Business of Surveillance
By Heidi Boghosian, reprinted from the ABA Human Rights Magazine
It is at once revealing and disturbing that the American retailing company Target can learn of a teenager’s pregnancy before the family she lives with does. An angry father near Minneapolis found this out firsthand, as reported in the New York Times, revealing a modern-day quandary: Communications and information technology have advanced with such speed that privacy safeguards lag far behind. Retailers accumulate and store vast amounts of personal data, and telecommunications and other corporations frequently share this information with government intelligence agencies. Such practices invade privacy and, absent careful interpretation, threaten to render the First Amendment inadequate to protect traditional liberty interests.
U.S. investigators advocating a robust antiterrorism agenda have pressed communications companies to store and, in many cases, turn over an unprecedented amount of information about citizens’ telephone calls, Internet communications, and daily movements. Internationally recognized standards of human rights are imperiled by the dual interests of a private sector intent on maximizing profits and a government fixated on preventing future terrorist attacks.
In addition to engaging in data mining, multinational companies are employing sophisticated technology, such as radio frequency identification (RFID) chips, semiconductors, and chips that can be configured to allow law enforcement “back door” access to monitor communications, or that enable location-based services to track citizens’ whereabouts. One need only watch an episode of NCIS, CSI, or any other police procedural to get an idea of how intrusive such equipment can be. Surveillance has become mainstream as Americans’ lives are data driven and uploaded to the Internet, transformed into digital packets, and bared publicly on social media sites. In striving for efficiency and instantaneous communication, consumers have unwittingly impelled retailers and data-mining companies to compete in capturing and reselling shopping habits and related personal information.
Computer Matching—Building Blocks of Mass Surveillance
As the Target example shows, mass surveillance is accomplished in large part by computer matching, the integration and comparing of electronic data records from two or more sources. Software enables computer searches and record-linking based on a configuration of common elements and patterns such as names, addresses, or Social Security numbers.
Target devised a pregnancy prediction score to entice prospective parents to become loyal consumers. As Charles Duhigg reported in the New York Times, shoppers receive a guest ID number linked to their credit card, name, or e-mail address that retains buying history and demographic information that Target collects or buys from other sources. A Target statistician analyzes purchasing data for women who signed up for Target baby registries for patterns such as unscented lotion purchases, which typically happen around the second trimester. After estimating delivery dates, Target sent coupons tailored to women’s different stages of pregnancy. The teenager’s father who confronted management at the Target store near Minneapolis did so after receiving coupons for baby clothes.