With the advent of the Industrial Revolution, the concept of Modern City Ideal came in vogue. The key enabler of Industrial Revolution was technology as the various inventions and technological innovations essentially led to the revolution. The industrial revolution driven by technology caused a major change in social and cultural lives as well. Due to the big industrial towns which served as modern urban cities, there was mass wave of migration to cities in search of better employment which essentially led to the expansion of industrial cities as the various workers started living on the fringes. Gradually, as time progressed these industrial towns faced various issues such as high density, lack of transportation, extreme poverty especially amongst workers, problems of slums as no proper housing for workers and poor which constituted large sections in the society. Besides, the problem of industrial pollution also existed (Staudenmaier and John, 1985).
These cities belonged to the 19th century and by the time the 20th century came, various technological innovations altered the idea of Modern City Ideal. The previous idea of modern cities was abandoned with the main issue being that those cities were too static and not in sync with the dynamic world driven by technological advancements. These were instead transformed into new urban cities which unlike the previous cities was better equipped. These were the suburban sprawls which typically became popular after 1920’s. Unlike, the previous ideal cities, these were characterised by low population densities. Besides, there were wide open spaces and automobile dependence has developed due to ushering of the automobile revolution in the US. The developed areas of these cities were separated by haphazard developments at the outskirts through wide areas. Also, the areas were divided as per the exact usage, Also, the impact of the technological innovations was visible on the family life as well especially after the Second World War as the baby boom trend commenced. Also, due to frequent disruptions particularly due to war, these cities could not keep up the rising housing requirement and had to face mass housing shortages (Smith, Roe and Leo, 1994).
As a result, the suburban sprawls paved way to the Levittown which were planned cities which had planned street patterns along with pre-fabricated houses that were sturdy and also affordable. These cities were highly dynamic and suited to meet the future needs of expansion as they were planned on greenfield sites taking into consideration expected inflow from other areas. Further, the means of production were also gradually altering with greater usage of automation which further enhanced the productivity of various industries. This was the era of consumer industries which aimed to provide the people with access to various items of luxury so as to make their life comfortable (Staudenmaier and John, 1985). However, the next technological change which acted as a potent change agent is the communication and informational technological revolution particularly the internet which has completely altered the modern way of life. Besides, affecting the economic domain, it has had a prominent influence on the social and cultural domain and has driven the society towards globalisation and formation of a global economy (Murphie and Potts, 2003).
The pace of social and economic life has increased with the penetration of communication revolution. Further, due to globalisation, the economic growth in certain nations has been aided. Most importantly, globalisation has led to greater cultural interactions and thus there is intermingling of value systems and the cultures, With the presence of various MNC’s in developing nations, the culture is undergoing a fundamental shift as the levels of standardisation is on the rise economy (Murphie and Potts, 2003). Further, there is realisation of a global economy where there are certain issues such as climate change which need to be addressed on global level. Hence, there is no denying that technology has placed a key role of a change agent in bringing the society to its current level and the progress of the society is closely linked to technology. Besides, the impact of technology as a change agent has not been limited to a particular aspect but over the last couple of centuries has permeated into various aspects of life.
Surveillance has without doubt become a way of life in modern day society. In the name of national security and furthering of national interests, the incidence of surveillance with various state of art technologies is on the rise. With this rise in surveillance there are a plethora of concerns led by the privacy evasion. The state as is evident from ambitious programs such as PRISM has ignored the privacy of citizens despite the presence of stringent law to assure the same.
In Canada, the phenomenon of surveillance is not limited to the government but also deployed by the employers. While the ambit of Privacy Law is limited only to government but Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) is pervasive in its scope and application. One of the provisions of PIPEDA is that personal information of employees cannot be collected without their consent and further if collected the information should only be used for the purpose it is stated to be used (Cavoukian, 2013). However, the provisions of this law are bent and often abused due to which the personal information about the employers is obtained. Besides, there are other surveillance techniques which practically are quite expansive in their scope and tend to scan and view all e-mails and other material that may be shared. Clearly, such kind of grave surveillance measure do a great harm to the individual’s privacy and in USA had resulted in job losses due to obscene content being shared over the e-mail. The result of this is that in the US privacy complaints to the employer form the single largest group of complaints (Taylor, 2002).
When surveillance at the workplace is such a concern, the state is particularly armed with more resources in this regard and has a bigger agenda at hand which is national security. However, the state has cleared crossed the line with regards to surveillance and need to adhere to the following words of Benjamin Franklin in 1775 (Feldman, 1994).
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
In the US Constitution , the Fourth Amendment clearly restricts the powers of the state and provides a right to the individual to take action in case of intrusion. However, with the advancements of technology the process of surveillance is becoming more complex and covert. These tend to come to light only when there are some leaks or else these programs are run in a clandestine manner (Fewick, 2000). The usage of these technologies which are essentially hidden unlike a CCTV and uses sophisticated tools such as satellite imagery had led to a trust deficit between the people and the government which in the future is expected to widen only. This evident from a TIME magazine poll about 61% of the American people are more concerned about the restricting of civil liberties causes by the government’s increasing security measures rather than the government not taking strict measures to ensure security (Taylor, 2002).
Going forward, the debate is not whether and which surveillance technologies must be deployed but the question is how and when these must be deployed even for addressing national security concerns. The state must understand that even though national security is pivotal but same should be given without violation of civil liberties. This can be enabled by migration to a framework named as Privacy by Design where relevant technical and administrative controls are built so as to make sure that the usage of these intrusive technologies is done in an appropriate manner with accountability. It is imperative to maintain requisite transparency with regards to the data collected and circumstances under which it is collected (Taylor, 2002). This is essential as currently the surveillance activities are fast becoming a zero sum game where the debate is reduced to choosing one amongst privacy and security. This approach needs to be altered in the wake of new technological developments in the field of surveillance that are expected to enhance the government’s abilities in this regard. It is imperative that the various agencies should ensure national security while ensuring that the legitimate interests of the people are taken care of (Cavoukian, 2013).
It is imperative that the government should look to address the privacy concerns of individuals with honest intent or else going forward the public opinion against use of such techniques may reach a tipping point. It is thus essential that the state deploys data gathering in a reasonable, open and accountable manner so as to achieve the various legitimate social objectives so that a delicate balance between security and privacy can be restored going forward (Cavoukian, 2013).
Cavoukian, A. (2013), Surveillance, then and now: Securing Privacy in Public Spaces, Retrieved on August 15 from https://www.ipc.on.ca/images/Resources/pbd-surveillance.pdf
Feldman, D. (1994), Secrecy, Dignity or Autonomy? Views of Privacy as a Civil Liberty. Current Legal Problems, 47(2): 41-71.
Fenwick, H. (2000), Civil Rights: New Labour, Freedom and the Human Rights Act. Harlow: Longman
Murphie, A. and Potts, J. (2003). Culture and Technology., London: Palgrave.
Smith, M., Roe, M. and Leo, R. (1994). Does Technology Drive History? The Dilemma of Technological Determinism., Cambridge: MIT Press
Staudenmaier, S.J. and John, M. (1985). The Debate over Technological Determinism: Technology’s Storytellers: Reweaving the Human Fabric. Cambridge: The MIT Press
Taylor, N. (2002), State Surveillance and the Right to Privacy, Surveillance & Society 1(1): 66-85
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