The paper review critically analyses technologies deception, surveillance, and control as presented by Torin Monahan (2016). These include unreliable hotel and workplace thermostats, digital Spywares deployed on company computers, family...
moreThe paper review critically analyses technologies deception, surveillance, and control as presented by Torin Monahan (2016). These include unreliable hotel and workplace thermostats, digital Spywares deployed on company computers, family members, commercial purposes as well as law enforcement use of these surveillance technologies. The analysis will go further to account for data security concerns and how collected data could be vulnerable to cybercriminals or even become gateways to supply chain attacks carried out by APTs on critical infrastructures. The article review proceeds with comparatively assessing the national security necessity, implications, and potential outcomes of mass surveillance programs. Torin noted that if deception in itself is not the primary problem with such systems, then transparency cannot be the solution while also highlighting vulnerabilities that exist within such technologies: imbalances in power, unchecked powers accorded to collection agencies (employers, or law enforcement) which could result in abuse of trust, misuse, or control of the targeted individual(s). Thus, this paper seeks to propose checksand-balances of what kind of data should be mass collected, how the data should be stored, and in what instances can the data be accessed or transmitted to third parties. The paper uses a holistic approach to enhance the understanding of why public surveillance systems are deployed, prevailing ethical and legal concerns, how deception and mass surveillance systems support law enforcement activities and what measures can be put in place to guarantee the protection of data collected. The focus is more on surveillance systems than deceptive technologies.