Peer to Peer Surveillance

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"peer-to-peer surveillance" - the emerging idea that the constant operation of a whole range of digital devices will increasingly be used as evidence against us by parties other than the state. [1]


Description

The concept was used in the following article in The Guardian at http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,1868319,00.html:


"Many of us have already encountered it, when we find ourselves listening to others' muffled conversations deposited on our answering machine by erroneously dialled mobile phones. Thus far, much of the eavesdropping has been by accident, but there are more sinister possibilities. Many of the new mobile phones come armed with the facility to record conversations, and digital voice recorders are now so small as to be inconspicuous.

As applications are designed to imprint the date, time and location in which photographs, conversations and videos are made, and mobile tracking devices increasingly allow us to pinpoint the location of others, we can predict consequences for everyday life as well as the legal system. If mobile phones are currently an accessory to infidelity, for example, the new range of mobile devices may overturn that arrangement: a suspicious spouse can easily chance upon video, picture or location-based proof that you were not where you said you were, or commission evidence in support of their case. The notion of "your word against mine" might soon be redundant; it will be "your word against my digitally enhanced sound recording". The democracy of surveillance, however, might not be as bad as all that. Ever since Rodney King was videoed being beaten to a pulp by the Los Angeles police, trend-spotters have waxed lyrical about the potential for digital evidence to hold wrongdoers to account." (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,1868319,00.html)


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