Sensor networks are smart devices that can detect the identity of a human being just by having a face scan even from a distance. This technology finds significant amount of application in the security cameras that help to determine the identity of a man from a street or a building. This is applied in the field of security where this technology helps the police to keep track on people passing through a particular area and catch any people who violates rules like traffic rules, pedestrian rules and others or commit a crime on the open road like fighting, trafficking and others (Denkovski et al., 2015). Singapore government has implemented a Smart Nation Plan as a part of the national security measure so that the government can keep tabs on the citizens in order to prevent any issues on the important roads. Following the example of Singapore, the Australian Government has also decided to roll out a Smart State Plan where smart sensor devices will be implemented throughout the CBD. However, before implementation of the plan, the government needs to consider the ethical and other concerns and implications of the smart system as the citizens may not always feel safe and protected in the smart network.
In this particular report, the personal and ethical implications of the smart sensor network as well as the smart WiFi network have been analyzed in order to determine whether both the systems will be accepted by the citizens and whether these will ensure the safety and security of the citizens.
Following Singapore Government’s Smart Nation Plan, Australian Government has also planned to implement the Smart State Plan that will involve installation of a network of smart cameras and sensors in various parts of the central business districts (CBD) like traffic lights, rubbish bins, bus stops and others. The main objective of this implementation is to monitor the behavior of the citizens in the respective areas as well as prevent street crimes at any cost. However, there are several personal and ethical implications that the government will need to consider before implementation of the Smart State Plan.
By this proposal, mostly the street criminals will be affected as they will always be monitored from any point of the street. The smart sensors and cameras are advanced enough to capture the face of any person and run a digital enquiry in the database to identify the particular personal and immediately send feedback to the control room regarding the crime (Adamo et al., 2015). On the other hand, the common people, who travel through the CBD daily for jobs and other purposes, will feel much more secure and safe on the streets. Other crimes like eve teasing, child trafficking and street fights will be reduced significantly. Other than crimes, the smart sensors will also benefit the elderly and sick people who can be assisted by a police officer after the sensor cameras will send immediate feedback to control room in case of emergencies.
If this Smart State Plan is finally implemented, significant amount of behavioral changes will be noticed among the citizens who will pass through the CBD at any point of time. Some of the most possible behavioral changes that might be noticed as listed below.
Based on the target of the Smart State Plan, there will definitely be changes in individual behaviors of the citizens. With constant monitoring through the smart sensors, any wrongdoer or law breaker can be easily identified and caught for punishment. As a result, the citizens will be forced to change their individual behaviors and reduce their tendencies to break the street rules and laws while they pass through the particular area. The choices of activities will be significantly affected as well; people who are more interested to have heated arguments with others regarding issues like traffic blockage, not allowed to overtake a vehicle and others will start to ignore these issues and move on their own path without any conflict. Again, when in a hurry, some people choose to drive their cars as fast as they can, without caring about speed limits or even traffic signals. With the implementation of the Smart State Plan, they will change their behavior, prepare better time schedules and travel in time such that they will not need to hurry to reach their destinations.
In addition to the Smart State Plan, the Australian Government has also planned to implement a Smart WiFi Network in various cities to provide internet access to all the citizens dwelling in the selected cities. As per this plan, several WiFi boxes will be installed in various parts of the cities and the nearby citizens will be able to access the internet through the WiFi without even having to use mobile data. Furthermore, they will be able to switch between the connections using simple applications. However, there are several personal and ethical implications of this particular network plan that are discussed as follows.
WiFi is a technology that is widely popular among the young generation due to its high speed of internet surfing and download, ease of use and no requirement for any attachments on their devices like smartphones. Furthermore, since one WiFi router can provide internet connection to multiple users simultaneously, a number of users can share the connection as well as the cost of the internet usage (if it is already not free of cost) (Ayyash et al., 2016). Hence, it is evident that the Smart WiFi Network will affect the youth mostly although other regular internet users will also be affected. However, with several ethical and security implications, some people may not be interested in using the smart WiFi network.
Significant behavioural changes will be noticed among the citizens especially the youth who extensively use the internet for various purposes. With the government’s low cost or free of cost internet service through the smart WiFi network, the people choose to use the network instead of high cost internet services provided by the cellular networks. However, since the internet usage through the smart network will be monitored every instant, the users will be less inclined to access illegal or unauthorized websites while active on the network.
Individual behaviours of people will also change significantly with the introduction of the smart WiFi network. More and more people will stop using internet service provided by the cellular networks as they will start using the free or low cost internet provided by the smart WiFi. Some other behaviours like accessing illegal sites like torrent, dark web and others will be reduced significantly due to constant monitoring through the smart network (De Gante, Aslan & Matrawy, 2014). With a large number of users accessing the internet through the same smart network, it will be easier to track internet usage and the sites accessed by the users through the network. This will also help to reduce cyber crime as most of people will choose not to perform any unethical action through the internet in the smart network.
While using a public WiFi network, the first thing that comes to a user’s mind is the privacy and security of his confidential information stored in his phone. In a phone of a user, there may be numerous sensitive and confidential data and information like personal photos, videos, contact numbers, bank account details, identity card details and others. While accessing a public WiFi network, it is common fear that other users connected to the same network in the same locality may try to break into other users’ systems and steal confidential and sensitive data. This is even more possible if there are not sufficient security measures implemented. The Australian government has chalked out a plan to prevent this situation and has planned to implement various WiFi security actions and measures that will help the users to feel free to use the internet without fearing about losing sensitive information.
Digital identity mainly refers to a computer based system in which various information about a particular individual like name, date of birth, place of residence, job, annual income, family details, bank account details, driving license and others are stored within a database. The main reason behind the implementation of digital identity is that searching for a particular individual is easier and only a search function is run on the database to find a particular individual within seconds. There are various positive and negative implications of this particular system that are discussed as follows.
Positive Implications –
Negative Implications –
From the analysis of the positives and negatives, it is evident that although digital identity will be very useful in the near future, the loopholes must be solved first in order to ensure absolute privacy and security of the citizens.
Now, if a citizen is to visit the State Capital after the implementation of the Smart State Plan, the use of digital identity will definitely assist him to maintain privacy while using any smart device. One main advantage of digital identity is that enables the user to be anonymous in a public forum while interacting with other individuals in the same forum (Dunphy, Garratt & Petitcolas, 2018). However, as discussed earlier, there will be a major reason of concern if a large scale data breach occurs and steals all major and personal information of the users from their digital identities stored in the database.
There are several actions that can be adopted in order to ensure the security and privacy of digital identity of an individual while using the network of Smart State Plan. However, it is to be noted that these are only preventive measures and do not absolutely ensure the privacy and security of the digital identity. Very mass scale of data breach still may occur and it is the duty of the government to ensure the security of the digital identities. Some of the actions that can be adopted are as follows.
Passwords – Digital identity requires the user to open a personal profile in a particular portal where he can enter his information as required. In order to ensure a personal profile of a user is not accessed by someone else, it is important that the user applies a strong password in his profile that should not be known by any other user or person. Moreover, in order to increase the strength of the security further, the user should change his password frequently (for example, once every 15 days) (Beduschi et al., 2017). The password must be strong and a mixed collection of letters, digits and symbols so that it cannot be decrypted easily. In addition to the password system, there are other security measures that can further strengthen the security of the user. These security measures include thumbprint impression, eye retina scan, security image, security question verification and others.
Prevention of Identity Theft – There are some unethical entities that send some auto generated messages to users asking for their bank account numbers, PINs, credit card numbers and the sender name suggests the message is sent by a particular bank in which the user has an account. Falling prey to the misleading message, the user often discloses his personal information and the unethical entity can easily use it to steal his identity and personal properties (Nocera, 2017). This type of threat can also come through various phone calls where the caller says he is calling from the bank and asks for information regarding the user’s account. Just as the user discloses the information, the caller uses the information for identity theft. Hence, it is important to raise awareness among people regarding such calls or messages so that the users do not accept these calls and never disclose their personal and private information.
Malicious Files in Emails – It is a very common incident that a user receives a rogue email with a masked identity containing malicious files. Unable to detect the malicious nature of the email, the user opens the same to read the contents and immediately, malwares infect his system. Malwares not only destroy the internal storage of the user’s system by tampering and deleting files, they can also steal personal information of the users and send it back to the source of the mail. This way, the mailer can extract personal information of the users and use them as a part of identity theft process (Magno et al., 2015). Other than emails, the malicious files can also enter the system through various websites that the user surfs while using the internet connection. This occurs mostly when the user’s internet connection is not encrypted and there is no security filter for malicious and suspicious websites. As a result, the user is free to access any website and without his knowledge, he may come across suspicious websites in which he enters and ultimately results in the entry of malware in the system. Hence, it is important for the users to ensure he is using a secure and encrypted network and additionally, he has sufficient filter in which system that will detect and block suspicious websites available in the internet.
Conclusion
Finally, it can be concluded that the Australian government should not take a drastic step and implement the Smart State Plan immediately just by eyeing the advantages of the same. Before implementation, the government should consider the loopholes and disadvantages that might result in major implications on the citizens of the country. While the government promises to provide maximum security of the digital identities and other personal information of the citizens, there are still some major questions that are to be answered by the government. One major question is whether the government is ready to counter or prevent any type of major cyber security attack or data breach attach that may steal massive amounts of the personal information of the citizens from the digital identity database prepared by the government. Furthermore, there are fears of internal attacks too. Due to the use of a common network for accessing the internet, although there are certain security measures, one unethical user may try to enter another user’s system through the common network and steal personal information from the device. There are also ethical concerns regarding the smart sensor networks. Due to the constant tracking of the citizens’ actions and movements, the citizens might feel that their basic democratic rights are breached and they are under constant surveillance of the government in spite of performing no wrong work or crime. Hence, it is also important to convince the citizens regarding the importance of the sensor network and its use in ensuring the national security. Furthermore, handling of the digital identities of the citizens must be done efficiently such that the data is only used for verification purposes and not for other unethical means. Also, strong security measures are required to ensure the privacy and security of the personal information of the citizens. Unless the government can absolutely ensure all these important security measures, the proposed smart plan should not be implemented in the state.
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