Identifying an ethical issue Read the following, and identify the issues that you consider to involve ethical issues. In February 2003 an article appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer describing a United States project aimed at safeguarding US troops in foreign urban areas (Sniffen, M J, ‘Pentagon project could keep a close eye on cities’). ‘Using a combination of computer technologies and cameras, information about a vehicle could be recorded. The software program underlying the project can also recognise drivers and passengers by face. The software is capable of issuing an alert if the monitored vehicle appears on any ‘watch’ list, and is capable of searching records to locate and compare vehicles seen around the sites of terrorist incidents. According to scientists, law enforcement officers and privacy advocates this technology could also be used within the United States to monitor US citizens, although the article also reports that a representative of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) ‘insists that CTS technology was not designed with local law enforcement or homeland security in mind’, and that sweeping alterations would be needed to implement it in such a way. However, a member of the Federation of American Scientists was quoted as saying that he ‘can easily foresee pressure to adopt a similar approach to crime-ridden areas of American cities or any site where crowds gather’. This view is supported by a comment from the New York deputy police commissioner that the police would encourage the adoption of this type of technology. The immediate 12 million-dollar plan is to deploy CTS technology over the next four years in two stages. First, to install 30 cameras in a fixed site to improve troop protection, and second to set up around 100 cameras in support of military operations incorporating software that can analyze the video recordings with a view to noting abnormal activity.‘
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Identifying an ethical issue Read the following, and identify the issues that you consider to involve ethical issues. In February 2003 an article appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer describing a United States project aimed at safeguarding US troops in foreign urban areas (Sniffen, M J, ‘Pentagon project could keep a close eye on cities’). ‘Using a combination of computer technologies and cameras, information about a vehicle could be recorded. The software program underlying the project can also recognise drivers and passengers by face. The software is capable of issuing an alert if the monitored vehicle appears on any ‘watch’ list, and is capable of searching records to locate and compare vehicles seen around the sites of terrorist incidents. According to scientists, law enforcement officers and privacy advocates this technology could also be used within the United States to monitor US citizens, although the article also reports that a representative of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) ‘insists that CTS technology was not designed with local law enforcement or homeland security in mind’, and that sweeping alterations would be needed to implement it in such a way. However, a member of the Federation of American Scientists was quoted as saying that he ‘can easily foresee pressure to adopt a similar approach to crime-ridden areas of American cities or any site where crowds gather’. This view is supported by a comment from the New York deputy police commissioner that the police would encourage the adoption of this type of technology. The immediate 12 million-dollar plan is to deploy CTS technology over the next four years in two stages. First, to install 30 cameras in a fixed site to improve troop protection, and second to set up around 100 cameras in support of military operations incorporating software that can analyze the video recordings with a view to noting abnormal activity.‘
