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Privacy, security focus of University Forum
Rosen, author of The Silver Bullet: How to Protect Privacy and Security through Law and Technology and legal affairs editor of The New Republic, discussed how American laws and evolving technology could influence surveillance in post-9/11 America. He told the audience it is possible to protect privacy and provide security by tweaking technology and monitoring laws. Rosen used an example he called “a naked machine” to illustrate how technology can be refined to protect against terrorism and still protect privacy. The machine, which can detect plastics as well as metals on a human body, has one glitch. It also shows the subjects naked. “But,’’ he said, “the naked machine doesn’t have to be designed as a naked machine.” The machine’s architecture can be altered so that it becomes what Rosen dubbed “a blob machine”—metal and plastic objects would still be visible but the subject’s body parts would be electronically scrambled. However, Rosen questioned the efficiency of video-camera surveillance in public places as a deterrent against terrorism. He estimated the average Briton is photographed 300 times a day since high-profile bombings attributed to the I.R.A. caused the government to install thousands of security cameras in public places, but he said face-recognition software fails and the government does not have a sufficient database of terrorists to make matches. Rosen discussed the concept of data mining--the use of private and public records, such as supermarket purchases and criminal records--to search for terrorists. He said the idea would have “a Nixon effect,” referring to President Richard Nixon’s use of records to harass Vietnam War protestors. The effect would be exacerbated now, he said, because government agencies and private records collections could easily share information electronically. Rosen also pointed out the inefficiency inherent in data mining. There will always be false positives, he said, and, even if only 1 percent of travelers generate false positives, tests on 300 million travelers would affect 3 million people unnecessarily.
According to Rosen, subpoenaing or making select information public could take a person out of context. He said he was invited to dine with Monica Lewinsky and her family after he wrote a story critical of Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr’s attempts to subpoena Lewinsky’s book purchase records to show she had bought Nicholson Baker’s Vox, a novel about phone sex. Rosen told the forum that Lewinsky’s main objection about the use of her receipts was that the publicity about Vox would present her out of context. “She said, ‘They won’t also say I read The Complete Works of Charles Dickens.’’’ Rosen said. “All of us have a powerful need not to be judged out of context.” Rosen also discussed the difference between a nanny-cam placed to assure security for a child and more ubitiquitous cameras in workplaces. He said cameras placed in the dining rooms and kitchens of restaurants showed waiters comporting themselves professionally in the dining room but mocking the patrons when they enter the kitchen. He contended that waiters and others need a camera-free backstage to prepare for the pressures of public performance. “A world of total nanny-cams would take away the backstage.’’ Rosen said America must find a balance between security and privacy. “I’m not saying privacy has to trump security in every instance,’’ he said. “These are very serious threats we’re talking about. “Everything is up for grabs,’’ Rosen said. “There are no clear answers from law or technology. The technology can be designed this way or that, and the laws can be changed, too.” Article by Kathy Canavan To learn how to subscribe to UDaily, click here. |
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