Essay - Video Surveillance in Today's Highly Technical Post 9/11 Society, a...

Video Surveillance

In today's highly technical post 9/11 society, a new industry is developing, particularly in more developed nations such as the United States, China, Japan, and across Europe. This industry, commonly known as ***** video surveillance industry, has ***** dramatically over the course of the last ten years, and with this development has come many obstacles, including technological, governmental, and legal ramifications. However, *****se obstacles, while numerous, have advanced the technologies available, providing the ***** with new trends and opportunities for growth.

***** paper will analyze the video and audio surveillance industry in terms of security and bus*****ess applications, using a comp*****ny called "Spying Eye *****" as a continued example. This analysis will include an overview of ***** industry in general, trends ***** the particular types of ***** utilized by "Spying Eye Surveillance," projections for the growth of these types of companies, ***** the strengths and weaknesses ***** the *****. Additionally, this paper ***** outline some of the po*****tial ramifications experienced by this industry, ***** ***** restrictions and ***** ramifications for abuse of technology.

***** Eye *****" is an independently owned comp*****y that specializes in video and audio surveillance products for businesses ***** security personnel. Like many in this industry, their products range from 24-hour video ***** equipment, including time lapse DVR's (digital video recorders), VCR's, cameras, monitors, lenses, to a range of accompanying audio equipment. The DVR's are *****ten attached to CD-R's (compact disk recorders) to enable security ***** easier copying ability ***** local law enforcement. ***** cameras range from highly visible determent units to small, hidden, day/night cameras designed for the highest level of ***** (Spying Eye Surveillance, 2005).

These types of surveillance techniques are far from ***** concepts. Literature throughout ***** 20th century ***** focused on both negative and positive aspects of surveillance, both within the context of business protection as well as governmental control over populations. Thanks to novels such as Or*****'s 1984 and Huxley's Brave New World, both written well before the true age of video surveillance, ***** concept of such intrusions has been constantly revisited by mass consciousness, often in a ***** light (M*****rx, 1995). However, more recent pop culture references such as the incre*****ed broadcast of detective television shows, which utilize ***** surveillance for crime solving, and the use ***** closed circuit television for airplane passenger safety following ***** 9/11 tragedy, have added a l*****yer of ***** light to the idea of surveillance (Norris, 1999).

***** video surveillance industry is generally different from that imagined by authors such as Orwell in the mid-twentieth century. Primarily, CCTV (closed ***** telev*****ion), also known as ***** camer*****, are ***** primary defense of businesses and security personnel, both in terms of ***** from criminal activity of the public, as well as from ***** activity ***** within ***** own work **********. In terms of overall use of surveillance technology, the United Kingdom spends far ***** than any other country: nearly 300 million pounds per year on an estimated 1.5 million *****as. ***** country, as ***** as *****