I was reading through the KURZWEILAI.NET Newsletter and I came across an article entitled Technology Fear Factor. Basicly the article talked about what challenges lay ahead for technologists tasked with solving the problems of openly available weapons of mass destruction, I.E. Nanotech, Biotech. At the end of the article someone posted a proposed Surveillance Bill of Rights. It was rather interesting so I will include it here also for open discusion. Surveillance Bill of Rights The purpose of the following document is to make an agreement with ourselves and our government concerning the levels of surveillance (SV), freedom, privacy and other areas of imminent importance due primarily to technological innovation and weapons of mass destruction availability. Since there are new disruptive evolutionary forces at work in our society, we will need to adapt many of our systems, taking what is most important or pragmatic and shedding others. The most important belief that we want to carry forward is Freedom. To be American is to be free. This freedom must be protected but tempered too - there are practical limits. We may sacrifice some privacy, but in exchange gain more freedom. We believe this to be a pragmatic and implementable solution for most of our society. In order to stop individuals from acting as cancerous growths in our society by acting in terroristic ways, setting off chaos and mass destruction, we will have to utilize increasing SV. However, we want to maintain a lifestyle with maximum personal freedoms -- even more freedoms than are currently guaranteed in 2002. Individuals have freedoms in areas like religion, freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. The NEW rights protect against persecutions of individuals based on lifestyle choices – what we call Victimless Crimes. These may be defined as behaviors between consenting adults which do not harm any outside parties. Current laws dictate legal behavior based upon outdated and restrictive moral values and mainly are directed at actions related to Sex, Drugs and gambling. In the new paradigm, sexual orientation (straight, bi, homo, trysexual, etc) and drug use are not treated in any way as crimes. Drug abuse is treated as a medical condition. Sexual crimes (rape) are treated just as seriously as always. We must legally protect lifestyle choices as rights for an obvious and practial reason. Law enforcement agencies are increasingly using techniques of surveillance as these technologies grow ever more powerful and invisible. We see a trend towards all-pervasive surveillance as virtually inevitable. If we as a democracy accept this emergence of SV in the black and white terms of contemporary debate and simply agitate for privacy, we may find that one way or another we will be surveilled – it will simply be with our consent and knowledge (ie Transparency) or without. If we agree that surveillance is necessary to protect our society against the unlimited potential for individuals and small groups to wreak havoc on us (as demonstrated on 9/11), then we come against the reality that any attempt to implement surveillance today,would find that nearly half of our society would be considered criminals (mainly from lifestyle choices involving sex, drugs or gambling -- at some point in each citizen’s life). Thus we may see a battle against surveillance that divides this nation right down the middle, with attempts to hamstring it in court or even engage in radical opposition. In either case, we would be inadvertently allowing terrorists to hide in the shadows and plot against us. So, do we want to make 50% of our own society enemies in our war, or just the real 1% of terrorists and violent criminals out there?. SV is done in all directions. Government can watch the people and people can watch the government and everyone can watch the media. Top-down, Bottom-up and Horizontally. What has made America great is that we have believed in our system and participated in all levels and have increased its transparency. There is no reason to stop now, we must gain even more control over government by eliminating as many walls as possible. ASSUMPTIONS: There are at least 3 levels of crime: misdemeanors, felonies and chaos (weapons of mass destruction, 10 deaths or more) There are at least three levels of surveillance, high (1, camera mounted insects), medium (2, telephone listening) and low (3, ear level listening) PREFACE: In exchange for allowing the government to watch citizens with ever increasing surveillance, we make certain expectations for the government. These include: Amendments: 1) SV of all types is primarily used to watch for chaos or the planning of chaos. 2) SV is never to be used for misdemeanors of any type. 3) Sex, Drug and Gambling laws are repealed as the cost to our society is too great 4) SV can be used for violent felonies and chaos only 5) SV of any type cannot be used for competitive business reasons 6) Anonymity must be guaranteed periodically for elections, whistelblowing and other specified areas. 7) SV is not used to enforce granular non violent personal choices. – kill yourself but no others! 8) Religion can be practiced until it incites chaos, genocide or war.
Well, it's true that you can not put the genie back into the bottle. Just as well get something out of it. I think I would like a few more rights though. You are in essence agreeing to give up your privacy and I value mine highly. I believe that medical info should be a restricted access. That includes such as insurance companies using the medical info to determine "high risk" policies and the like. (to go with the business competitor part) I think that some personal freedoms should be guarenteed. You should be able to have reasonably free speach continued to be guarenteed also. There is a lot more I would like to add but I think I would have to sit down and prioritize just exactly what I value most. I really do not agree with the way things are now. However, you can not prevent your image from being picked up on a camera anymore than you can prevent someone from seeing you or taking a picture of you without your permission. Nor can you hide your internet communications from someone truely determined. Money, law, and will, have a way of opening doors where none existed.
