As technology improves, privacy worsens
March 10, 2020
Gage’s story may seem far-fetched, but Wisconsin teacher David Kruchten was accused of planting surveillance devices in three of his students’ hotel rooms, according to the Star Tribune. On Feb. 5, he was charged in Hennepin County District Court with three counts of interfering with privacy.
Just this week in New Jersey, a man was arrested for allegedly filming two women in a Barnes & Noble bathroom after 18-year-old Madison Delaney saw the camera, according to CNN.
Advancements in cameras have made it easier to use and abuse small cameras, according to technology education teacher Trevor Paulson.
Technology has improved greatly over the last decade. Those lenses, the electronics, the sensors, all the stuff that goes into building them so that you can record images.
— Trevor Paulson
Though cameras can be used to surveil people, it isn’t the sole use of this new technology. Paulson said the Robotics team is able to use these cameras in a productive way — vision tracking.
“We end up mounting them on robots so you can get a field view of where we’re going at because if you’re standing on a wall, you don’t get to see first person what is going on,” Paulson said.
Cameras may be used to prevent crime, even if they are not turned on, according to Tom Murphy, a staff psychologist for the Indian Health Board of Minneapolis.
“Where I work, we have this parking lot across the street where we all park our cars and there’s a sign there that says you are under surveillance, and there’s a camera there. The camera is not hooked up to anything,” Murphy said. “But it’s hopefully some level of deterrent, that someone with a passing thought of breaking into a car would see that and move along.”