What is Placeme?• Placeme is a new app which remembers

all the places which you visit.• It automatically detects and records the

places that you go to and even notes the duration of your time at that specific place.

• The aim of the developers was to produce an app which helps to memorise locations and make time management more efficient.

• With the ability to turn on or off the app at any given time.

What are the problems with Placeme?

• In order to keep track of every app users information, the info must be stored on one big server. If someone was to hack in the system they will then have access to information which should be private.

• Storing large amounts of data is expensive. It may be advisable to ask why the app developers are saving all this info and how can it benefit them.

Are there any benefits?• With the purpose of helping

time management and memorising locations - the app can be very helpful when used accordingly.

• The automatic logging of information allows for users to keep track of how they are managing their day to day activities.

• The app itself is designed to be effortless and require minimal user input where it is not absolutely necessary

What is NSA Surveillance?

• The National Security Agency is an American surveillance organisation apparatus and the biggest one in history.

• They collect information through tapping Internet cables, undermining security standards, and getting data from companies.

• All of the data collected is in secret and not done at the consent of US citizens.

What’s wrong with NSA Surveillance?

• The US Government monitors private phone calls.

• Allows them track people and discover who they are associated with

• They also monitor emails, purchases, text messages, location and phone calls of

• people all over the world.• And all of this only

accounts for one part of the entire surveillance system.

What’s wrong with NSA Surveillance?

• The surveillance system is illegal and is against the encoded US constitution

• It allows the government to know where you have been, where you are and where you’re going

• There is no system for checks and balances to maintain some kind of legitimacy

• Therefore it allows for government to exploit their powers and be invasive without having substantial evidence to legitimise it.

• The US government tracks over 1000 ‘buzz’ or keywords

• Therefore almost any email sent by a person, or engine search could result in them being monitored.

• Spying on internet usage gives the government power over citizens lives

• Produces further implications for freedom of speech, association and movement

What’s wrong with NSA Surveillance?

So are there any benefits of NSA Surveillance?

• It may be suggested that this scale of surveillance is very much necessary.

• After the 9/11 terrorist attack, this kind of surveillance can be used to monitor those who may be involved or associated with suspected terrorists.

• It allows government to pick up on suspected terrorists plots and intervene at the earliest stage possible helping to minimise risk.

Other Types of Government Surveillance

• PRISM launched in 2007 by NSA

PRISMPRISM surveillance systems allows the NSA to

‘receive’:

Emails

Photos

Videos

Social networking details

Voice and video calls

As well as numerous other amounts of data held by a range of US Internet firms

Who’s data is being reviewed?

• According to official no US citizen or persons living within the US can be intentionally targeted.

• Only ‘suspect’ communications with a 51% confidence rate which include key search terms.

• Even then queries are tested to make sure no US citizens are targeted.

• However, these safeguards do not protect citizens of other countries around the world.

GCHQGovernment Communication Head Quarters - GCHQ

•The GCHQ is a UK government security/surveillance agency.

•Their aim is to ‘keep Britain safe and secure in the challenging environment of modern communication.

•They work to eliminate cyber threats, as well as terrorist threats, espionage and serious crimes in Britain

PROBLEMS WITH GCHQ:

•Details of all their investigations are not fully published, we only know what we are told.

•Its harder to create a system of ‘checks and balance’.

•Although they are accountable to parliament - they are a government organisation - in essence making them accountable to themselves!

•Files collected between 2008-10 wrongly saved images to the agency database, regardless of whether or not those images belonged to individual users who were considered intelligence targets.

PROS OF GCHQ

•They are accountable to parliament helps to create a sense of accountability.

•This type of security system is progressive in combating key issues by specially skilled and trained workers.

•It helps to maintain the better good of Britain and work effectively to eliminate any threats with may counter this.

CONCLUSIONThere is no denying that surveillance systems play a major role in everyday society.

It would be naive to disregard it as something that is completely intrusive and unnecessary.

Surveillance systems as we have seen can be used beneficially in combating threats within society.

However, there must be a line. We must give governments the freedom to protect citizens without violating our rights and exploiting us by seeking for more power than they actually need.