Bbs 221

Professor Gorman

BIS 221

June 28, 2015

Information Technology Ethics

This Washington Post article is about video surveillance for the purpose of assisting the police in both investigating and preventing crime. It outlines the ability of a specially outfitted Cessna to record all activity in a 25 square mile area for six hours at a time. Although it is legal to supervise American citizens in this manner, the question becomes: is it ethical?

On one hand, we, as Americans, enjoy and expect an amount of privacy that is unparalleled in most countries in the world. The Forth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures by police or government officials, and because of this we can not be surveilled in our homes without a warrant. There are also public places where we have an expectation of privacy, such as restrooms and phone booths.No 4th Amendment Protection:

* Consent Searches

* Vehicle Searches

* Evidence in Plain View

* Border Searches

No 4th Amendment Protection:

* Consent Searches

* Vehicle Searches

* Evidence in Plain View

* Border Searches

Some would argue that this expectation of privacy should extend to us as we move through public spaces, provided we are not under investigation at the time.They may argue that the most troubling aspect of this type of surveillance is that law enforcement officials are not required to get a warrant before monitoring entire communities, untethered by individual suspicion of criminal activity They may argue that not only does in infringe upon our rights to have such information collected, but that if the data, once collected, was not kept secure it could put innocent people in harms way.

There are, however, two sides to each argument. The most compelling argument for this kind of areal scrutiny is in it’s ability to help investigators solve crimes. Ross McNutt, the president of Persistent Surveillance Systems, estimates that his cameras would spot as...