We See It All: Liberty and Justice in an Age of Perpetual Surveillance by Jon Fasman. Jon is a senior reporter at The Economist for 15 years. He holds a Master of Philosophy from Oxford. His writing has appeared in The Times Literary Supplement, Slate, and The Washington Post.
Jon is revealing how current laws and policies are too far behind the times regarding next generation technologies. Ultimately, Jon asks for the public to hold government at the federal, state, and local levels accountable to protect privacy rights and liberty of their citizens.
In fact, this book’s investigation into the legal, political, and moral issues surrounding how law enforcement, including courts utilize surveillance systems confronts the citizen of any country reveals that citizens may live in a free country in the name of safety.
This has certainly escalated rapidly since 9/11. Issues of next generation system already deployed impact privacy and the rights of citizens.
Jon is addressing such topics as moral, legal, and political that are now generating data by advanced tools. For example scanning technologies including facial recognition, license-plate readers are triggering activity by law enforcement.
This certainly book draws similar outcomes to The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff, and Surveillance Valley: The Secret Military History of the Internet by Yasha Levine. Law enforcement use of technologies results in higher ticket and arrest data in unique zip codes across major metropolitan areas.
Bluetooth circa 1789 ?
Jon is certainly revealing a fair review of surveillance technologies misused by governments. Remember FBI Director James Comey invoking the All Writs Act of 1789 to justify an expansion of its authority to force Apple to create a backdoor to the iPhone? The Act was signed into law just five months prior to George Washington’s inauguration (April 30, 1789).
It would in fact be fair to believe that Washington would describe Bluetooth as a stain upon his teeth. He obviously could not understand a short-range (33 feet) wireless technology for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices with a transmission power limited to 2.5 milliwatts.
There is a deep dive on how installed surveillance systems can certainly threaten the liberties of many democracy movements.
Drones in 1968 ?
Think this surveillance is new? Did you know in fact, the US military used drones in 1964 in the Gulf of Tonkin? This resulted in America’s entry into a generational nightmare in Southeast Asia.
Are you understanding the miniaturization of circuits, processors, cameras, and battery technologies? Add GPS data tracking into the mix. In fact, these new technologies (and the enormous amounts of data they produce) help us to improve public safety and catch criminals, Jon highlights a very slippery slope is appearing around our federal and state structures can now more easily overstep privacy and civil liberties
In conclusion, Jon is providing a very insightful book addressing the rapid sophistication of technology. It will not stop. To protect privacy and constitutional rights, citizen must participate in reshaping policy.