the facial recognition system of the cameras. Also, many agencies that work with the government will illegally sell your personal information to third parties after obtaining it. Although the government usually claims that people's personal privacy will be respected, you would never know how much of your privacy information has been collected by the government. Your blogs, your chats with other people, the websites you visit, all such information could be easily acquired by the government without your knowledge. If you are not identified by the government as a priority, you are safe as an ordinary person, who seldom goes against the government. If you are, you should be careful.
The Involvement of Artificial Intelligence
In the monitoring system, the application of AI has greatly enhanced the traditional monitoring ability. AI surveillance systems are able to process video data in real time to identify potential threats, such as unattended property or suspicious behavior. This proactive approach allows security personnel to respond quickly to incidents so that preventive measures can be taken in time before the occurrence of potential crimes. For example, many countries are using AI technology for facial recognition, which is widely used in areas such as government buildings and airports. In the field of network security, the role of AI is equally significant. AI technology can significantly reduce the identification time of network incidents. By monitoring citizens’ social media and online activities, governments can use AI to automatically identify those who pose a threat to national and public security and take preventive measures. The technology has raised new concerns about the impact of public surveillance on citizens' privacy. | >
> | Compared with the Western liberalism perspective, East Asia places more emphasis on the responsibilities that individuals should bear in society. Therefore, for the consideration of public safety, the invasion of personal privacy is, to some extent, an acceptable price which should be undertaken by citizens. However, this view is being questioned now, as more and more people have been aware of the importance of personal privacy. From the liberalism perspective, the owner of information should have full self-determination over his personal information. People should have the right to decide when, how and to what extent their information is disclosed to and acquired by others. This is also a valuable idea that I have learned during my legal studies in the United Studies. Privacy is a fundamental right that everyone is born with and is an important line of defense for individuals facing the expansion of police power. Without consent, personal privacy shall not be violated in any way or to any extent. | | | | |
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> | The operation of police power always has the tendency of expansion, and in this process the limit and scope of the original power may be ignored, thus leading to the violation of civil rights. Public surveillance by itself cannot constitute a serious violation of civil rights, the problem is that when it is combined with other government regulatory means, the potential harm is incalculable. For example, if you belong to a group of people concerned by the government, it can know where you appear and track your movements, if you are detected by the facial recognition system of the cameras. Also, many agencies that work with the government will illegally sell your personal information to third parties after obtaining it. Although the government usually claims that people's personal privacy will be respected, you would never know how much of your privacy information has been collected by the government. Your blogs, your chats with other people, the websites you visit, all such information could be easily acquired by the government without your knowledge. You are no longer the master of your own information, and therefore have no true freedom. | | | Resist or Regulate
| | | Public surveillance needs to be resisted. However, with the continuous development of surveillance technology and the need for governments to deter crimes, this trend is becoming irreversible. The government has introduced a large number of laws to regulate surveillance, to show that their surveillance is reasonable and proportionate to the potential crime threat, but this is not enough. The moment citizens are captured by surveillance cameras, they are no longer the owners of their personal information. The law can only allow citizens to obtain compensation after their privacy rights have been violated, and the regulations can only reveal the way the monitoring systems work on paper. The tension between public and private interests leads to the inevitable conflict between the installation and use of public surveillance systems and the right of privacy belonging to citizens. | |
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The best route to improvement is to consider the possibility that people have rights. No, it is not "a common practice that the police often arrest people for posting comments on social media that endanger public safety," except in a society that fails to acknowledge the existent of rights to free expression and freedom of thought.
Perhaps you will never have another chance to live outside the grip of such absolute and remorseless despotism. Perhaps this is the only moment in your life when you will be able to imagine a world in which your children are not consumed by this Moloch. All the more reasons why it is so important to try. Let us have a draft in which this is not some matter subject to compromise or political trade-off, but one involving a principle of such importance that for almost a thousand years my people. the people of liberty, have been willing to die for it; and which here, where you happen momentarily to be, a republic of constitutional liberty exists so that we don't have to. Just that exercise of imagination may be profoundly valuable to you.
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