Essay About Law Enforcement And Telephone Service

Technology and Your Right to Privacy
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Technology and the invasion of privacy and its effects onthe criminal
justice system over
the last 100 years
Will searching the internet for more than 5 hours on this topic I found a
quote that is very
appropriate it says;
Subtler and more far-reaching means of invading privacy have become
available to the
government. Discovery and invention have made it possible for the
government, by
means far more effective than stretching upon the rack, to obtain disclosure
in court of
what is whispered in the closet.
US Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandies, 1928
If Justice Brandeis could see the advances in technology, he would realize
just how
prophetic his statement is. He would also be appalled by the new
surveillance technologies
that go far beyond his wildest dreams. Now that the cold war is over,
bureaucracy has
little do but track us from the cradle to the grave, from your bank accounts
to the
bedroom. Several of the technologies created by the defense dept. have begun
to creep
into law enforcement, various civilian agencies and private companies. The
laws on the
books are old in comparison and unable to protect us from violation of our
rights.
I the old west there was no system to keep track of criminals. If someone
was wanted he
picture was posted with a reward. If convicted he was sentenced to what the
judge felt
was appropriate.
In the early 60s surveillance and tracking was a slow tidious process of
manual and/or
clerical work. To trace a persons activities you had to physically follow
them, or search
through volumes of card files. It was necessary to contact every one your
suspect came in
contact with. to learn his habits. Electronic surveillance was on a one to
one basis if your
dept was lucky enough to have it. As an example, it took 500,000 east German
secret
informers and 10,000 transcribers just to listen in on its citizens
conversations.
Computers capable of storing large amounts of data have revolutionized the
world of
surveillance. The law enforcement benefits are enormous, and government
bureaucracies
have been able to expand their reach and efficiency.
Will technology was expanding private business was also researching its
uses. Huge
companies offering credit cards, telephone service, banking and many other
consumer
services began to use computers with massive storage capacity.
In this day and age information on every person in the developed world is
computerized
and stored in several if not hundreds of computers. Your information is
collected,
analyzed and disseminated to.. With computer net works, the net and
links, it is possible
now to track everyone with a single identification number, your social
security number.
With your specific identifier everything about you can be instantly
available. Because
medical, dental, financial and general information is stored in the data
bases, a great deal
of detail about you is readily available. Laws in effect make it difficult
to regulate invasion
of privacy as information travels from state to state or across
international borders.
Through the use of computers, finger prints, ID cards and data matching have
been
implemented. Tracking these items allows the government, business be
selective in all
processes affecting you. Intrusive technologies generally fit into three
categories;
surveillance, identification, and networking. when used together as with
biometrics and ID
cards or video and face recognition, a large segment of the population is
being surveiled
with out knowledge or consent. In a very real sense, what the east Germans
only dreamed
about is becoming a reality here in the United States.
ID technologies have advanced at a vary rapid rate. Use of the Social
Security