GIS and Privacy: - Social Psychology



JUS 525-91 Legal and Ethical Issues in Criminal JusticeGIS and Privacy:technology, The public’s right to know and the individual’s right to confidentialityTrish Hanly Mangnall8/20/2008ABSTRACT: The increase of GIS usage has brought with it a rise in public concern over privacy. Public information through the internet is now very simple and cheap to obtain. The availability of aerial and satellite imagery combined with street level imagery has also raised questions about the balance between the public’s right to access information versus the individual person’s right to privacy. Technologies for gathering, manipulating, and communicating data are revolutionizing the use and spread of information. From a law enforcement perspective, these technologies can assist in locating criminals or deterring crime. However, the availability of this new data can create ethical and legal issues regarding privacy.IntroductionThe increased use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) has brought with it a rise in public concern over privacy. Public information through the internet is now very simple and cheap to obtain. The availability of aerial and satellite imagery combined with street level imagery has also raised questions about the balance between the public’s right to access information and an individual person’s right to privacy. Technologies for gathering, manipulating, and communicating data are revolutionizing the use and spread of information, particularly the location of an individual at any given time. From a law enforcement perspective, these technologies can assist in locating criminals or deterring crime. However, from a public standpoint, the availability of this new data can create issues regarding privacy. Along the way, access to this data is also creating ethical and legal dilemmas. History of GISThe launch of Sputnik in 1957 allowed for the mounting of cameras on orbiting spacecraft and, initially, satellite imagery was used only for government and military issues such as monitoring enemy bases and tracking meteorological issues. GPS, a space-based global positioning, navigation and timing system was developed by the U.S. Department of Defense and emerged in the late 60’s and early 70’s. GPS provides signals for geo-location and for the safe and efficient movement, measurement and tracking of people, vehicles, and other objects anywhere in the world. It is very reliable since it is not affected by atmospheric conditions, the topography of the ground or by the various radio-electric interferences. CITATION GIS08 \l 1033 (GIS Development, 2008)In the early days of satellite imagery, the only ethical issues attached to satellites seemed to involve military secrecy and national boundaries. Now, with high-powered lenses, infrared sensory devices, ever-present satellites, and instant high-resolution image transmission, the ethical issues have greatly magnified. Civilian privacy has changed drastically as well. Anyone from speeding drivers to backyard sunbathers can all be located, identified, photographed, and publicized without their awareness or permission. Beneficial Uses of GISDespite the publicity regarding privacy violations, there are many beneficial uses of GIS. Researchers have used it to track neighborhood changes following a hurricane, to study the relationship between alcohol outlets and DUI’s, to ascertain health access for minority communities, and to determine whether adult establishments truly increase crime levels in their neighborhoods. CITATION Cen08 \l 1033 (Center for Spatially Integrated Social Science, 2008) A multitude of companies such as UPS utilize positioning systems in order to track packages and the trucks delivering them. Schools in Dallas are considering using GPS bracelets to monitor the whereabouts of consistently truant students CITATION Mer08 \l 1033 (Merten, 2008). GPS-powered telematics devices such as OnStar are two-way systems capable of providing drivers with directions as they navigate unknown city streets and sending emergency services in case of an accident. CITATION Whi03 \l 1033 (White, 2003) Monitoring and tracking the outbreak and spread of infectious diseases – in humans and animals - is another positive usage for GIS. CITATION ESR04 \l 1033 (ESRI, 2004) The Center for Disease Control (CDC) also uses GIS to present data for national health concerns such as heart disease, stroke mortality, and hospitalization rates. CITATION Cen081 \l 1033 (Center for Disease Control, 2008) Further, land management analyses can lead to predictive tools for environmental hazards, such as storm runoff patterns from burned areas, and flood threats in watersheds. Vegetation changes can be monitored and could be combined with burn severity data, rainfall data, and elevation to anticipate re-growth patterns and areas of possible future fire threat. CITATION Myn01 \l 1033 (Mynard, 2001)Human Rights Watch works with the American Association for the Advancement of Science to obtain images of villages in Africa. HRW has documented the systematic destruction of villages and summary execution of their occupants, not only through interviews with refugees in countries bordering Ethiopia, but by obtaining images from commercial satellite companies. Combining refugee accounts with before and after images, the organizations were able to identify hundreds of structures that were destroyed during the time interval identified by the refugees. CITATION Hum08 \l 1033 (Human Rights Watch, 2008) Further, Amnesty International has identified villages in Darfur located in areas likely to be attacked, and informed the Sudanese government that they will be subject to regular imaging – a technique called "protective imaging". CITATION Joh08 \l 1033 (Timmer, 2008) Other uses such as finding friends using geo-enabled cell phones or tracking patients through a hospital are excellent applications with great societal benefits. These applications show that researchers can combine data in new and unique ways, and can use GIS to analyze patterns and trends that are not evident in separate databases. Taken individually, each of these technologies has potential societal benefit that may outweigh specific privacy concerns. GIS Use in Law EnforcementThe Vacaville Police Department in Vacaville, California was the first law enforcement agency to put crime maps on the web in 1995. Other departments have quickly followed. CITATION ABC071 \l 1033 (ABC, 2007) In addition to providing emergency response to a 911 call, Police Departments use GIS to capture and make available spatial and related incident data of offenses occurring on their city's major freeways. CITATION ESR08 \l 1033 (ESRI, 2008) In a well known case, GIS was used to map locations in Spokane Washington, where the bodies of ten murdered prostitutes were dumped. Analysts used a spatial modeling approach to study the distribution of both 'body dump' locations and locations of supermarkets from which plastic bags found on the bodies of victims were possibly obtained. This approach utilized existing geo-statistical models designed to predict that the 'home range' of the killer was in the same neighborhood of Spokane in which the killer actually resided, and the analysis was helpful in narrowing the focus of the investigation. CITATION Lei01 \l 1033 (Leipnik & Botelli, 2001)Additionally, Spokane police linked the killer to other unsolved homicides in the United States by analyzing 72 waypoints saved on his GPS. Authorities felt that these waypoints could possibly mark potential locations where other bodies had been disposed. GPS and GIS also played a pivotal role in the arrest and conviction of another Spokane man, who killed and buried his daughter in multiple locations. It is highly likely that he would have evaded prosecution in his daughter's disappearance, without evidence that depended directly on geo-spatial technologies. Spokane County GIS specialists used GPS data coupled with GIS base-maps to map out routes and waypoints from his journeys and extract accurate coordinates of gravesites. CITATION Lei01 \l 1033 (Leipnik & Botelli, 2001) Many states and localities have been using various non-satellite electronic monitoring devices to keep track of lower-risk felons for years. The Governor of Illinois recently signed a measure into law that allows authorities to track convicted domestic violence offenders via satellite using GPS technology. Authorities are alerted when abusers enter survivor-designated safe zones. CITATION Sta08 \l 1033 (Illinois, 2008) With electronic monitoring devices, the location of a person can continually be monitored. Proponents of this system declare that it reduces jail crowding and financial burden on taxpayers, and also allows offenders to keep their jobs. It has even been proposed that the federal government put electronic ankle bracelets on illegal immigrants awaiting deportation. CITATION Cro08 \l 1033 (Crowsey Incorporated, 2008)Automated license plate recognition systems (ALPR) have enabled officers to identify stolen vehicles and to also track vehicles involved in kidnappings and hit-and-runs. When combining ALPR units with GPS, the system can track things as simple as which cars have been parked for more than the permitted time period. As an investigative tool, the ability to track vehicles and connect them to crimes has unlimited potential. CITATION Mck08 \l 1033 (Mckay, 2008) Public Use of GISPublic agencies use GIS extensively to fulfill their own directives and to make themselves more efficient. However, this use of technology has also brought new problems because it creates an extraordinary demand for information from public agencies. Under the well known belief that a democratic society requires an informed citizenry, the Freedom of Information Act dictates that public agencies open their records to the public. Considerations such as national security and privacy rights create some exceptions to the law, but federal agencies must allow private citizens to see most of the information held in their extensive files. These laws are meant to lessen the possibility that the government will abuse its power. But the issue of accountability has become blurred due to the rapid growth of information technology - and with it the rapid rise in the value of public information. CITATION Lyn00 \l 1033 (Lynch & Foote, 2000) The rapid growth of GIS technology stems from the trends of society - instant access to information is crucial for planning and managing the complex needs and requirements of our fast paced society. CITATION Mat96 \l 1033 (Matsunaga & Houston-Rogers, 1996) Interestingly, the tragic incident in 1983 in which a Soviet pilot shot down a Korean airliner, led the Reagan Administration to offer GPS services to the world - for the benefit of commercial aviation. As a result the policy of free access to GPS signals was first established in the Federal Radio-navigation Plan Policy and later in the Federal Laws. CITATION GIS08 \l 1033 (GIS Development, 2008)PrivacyWith Warren and Brandeis’s well-known declaration in 1890 of the “right to be left alone,” the concept of privacy took on new meaning. Many years later, the Supreme Court decided that technologically enhanced eavesdropping could be considered an “unreasonable search.” Further, it was ruled that a person’s ‘reasonable expectations of privacy’ should be sufficient to warrant protection. However, expectations reflect the amount of privacy people subjectively experience. Since technology continually creates more invasive surveillance possibilities – privacy expectations subsequently are lowered along with constitutional protections. The concept of privacy was initially invoked in cases dealing with protection of the physical body, but it also became associated with one’s right to make decisions about one’s body. Soon, privacy began to apply to even more abstract aspects of the person. Privacy has been increasingly invoked in cases involving the protection of reputation, civil liberties, personal development, and intimacy, the media, business, and information – of which includes demographic, medical, financial, psychological, genetic, and biographical information. CITATION Kas05 \l 1033 (Kasper, 2005)The overall theme is that the loss of privacy unavoidably implies the surrender of freedom. While a person may not be able to specifically define privacy, they know when it has been violated. Privacy is difficult to define and even more challenging to measure; yet it is a concept that is implicit within every human society. Ideas about privacy evolve as society changes. The understanding and experiencing of the concept of privacy can differ between cultural, historical and social contexts. CITATION Kas05 \l 1033 (Kasper, 2005) Privacy has been defined in several ways: a right involving personal control over disclosure of information, a person’s right to information about themselves, a right to protect “secrets”; a right to conduct transactions without identifying oneself, and a right to guard against the misuse or appropriation of personal information. Perhaps the widest definition equates personal information with property, granting personal information the same property rights accorded physical property. CITATION Whi03 \l 1033 (White, 2003)There are three categories in which personal information is gathered. The first is active, where the individual is a willing participant. Mobile phones and OnStar are examples of active tracking. Convenience-store customers, for example, are probably aware, on some level, that a camera records them. CITATION Whi03 \l 1033 (White, 2003) While many locations post signs alerting customers that they are being videotaped, many people are not necessarily conscious of the fact that they are being watched and recorded. CITATION Kas05 \l 1033 (Kasper, 2005) Although they did not openly consent to its use, they willingly patronize the establishment, thus giving what is generally known as “implied consent.” One frequently “assents” to these invasions of privacy only because there is no practical alternative. CITATION Whi03 \l 1033 (White, 2003) The second category is passive, which occurs without the individual’s knowledge or permission. This category includes methods such as surveillance cameras equipped with facial recognition software. For example, each person who attended Super Bowl XXXV had their face scanned as they entered the arena. Their facial features were then compared with a database of known criminals and terrorists. The intent of this screening was the detection of terrorists; the effect was the creation of a database that contained location information on thousands of people. CITATION Whi03 \l 1033 (White, 2003) The last category is flexible, which covers devices whose use has the unintended consequence of tracking location information. Credit cards, subway fare cards, red-light cameras and supermarket discount cards are all illustrations of this type of technology. A case in point is a direct-debit toll system that not only collects data at toll booths, but also reports data about vehicles gathered by radio transmitters hidden in traffic signs. For some this is considered the most important privacy issue that these “flexible” devices raise. An individual may consent to being tracked by toll road “FasTrak” systems because it is more convenient. However, they may not want their location data stockpiled for future study, or sold to another company for marketing purposes. CITATION Whi03 \l 1033 (White, 2003) Rental car companies outfit their cars with GPS to ensure that the customer is safe - and that the customer drives safe. As an added ‘benefit’, car rental agencies have the potential to store, process and sell this driver location information to a third party. CITATION Whi03 \l 1033 (White, 2003)In addition, these types of observations can be one time, or on-going. Data can be intentionally collected to look specifically for something or someone, or data can simply be stockpiled and later sorted through to establish trends or patterns. CITATION Kas05 \l 1033 (Kasper, 2005) A chief concern is the question of what is done with the data after it has been collected. Location privacy issues arise because of not only the use of this location-tracking technology, but also because of data processing and the value-added use of the location information which data mining provides. CITATION Whi03 \l 1033 (White, 2003)Discussion of Privacy and GIS IssuesPersonal privacy, although long considered to be a fundamental American constitutional right, has never been explicitly protected in the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, or any federal legislation. The legislative trend has been to increase the access to government-held data through the Freedom of Information Act and state legislation. The access of information currently afforded to anyone is phenomenal. While the government was never meant to be the protector of an individual's right of privacy, under the Freedom of Information Act, the government is in the middle of the individual demanding the right to information - and the individual who requires that the government deny access to their private information. CITATION Mat96 \l 1033 (Matsunaga & Houston-Rogers, 1996) Initially it was only the government and the military that had access to tracking devices; later law enforcement was granted access. Now, not only are location tracking devices available to corporations to track their employees and customers, it is generously available to the general public. For example, one can freely and easily search to find out not only who owns a plane, but also its entire flight log, thus being able to determine exactly where the pilot has been. For a couple hundred dollars, anyone can buy a GPS tracking device to see what their ex-husband is doing. Even if their car is only a dot representing them on a map, one can still identify location, track movements and infer behavior. Companies offer GPS services to help manage fleets or locate the nearest Starbucks, but they also can be used to locate friends, cheating spouses or curfew breaking teenagers. In addition, numerous public and law enforcement websites exist to show when and where crime has occurred. In yet another well-known use, names of registered sex offenders are routinely made public online, with the ability to map their home and work addresses.While there is understandable apprehension regarding ‘free’ public information that is available, there is just as much concern involving the posting of criminal activity data. This feature is offered by many police departments and independent organizations, and allows citizens to search for crimes that have happened in any given neighborhood. This may be helpful, for instance, for neighbors to know that several rapes have occurred nearby. However, using the same technology, the identity of the victim can be revealed, or the family of the offender harassed.With so much information available to the general public, real estate developers and agents feel that knowledge of high crime data will lower housing prices. Right-to-privacy advocates worry about backlashes towards former felons, especially convicted sex offenders and domestic violence criminals. Officials declare that unless the average web visitor knows specifics about the crime such a parcel number, detailed information is not released. The reality is that most of this information is public information (check the local newspaper), although the ease of crime mapping makes this information more readily available. CITATION ABC071 \l 1033 (ABC, 2007) Further, with a small amount of work using free online databases, one can easily discover parcel numbers, addresses, names or other key data that allows them to access detailed information. One example of ‘privacy violation’ involves a couple who filed a lawsuit against Google for an “intentional and/or grossly reckless invasion” of their seclusion and privacy since they live on a street that is marked with a ‘Private Road’ sign. The couple’s home is visible using Google’s Street View maps; however, interestingly, the couple did not file a lawsuit against their County’s Office of Property Assessment, which also has their name, address and photos of the house available online. CITATION Bor08 \l 1033 (Boring v. Google, Inc., 2008) In another situation, the entire city of North Oaks Minnesota has demanded that Google Maps remove images of all homes from the website's Street View feature, since the roads are privately owned by the residents and the city enforces a trespassing ordinance. CITATION Pab08 \l 1033 (Pabst, 2008) The Texas Tax Code has been amended to protect the confidentiality of homeowners and property addresses - allowing the information to be available for official use, but exempt from public requests.Any Internet Protocol enabled device can be geo-located using network addresses that show where an Internet user is physically located. An IP address can be assigned that is continual and stays with the device - regardless of how many cellular or Wi-Fi networks the device moves through. CITATION Ree06 \l 1033 (Reed, 2006) Recently, researchers observed the travel patterns of 100,000 cell phone users without their consent. The study tracked individuals by noting which cell phone towers picked up their signals when they made or received calls or text messages over a period of six months. Knowing people’s travel patterns can benefit society in terms of designing better transportation systems and fighting diseases, however, this type of nonconsensual location tracking is ethically disturbing. CITATION Bar08 \l 1033 (Barabasi, 2008) Since radio frequency identification (RFID) chips are found in personal items such as credit cards, student IDs and passports - and can assist in location tracking - websites exist to show people how to avoid being tracked by RFID. Other websites chart the locations of closed-circuit television (CCTV) surveillance cameras in Manhattan. Users can find routes, or “paths of least surveillance” that allow them to move about the city without being caught on tape by security monitors.A growing body of devices and systems continuously keep track of the many places a person passes through on a given day—some operating with permission, others with neither permission nor knowledge. CITATION Whi03 \l 1033 (White, 2003) Police have used GPS to track suspects in numerous cases across the country. Privacy advocates state that tracking suspects by use of GPS constitutes illegal search and seizure and violates Fourth Amendment rights of protection. Law enforcement officials believe GPS is basically the same as having an officer trail someone, just cheaper and more accurate.The use of electronic monitoring in the criminal justice system raises a number of ethical, legal and practical issues. Dangerous offenders are still able to attack before authorities can intervene. Electronic monitoring is undoubtedly a physically invasive technology that involves the attachment of a device to a person. Opponents of this technology declare that it is physically and psychologically invasive in the sense that the person's every move can be tracked, even when they aren’t under curfew.ConclusionIt does not take a lot of thought or effort to see that over the course of a typical day, the potential ways in which an individual’s location can be tracked and stored quickly becomes a very long list. Increasingly, much of this tracking is done without the public’s knowledge. Although cell phones, credit cards, and toll booths appear to have little in common, each is a potential location tracking device, and each raises potential location privacy issues. CITATION Whi03 \l 1033 (White, 2003)The power, range, frequency, and commercialism of space photography will only increase, most likely exponentially. At the same time, the internet and its instant access to information will only continue to become more intertwined in daily life. Without restrictions or checks and balances, the potential for abuse of privacy could far outweigh the current benefits of tracking devices.Bibliography BIBLIOGRAPHY ABC. (2007, August 23). Online Crime Mapping Meets Opposition. Retrieved June 10, 2008, from ABC11 Eyewitness News: Barabasi, A.-L. (2008). Uncovering individual and collective human dynamics from mobile phone records. Journal of Physics: Mathematical and Theoretical , 1-11.Boring v. Google, Inc., GD (Court of Common Pleas April 2, 2008).Center for Disease Control. (2008). DHDSP Maps. Retrieved 2008, from Center for Disease Control and Prevention: Center for Spatially Integrated Social Science. (2008). GIS and Population Science Participant Projects. Retrieved June 10, 2008, from Population Research Institute: Incorporated. (2008). Police Embrace High Tech Tracking . 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