Gwinyai Dziwa - Newspaper Columns

Newspaper Columns ~ Financial Gazette

Is Electronic Surveillance Invasion of Privacy?

Michigan — The idea of intercepting telephone and telegraph messages has been employed by law enforcement agents for espionage or monitoring rogue elements.

Nonetheless, in the United States wiretapping is proscribed by a 1968 federal statute and local state laws. Enforced through court orders, wiretapping has been used to track organised crime and to monitor movements of suspected miscreants.

Now the field of surveillance has broadened with the introduction of hidden cameras. Such cameras are on red light robots, in grocery stores, government buildings and on entrances to office complexes.

Many people are scared of surveillance because they feel it threatens their privacy. However, those who advocate for technology based surveillance argue that if one is not committing a crime, why bother that someone is watching you on some hidden monitor?

For instance, when a sloppy driver passes a red light on a busy intersection, the camera will capture the licence plate of the vehicle and the culprit will eventually face the music of justice. The same as what happens in a supermarket.

Some folks who believe they can obtain goods by slipping them next to their reproductive machinery without paying at the cashier's outlet may also realise that the camera does not blink. Many have left the supermarkets in those shining bracelets for stealing small items such as a packet of bubble gums. And of course for the unpleasant trip they would be in the company of a burly security officer. But what has ruffled feathers most is the surveillance at the work place. Statistics and Econometrics were the funniest courses I ever did in my academic life.

I shall not hesitate to share with you some revelations from the American Management Association. We are told that about 78 percent of American companies monitor their employees in one way or the other. About 63 percent of employers monitor Internet use, 15 percent view workers by video, 12 percent record and check phone messages, 47 percent review e-mail messages and about 8 percent check voice mail messages.

Employers justify their surveillance because they don't want personal use of the Internet during work hours. There are some folks that are virtually addicted to internet pornography and want to satisfy their prurient habits even at the work place.

More so, employers are concerned that their trade secrets may be divulged by employees by way of communication and by monitoring Internet traffic they can be certain that everything is under control. Some folks may be impressed every morning when their spouses spend time before the mirror doing some make-up.

Newsline America has good news for you. That wife of yours may be servicing her boss during lunchtime. One hour is enough for foreplay and the actual dirty act. They do it on the carpet or the couch.

By the time she comes home she is the first to brush a tender kiss on your chapped lips. Your heart throbs as you ponder: "Oh my wife loves me." Are you sure? Come on give me a break. Later when you start bedroom diplomacy she will tell you: "Honie I am tired tonight." Of course you're very gullible, you'll believe that she was very busy with work, yet she was performing sexual acrobatics with her boss at work.

Now if we have cameras planted in the office, we may minimise the incidences of office sex. That's one advantage of cameras at work. Don't get me wrong. The executive can also go to some hotel with your beautiful wife and exercise his lust on her. But hopefully cameras on the entrance to the hotel can deter the two to enter the hotel while holding hands.

However, don't suspect excessively! Keep some faith.

If you catch him on top of someone else, don't pour hot cooking oil on him while he is asleep. If you find her in a compromising position, stay calm and avoid the kitchen knife, please. However painful, don't even touch a razor blade!

More so, there is no doubt that there are mysteries that can be solved with the aid of camera surveillance. The recent abduction of a 14-year old Elizabeth Smart of Salt Lake City could have been easier if the family had a camera installed on the entrance to their home. The disappearance of their daughter has caused extreme grief and confusion and there are no tangible clues to pin down anyone at the moment.

There are many store shootings that have been resolved through camera surveillance. Some thugs normally approach pharmacies towards closing time and demand all money from the till at gunpoint. Most of the culprits have been captured because of the cameras. Those who see the importance of surveillance think that it should be used with discretion so as to maintain the delicate balance between privacy rights and the constitutional capacity of the state to protect its citizens from crime.