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This short chapter is an introduction to my 2018 book: The Ethics of Surveillance: An Introduction (Macnish, 2018). It is provided at the start of this PRO-RES collection of essays because it anticipates and supplements the range of issues covered in this collection and lays out some of the fundamental considerations necessary to ensure if surveillance must be conducted, it will be done as ethically as possible.

When is surveillance justified? We can largely agree that there are cases in which surveillance seems, at least prima facie, to be morally correct: police tracking a suspected mass murderer, domestic state security tracking a spy network, or a spouse uncovering partner’s infidelity. At the same time, there are other cases in which surveillance seems clearly not to be justified: the mass surveillance practices of the East German Stasi, an employer watching over an employee to ensure that they do not spend too long in the toilet, or a voyeur watching the subject of his lust undress night after night.

As an introductory text, my book does not seek to provide a list of necessary and sufficient conditions for ethical surveillance. What it does provide is an overview of the current thinking in surveillance ethics, looking at a range of proposed arguments about these questions, and how those arguments might play out in a variety of applied settings. It hence provides a useful and accessible volume for policymakers wishing to rapidly get up to speed on developments in surveillance and the accompanying ethical discussions.

A policy of surveillance which interferes with the fundamental right to a private life requires credible justification and a supportive evidence base. The authority for such interference should be clearly detailed in law, overseen by a transparent process and not left to the vagaries of administrative discretion. If a state surveils those it governs and claims the interference to be in the public interest, then the evidence base on which that claim stands and the operative conception of public interest should be subject to critical examination. Unfortunately, there is an inconsistency in the regulatory burden associated with access to confidential patient information for non-health-related surveillance purposes and access for health-related surveillance or research purposes. This inconsistency represents a systemic weakness to inform or challenge an evidence-based policy of non-health-related surveillance. This inconsistency is unjustified and undermines the qualities recognised to be necessary to maintain a trustworthy confidential public health service. Taking the withdrawn Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between NHS Digital and the Home Office as a worked example, this chapter demonstrates how the capacity of the law to constrain the arbitrary or unwarranted exercise of power through judicial review is not sufficient to level the playing field. The authors recommend ‘levelling up’ in procedural oversight, and adopting independent mechanisms equivalent to those adopted for establishing the operative conceptions of public interest in the context of health research to non-health-related surveillance purposes.

This chapter, based on a sociological approach, addresses the ethical issues of surveillance research from the perspective of the profound transformations that science and innovation are undergoing, as part of a broader shift from modern to post-modern society, affecting also other major social institutions (such as government, religion, family, and public administration). The change occurring in the science and technology system is characterised by diminishing authority, uncertainty about internal mechanisms and standards, and a declining and increasingly difficult access to resources. Such changes, also related to globalisation and new digital technologies, have transformed the way research is conducted and disseminated. Research is now more open and its results more easily accessible to citizens.

Scientific research is also put under increased public scrutiny, while, at the same time, public distrust and disaffection towards science is rising. In such a context, it is more important than ever to make sure that research activities are not compromised by fraudulent and unethical practices. The legitimate expectations of citizens to enjoy their rights, including the ability to protect their private sphere, are growing. Scientific and technological development is deeply interrelated with the widespread awareness of these rights and the possibility of exercising them, but it produces also new risks, while a widespread sense of insecurity increases. The digital revolution, while improving people’s quality of life, offers at the same time new opportunities for crime and terrorism, which in turn has produced a demand to strengthen security systems through increasingly advanced and intrusive surveillance technologies. Misconduct in the field of surveillance may not only undermine the quality of research, but also further impair society’s trust in research and science as well as in the State and its institutions.

This chapter focusses on the ethical issues raised by different types of surveillance and the varied ways in which surveillance can be covert. Three case studies are presented which highlight different types of surveillance and different ethical concerns. The first case concerns the use of undercover police to infiltrate political activist groups over a 40-year period in the UK. The second case study examines a joint operation by US and Australian law enforcement agencies: the FBI’s operation Trojan Shield and the AFP’s Operation Ironside. This involved distributing encrypted phone handsets to serious criminal organisations which included a ‘backdoor’ secretly sending encrypted copies of all messages to law enforcement. The third case study analyses the use of emotional artificial intelligence systems in educational digital learning platforms for children where technology companies collect, store and use intrusive personal data in an opaque manner. The authors discuss similarities and differences in the ethical questions raised by these cases, for example, the involvement of the state versus private corporations, the kinds of information gathered and how it is used.

The surveillance equipment is one of the most important parts for current air traffic control systems. It provides aircraft position and other relevant information including flight parameters. However, the existing surveillance equipment has certain position errors between true and detected positions. Operators must understand and account for the characteristics on magnitude and frequency of the position errors in the surveillance systems because these errors can influence the safety of aircraft operation. This study aims to develop the simulation model for analysis of these surveillance position errors to improve the safety of aircrafts in airports.

This study investigates the characterization of the position errors observed in airport surface detection equipment of an airport ground surveillance system and proposes a practical method to numerically reproduce the characteristics of the errors.

The proposed approach represents position errors more accurately than an alternative simple approach. This study also discusses the application of the computational results in a microscopic simulation modeling environment.

The surveillance error is analyzed from the radar trajectory data, and a random generator is configured to implement these data. These data are used in the air transportation simulation through an application programing interface, which can be applied to the aircraft trajectory data in the simulation. Subsequently, additionally built environment data are used in the actual simulation to obtain the results from the simulation engine.

The presented surveillance error analysis and simulation with its implementation plan are expected to be useful for air transportation safety simulations.

This case study paper aims to explore the complexities and challenges of epidemic response and public health surveillance in Native American and Indigenous American communities in the United States and find viable solutions. This paper explores these topics through the emergence and impact of the hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) within the Navajo Nation in the United States using critical incident analysis and best practices.

This project is a case study paper based on a topical review of the literature. A topical review of the literature is a comprehensive exploration of the current body of knowledge within a particular research field. It is an important tool used by scholars and practitioners to further the development of existing knowledge as well as to identify potential directions for future research (Fourie, 2020). Such a paper can provide a useful insight into the various aspects of the process that the researcher may have overlooked, as well as highlighting potential areas of improvement (Gall et al., 2020). It can also provide a useful source of ideas and inspiration for the researcher as it can provide an overview of the various approaches used by other researchers in the field (Göpferich, 2009). Case study papers using a topical review of the literature have been used to help frame and inform research topics, problems and best practices for some time. They are typically used to explore a topic in greater depth and to provide an overview of the literature to improve the world of practice to provide a foundation for future comprehensive empirical research. Case study papers can provide research value by helping to identify gaps in the literature and by providing a general direction for further research. They can also be used to provide a starting point for research questions and hypotheses and to help identify potential areas of inquiry.

This study explores best practices in public health surveillance and epidemic response that can help strengthen public health infrastructure by informing the development of effective surveillance systems and emergency response plans, as well as improving data collection and analysis capabilities within Native American and Indigenous American communities in the United States that also have the option to include new technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) with similar outbreaks in the future.

The literature review did not include any primary data collection, so the existing available research may have limited the findings. The scope of the study was limited to published literature, which may not have reported all relevant findings. For example, unpublished studies, field studies and industry reports may have provided additional insights not included in the literature review. This research has significant value based on the limited amount of studies on how infectious diseases can severely impact Native American communities in the United States, leading to unnecessary and preventable suffering and death. As a result, research on viable best practices is needed on the best practices in public health surveillance and epidemic response in Native American and Indigenous American communities through historical events and critical incident analysis.

Research on public health surveillance and epidemic response in Native American communities can provide insights into the challenges faced by these communities and help identify potential solutions to improve their capacity to detect, respond to and prevent infectious diseases using innovative approaches and new technologies like AI.

More research on public health surveillance and epidemic response can inform policies and interventions to improve access to healthcare for Native American populations, such as increasing availability of healthcare services, providing culturally appropriate health education and improving communication between providers and patients. By providing better public health surveillance and response capacity, research can help reduce the burden of infectious diseases in Native American communities and ultimately lead to improved public health outcomes.

In 2019, FIU-the Netherlands celebrated its 25th anniversary. This study takes the occasion to reflect on the role of the FIU in financial surveillance and to describe its core practices of collecting, analysing and disseminating financial intelligence.

Because FIU practices are often secret and its transaction data classified as state secrets, the FIU’s daily operational activities remain obscure. Drawing on interviews, public reports and an online training course, this study encircles secrecy and offers a fine-grained analysis of the FIU's core activities.

The article finds that the FIU plays a pivotal role in financial surveillance because it can operate at various intersections. An FIU operates at the intersection of finance and security, in between the public and private sector and at the national and international domain. This pivotal role makes the FIU indispensable in the surveillance of payment systems and spending behavior.

The article poses that the desirability and effectiveness of financial surveillance has to date not received sufficient consideration, while it affects (the privacy of) anyone with a bank account. The article asks: is it ethically justifiable that transaction information is declared suspect, investigated, and shared nationally and internationally, without the individual or entity concerned officially being notified and legally named a suspect?

This case-study is not only relevant for the study of finance/security, AML/CFT and financial surveillance, but also to policy makers and the broader public who merit an understanding of how their financial behaviour is being surveilled.

The purpose of this paper is to develop an active larval indices surveillance system and compare the outcomes of the implementation in primary care units (PCUs) at low and high risk of dengue.

The study design was conducted by implementing a community participation action research system in low and high dengue risk PCUs in Lansaka district, Nakhon Si Thammarat province, in the Southern Region of Thailand. There were five phases to the process including preparation of all stakeholders, situation assessment, development of the surveillance system, program implementation and evaluation. The system was developed in ten villages that were categorized as either low dengue risk PCUs (comprising six villages) or high dengue risk PCUs (four villages). A village was assigned as being at high or low dengue risk according to pre-determined criteria. The low dengue risk PCU assessments were conducted on a seven-step active larval indices surveillance system where PCU officials were additionally involved in coordinating, teaching, coaching and supporting the village health volunteers (VHVs) for dengue prevention activities. The high dengue risk PCUs, on the other hand, only followed a basic larval indices surveillance system with no follow-up support.

The outcomes of using intervention systems showed that the VHVs’ dengue knowledge and larval indices understanding in both PCUs increased significantly (p<0.01). Furthermore, the low dengue risk PCUs had a higher larval indices level than the high dengue risk PCU (p<0.01).

This study showed that the low dengue risk PCU followed an active larval indices surveillance system at the sub-district level which is appropriate for villages. This study also revealed that VHVs are needed to strengthen the capacity in terms of knowledge and skills of developing such a system to ensure reduced levels of dengue in the community.