Surveillance is the monitoring of the behavior, activities, or other changing information, usually of people. It is sometimes done in a surreptitious manner. It most usually refers to observation of individuals or groups by government organizations. The word surveillance is the French word for "watching over". The word surveillance may be applied to observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment or interception of electronically transmitted information (such as Internet traffic or phone calls.
Types of surveillance
The vast majority of computer surveillance involves the monitoring of data and traffic on the Internet. There is far too much data on the Internet for human investigators to manually search through all of it. So automated Internet surveillance computers sift through the vast amount of intercepted Internet traffic and identify and report to human investigators traffic considered interesting by using certain "trigger" words or phrases, visiting certain types of web sites, or communicating via email or chat with suspicious individuals or groups. Computers are a surveillance target because of the personal data stored on them.
The official and unofficial tapping of telephone lines is widespread. US requires that all telephones be available for real-time wiretapping by Federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies. Two major telecommunications companies in the U.S. AT&T and Verizon have contracts with the FBI, requiring them to keep their phone call records easily searchable. Mobile phones are also commonly used to collect location data. The geographical location of a mobile phone (and thus the person carrying it) can be determined easily (whether it is being used or not), using to calculate the differences in time for a signal to travel from the cell phone to each of several cell towers near the owner of the phone.
Surveillance cameras such are installed by the millions in many countries, and are nowadays monitored by automated computer programs instead of humans. Surveillance cameras are video cameras used for the purpose of observing an area. The amount of footage is reduced by motion sensors which record only when motion is detected.
Aerial surveillance
Aerial surveillance is the gathering of surveillance from an airborne vehicle such as helicopter, or spy plane. Digital imaging technology, miniaturized computers, and numerous other technological hardware is used which could detect the heat from a human body at distances of up to 45 miles.
Data mining is the application of statistical techniques and programmatic algorithms to discover previously unnoticed relationships within the data. Data profiling in this context is the process of assembling information about a particular individual or group in order to generate a profile that is, a picture of their patterns and behavior. Data profiling can be an extremely powerful tool for psychological and social network analysis. A skilled analyst can discover facts about a person that they might not even be consciously aware of themselves.
The satellites and aircraft sensors will be able to penetrate cloud cover, detect chemical traces, and identify objects in buildings and "underground bunkers", and will provide real-time video at much higher resolutions than the still-images produced by programs such as Google.
Global Positioning System
GPS tracking devices could be planted in people's vehicles to monitor their movements, without a warrant. Some cities are running pilot projects to require parolees to wear GPS devices to track their movements when they get out of prison.
Privacy
Numerous civil rights groups and privacy groups oppose surveillance as a violation of people's right to privacy. There have been several lawsuits opposing certain surveillance activities.
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