Flaherty examines the passage, revision, and implementation of privacy and data protection laws at the national and state levels in Sweden, Canada, France, Germany, and the United States. He offers a comparative and critical analysis of the challenges data protectors face int their attempt to preserve individual rights.

Incorporating HC 508-i-iv, session 2006-07. For Volume 1, see (ISBN 9780215520807)

Effective Surveillance for Homeland Security: Balancing Technology and Social Issues provides a comprehensive survey of state-of-the-art methods and tools for the surveillance and protection of citizens and critical infrastructures against natural and deliberate threats. Focusing on current technological challenges involving multi-disciplinary problem analysis and systems engineering approaches, it provides an overview of the most relevant aspects of surveillance systems in the framework of homeland security. Addressing both advanced surveillance technologies and the related socio-ethical issues, the book consists of 21 chapters written by international experts from the various sectors of homeland security. Part I, Surveillance and Society, focuses on the societal dimension of surveillance—stressing the importance of societal acceptability as a precondition to any surveillance system. Part II, Physical and Cyber Surveillance, presents advanced technologies for surveillance. It considers developing technologies that are part of a framework whose aim is to move from a simple collection and storage of information toward proactive systems that are able to fuse several information sources to detect relevant events in their early incipient phase. Part III, Technologies for Homeland Security, considers relevant applications of surveillance systems in the framework of homeland security. It presents real-world case studies of how innovative technologies can be used to effectively improve the security of sensitive areas without violating the rights of the people involved. Examining cutting-edge research topics, the book provides you with a comprehensive understanding of the technological, legislative, organizational, and management issues related to surveillance. With a specific focus on privacy, it presents innovative solutions to many of the issues that remain in the quest to balance security with the preservation of privacy that society demands.

The use of Closed-Circuit Television, or CCTV, has dramatically increased over the past decade, but its presence is often so subtle as to go unnoticed. Should we unthinkingly accept that increased surveillance is in the public's best interests, or does this mean that ‘Big Brother' is finally watching us? This book asks provocative questions about the rise of the maximum surveillance society. Is crime control the principal motivation behind increased surveillance or are the reasons more complex? Does surveillance violate peoples' right of privacy? Who gets surveilled and why? What are its implications for social control? Does surveillance actually reduce crime? What will developments in technology mean for the future of surveillance? What rights do individuals under surveillance have? How is the information gathered through CCTV used by the authorities?Based on extensive fieldwork on automated surveillance in Britain over a two-year period, this book not only attempts to answer these vexing questions, but also provides a wealth of detailed information about the reasoning behind and effects of social control.

This book shows how surveillance society shapes and interacts with journalistic practices and discourses. It illustrates not only how surveillance debates play out in and through mediated discourses, but also how practices of surveillance inform the stories, everyday work and the ethics of journalists. The increasing entrenchment of data collection and surveillance in all kinds of social processes raises important questions around new threats to journalistic freedom and political dissent; the responsibilities of media organizations and state actors; the nature of journalists’ relationship to the state; journalists’ ability to protect their sources and data; and the ways in which media coverage shape public perceptions of surveillance, to mention just a few areas of concern. Against this backdrop, the contributions gathered in this book examine areas including media coverage of surveillance, encryption and privacy; journalists’ views on surveillance and security; public debate around the power of intelligence agencies, and the strategies of privacy rights activists. The book raises fundamental questions around the role of journalism in creating the conditions for digital citizenship. The chapters in this book were originally published in a special issue of the journal, Digital Journalism.

This edited collection reports the results of a comparative study of video surveillance/CCTV in Germany, Poland, and Sweden. It investigates how video surveillance as technologically mediated social control is affected by national characteristics, with a specific concern for recent political history. The book is motivated by asking what makes video surveillance "tick" in three very different cultural settings, two of which (Poland and Sweden) are virtually unexplored in the literature on surveillance. The selection of countries is motivated by an interest in societies with recent experiences of authoritarianism, and how they respond to the global trend towards intensified technical means of control. With thorough empirical studies, the book constitutes an important contribution to security studies, surveillance studies, and post-communist area studies.

The issue of how increased security precautions impact on individual privacy is a crucial one for Americans - and many others around the world. Since 9/11 security surveillance and access to personal information by government and their agencies has increased and become, in some people’s eyes, more intrusive and unacceptably controlling and monitoring. To understand the full range and potential impact of these changes it is necessary to look across a very wide spectrum of data and opinion. This is not a subject that simply looking at the media can provide a balanced view of; there are many international agencies and organizations, academic institutions, experts and other knowledgeable individuals with valid and informed views who can contribute to the debate. It is impossible to represent the whole gamut of argument but a selection of articles can help to understand both sides of the issue.

This book constitutes the refereed postconference proceedings of the 4th IFIP WG 9.2, 9.6, 11.6, 11.7/FIDIS International Summer School, held in Brno, Czech Republic, in September 2008. The 20 revised papers were carefully selected from numerous submissions during two rounds of reviewing. They are grouped in topical sections on information, ethics, identifiers; privacy issues; wireless security and privacy; challenges of emerging technologies; privacy-enhanced and anonymous applications; business and organizational perspectives; privacy awareness and individual control; and anonymity attacks and analysis. These interdisciplinary contributions target researchers and practitioners interested in the technical, social, ethical or legal perspectives of increasing diversity of information and communication technologies.

This book gives an overview of current research on and developments in surveillance, including closed circuit TV and biometrics, illustrated by empirical examples. Such proliferating surveillance is encountered especially in the modern city, with its watchful cameras and the demand for plastic card ID and eligibility checks. People depend on it for security, convenience, and efficiency.