The Surveillance Society

On the 20 May 2008 the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee published an important report entitled A Surveillance Society? which was a comprehensive review of the state of surveillance in the UK and its associated risks and benefits. There is much to be learnt from the report by those who develop and supply ICT components which enable surveillance. It is the advances in ICT which have led to significant increases in actual and potential surveillance activities of individuals in the UK.

A number of key design tenets are included in the report which are based on the principle of data minimisation. It is this principle which helps to keep surveillance in check which is vital as " Loss of privacy through excessive surveillance erodes trust between the individual and the Government [or the private sector] and can change the nature of the relationship between citizen and state [or private organisations]" .

It is clear that surveillance in all its many forms casts a very long and permanent data shadow which provides a very detailed view of our lives. Government and its agencies, banks, building societies, credit reference agencies and retailers all add to and use our data shadows. The report points out that " The commercial sector has driven a great many of the developments in this area, recognising the competitive advantage that information about customers can bring when used to target marketing and design personalised services." However there are significant risks and, " Mistakes in or misuse of databases can cause substantial practical harm to individuals - particularly those who have little awareness of or control over how their information is used."

It seems that we do not fully understand the ramifications of use and dependency on ICT and its long term effects. This is illustrated by paragraph 9 of the report which states, " Privacy plays an important role in the social contract between citizen and state: to enjoy a private life is to act on the assumption that the state trusts the citizen to behave in a law-abiding and responsible way. Engaging in more surveillance undermines this assumption and erodes trust between citizen and state. In turn such an erosion of trust - with the citizen living under the assumption that he or she is not trusted by the state to behave within the law - may lead to a change in the reaction of the citizen and in his or her behaviour in interactions with other citizens and the Government."

Fit-for-purpose and socially-sensitive ICT which " facilitate the collection, storage and use of information about individuals and their activities have clear benefits for the individual as a consumer and a user of public services. If collected accurately and used properly databases of personal information can support both 'de-personalised' , impartial decision-making processes and the delivery of 'personalised' services tailored to the needs of the individual." (paragraph 123) However there are risks which need to be carefully addressed which include the erosion of privacy and individual liberty, the excessive amount of personal information collected, the excessive length of time such information is kept, and the lack of awareness or ability of an individual to check and control information about them. Paragraph 76 of the report points out that " A strong common theme is emerging in both the private and public sector: a move towards more personalised services which require the service provider to collect information from individuals in order for the service to be effective. Whilst the outcome may be more personalised, however, the trend in terms of input is a standardisation of the information requested with a tendency to collect information which may identify an individual even where this is not needed in order to provide or improve services."

Three practical tenets provide a framework within which to develop surveillance information systems.

Without ICT the surveillance society would not exist. Every ICT professional must review his or her role in sustaining a society where surveillance is sufficient to be beneficial for each of us and not excessive so it undermines trust, self-esteem and freedom.

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