Fergie's Tech Blog

Sowing the Seeds of Surveillance

Jennifer Granick writes on Wired News:

Technology has an almost irresistible lure. When we build systems for surveillance, experience teaches that we will inevitably use them for purposes other than those for which they were originally designed.

Last weekend, the Stanford Technology Law Review held a symposium on the Fourth Amendment, at which participants asked whether traditional conceptions of constitutional privacy are adequate when modern technology tracks personal information in entirely new ways.

One of the major issues discussed at the symposium was, of course, terrorism. The threat of terrorism brings new urgency to debates over surveillance, and makes increased surveillance and control seem justified. There are many reasons why this choice between security and privacy is a false one, but I want to explore how law and technology, once adopted for counterterrorism purposes, morph into other uses.

posted by Fergie @ 1/31/2007 11:32:00 AM