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Budapest W4: Human Rights and Emerging Technology - Class Notes

Surveillance as eavesdropping - is against the human right to privacy, freedom of expression, freedom of speech

What is an impinging of human rights? Phone number monitoring? Or content of phone calls?

Being watched limits freedom to interact with other ethnicities/genders, your freedom to protest, changes the way you self-survey
Cultural understandings of surveillance should be noted, religious and social responses to cameras depend on political and governmental limitations
The same camera can have multiple purposes - we are not always aware of what the footage will be used for, and perhaps the meaning of the footage will change based on the political context

The dangers of surveillance

Surveillance - focused on learning information individuals, intentional, routine and part of administrative apparatus of modern societies, and has a wide variety of purposes (from totalitarian domination to subtle influence or control)

Big Data - both governments and companies use big data to make money. It is derived from patterns of data, connecting subjects to likes, dislikes, people, location and choices. It is used to target us in ways to buy more, vote this way. 

"A recurrent purpose of surveillance is to control behaviour" p.1949

The difference between being offered a book by a bookseller and being suggested by Amazon is that in real life I can choose to be and act differently on a daily basis, whereas Amazon codes you as a certain individual. Also there is an essence of choice, you can ask for the suggestion from the bookseller, however with Amazon, you cannot choose. 

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