Government Surveillance in the Digital Age
Imagine walking along a busy street in the middle of a sunny day. Also imagine that someone is following you around, videotaping everything you do. Disturbing thought? Even more disturbing is the fact that the United States government is already doing this, and it's perfectly legal.
According to Robert Trigaux, a reporter for the St. Petersburg times, until August of 2014, in Ybor City, Florida, the Tampa Police Department used fourty-six surveillance cameras that scanned faces of all people walking around the entertainment district. These surveillance cameras captured facial images and then compared them to a police database of known felons. This same surveillance system was also used during the Tampa Bay Super Bowl at the Raymond James Stadium, and other cities are attempting to install such a system. However, even though the cameras are used in public places, they still represent a large violation of privacy.
Also a violation of our privacy is the government's usage of the Carnivore Internet surveillance system that can track all of a person's online activity. The FBI not only has the capability to do so, but in many cases it can lawfully enter a person's home and alter or even steal information form his or her computer, all without the knowledge of the owner of the computer.
The government's ability to gather personal information on its citizens is similar to methods of surveillance in the novels The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood, and 1984, by George Orwell. In order to prevent the extreme cases of surveillance presented in these novels, it is the public's responsibility to remain alert to new developments in law enforcement so as to prevent an unreasonable s...
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Trigaux, Robert. Tampabay: Cameras scanned fans for criminals. 31 Jan. 2001. St. Petersburg Times. 2 Nov. 2003.
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Following the release of Blade Runner in 1982, film critics gave high remarks to the beautiful visual images of the city. Director Ridley Scott crafted the future vision of Los Angeles starting with a couple of buildings which were left in their original place. From that starting point, he built a towering, restricted Los Angeles set in 2019. Los Angeles presents itself in the opening sequence as a widespread industrial landscape with stacks of chemical plants, refineries throwing flames halfway to the sky and huge mega-structures that dominate the city centre. Hidden behind the city’s mega-structures, a technological world lights up the city through glittering neons and huge advertising screens and upon closer inspection, is an overwhelming...
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy appears to be a new treatment, although its roots can be traced to Albert Ellis’s Reason and Emotion in Psychotherapy, published in 1962. Cognitive therapy assumes that thoughts precede actions and false self-beliefs cause negative emotions. It is now known that most depression treatments have cognitive components to them, whether they are recognized or not. In the 1970’s many psychologists began using cognitive components to describe depression. From there, they developed cognitive forms to treat depression with impressive results (Franklin, 2003).
...d that in four treatment trials, cognitive therapy for depression is superior to pharmacotherapy in reducing relapse, or the need for further treatment. (Blackburn, Eunson & Bishop, 1986; Simons, Murphy, Levine & Wetzel, 1986; Evans, Hollon, De Rubeis, Piasecki, Grove, Garves & Tuason, 1992; Shea, Elkin, Imber, Sotsky, Watkins, Collins, Pilkonis, Leber, Krupnick, Dolan & Parloff, 1992). Therefore, it can be seen that many qualitative and quantitative reviews now conclude that cognitive therapy effectively treats depression, or is at least comparable, if not, superior to medication treatment, and may have lower rates of relapse in comparison to medication treatments. As a result, the implications of the cognitive theory and the treatment used to process Beck’s theory, cognitive therapy, has been a successful treatment in regarding depression, and many other diseases.
This therapy assists the individual and finding what the needs are of the person. This makes the therapy unique by finding what is occurring with the person and what they can do to help regulate positive thoughts and emotions. As shown in the article, it mentioned how “some primary skills taught may include mood monitoring, behavioral activation, cognitive restructuring, and the development of problem-solving and social skills” (Mahoney, Kennard, & Mayes, 2011). The purpose of this therapy is to assist the client to create appropriate goals and work towards improving their symptoms. At first, this can be done by having the client monitor their mood and plan in activities they can become engaged in (Mahoney, Kennard, & Mayes, 2011). Therefore, this can play a significant role with my client due to finding what interests she has and if this can help her while handling her depression. The best way to monitor my client’s results would be working with my client and using CBT each time we meet. That way my client has spent enough time understanding her thoughts or emotions and how they have been impacting her
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is a form of therapy which can be used to treat a wide range of mental health problems. Cognitive Therapy is an active, directive, time limited, structured approach used to treat a variety of psychiatric disorders, for example depression, anxiety, phobias (Beck, 1967). It emerged as a rational amalgam of behavioural and cognitive theories of human behaviour and is based on the idea that our thoughts determine our behaviour and feelings (Kendall PC, 1979). On average a patient attends between 5 and 20 appointments with their therapist. (Blenkiron 2013)
When one thinks of a futuristic movie that takes place in New York pictures of flying cars and strange cloths pop into the mind. These are in fact used. In addition to these items however, the city itself is portrayed in a very gloomy light. The very first scene of the movie is an aerial shot of the city at night. The audience can see noting but the outline of buildings and pinpricks of light that are the widows in these buildings. When we get down to street level we see other sources of light such as a digital billboard on the side of a building, car headlights, and light from nearby restaurants, but the overall feel is still dark and dismal. The buildings are all metal and it is constantly raining throughout the movie. Other things used to portray this dingy, dismal feel are open fires and trash in the streets.
Rupke, S., Blecke, D., & Renfrow, M. (2006, January 1). Cognitive therapy for depression. National Center for Biotechnology Information. Retrieved March 10, 2014, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16417069?dopt=Abstract
According to Beck et al. (1979), for depression, a course of therapy which lasts between 15 to 20 sessions would be desirable.
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Most people concerned about the privacy implications of government surveillance aren’t arguing for no[sic] surveillance and absolute privacy. They’d be fine giving up some privacy as long as appropriate controls, limitations, oversight and accountability mechanisms were in place. ”(“5 Myths about Privacy”). The fight for privacy rights is by no means a recent conflict.
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is among the most extensively tested psychotherapies for depression. Many studies have confirmed the efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) as a treatment for depression. This paper will provide background information about the intervention, address the target population, and describe program structure and key components. It will also provide examples of program implementation, challenges/barriers to implementing the practice, address how the practice supports recovery from a serious mental illness standpoint and provide a summary. Although there are several types of therapy available to treat depression and other mood disorders, CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) has been one of the most widely used. It is thought to be very effective in treating depression in adolescents and adults. CBT is targeted to quickly resolve maladaptive thoughts and behaviors without inquiring greatly into why those thoughts and behaviors occur as opposed to other forms of psychotherapy.
However, government agencies, especially in America, continue to lobby for increased surveillance capabilities, particularly as technologies change and move in the direction of social media. Communications surveillance has extended to Internet and digital communications. law enforcement agencies, like the NSA, have required internet providers and telecommunications companies to monitor users’ traffic. Many of these activities are performed under ambiguous legal basis and remain unknown to the general public, although the media’s recent preoccupation with these surveillance and privacy issues is a setting a trending agenda.
In terms of government intelligence, in the information age greatest threats to privacy have been the result of technology and business practices related to e-commerce, marketing and information databases, and not the result of government intrusions (Hoffman, Novak & Peralta, 1997). Nevertheless “all things considered, the increasing and overlapping information sharing by governments and businesses about formerly confidential or private activities generates concerns about potential violations of individual’s privacy rights” (Mace, 2008 cited in Gal, Kantor & Lesk, 2008, p.41).
Kelly, Heather. "After Boston: The Pros and Cons of Surveillance Cameras." CNN. Cable News Network, 26 Apr. 2013. Web. 14 May 2014.