Privacy and Security Reflection: Monitoring Citizens in Hong Kong

This essay examines the ethical and personal implications of government surveillance, focusing on a proposed plan in Hong Kong to use smart sensors and cameras to monitor citizens' behavior in an effort to address street crime. It discusses the potential impact on individual privacy, considering the right to privacy and the ethical concerns of monitoring citizens without their informed consent. The essay also explores the implications of providing smart Wi-Fi networks, highlighting both the benefits and potential harms to individuals, including students, working-class people, and children. Furthermore, it analyzes digital identity and its role in maintaining privacy while acknowledging the risks of online platforms. The essay concludes by emphasizing the importance of government regulation and protection of sensitive information to mitigate potential negative impacts on citizens' privacy and security.

Running head- Privacy and Security Reflection
Privacy and Security
Reflection

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Privacy and Security Reflection
Introduction
This paper is based on the personal approaches as well as feelings on information security and
privacy. This paper will discuss the personal as well as ethical implications of monitoring the
movement of the citizens. The main aim of the paper is to identify the behavioral changes in the
general citizen due to a network of smart sensors as well as cameras at the traffic lights, bus
stops, rubbish bins, etc. to monitor the behavior of the people in order to address the street crime.
Addressing crimes including street crime is the priority of the concerned government. As the rate
of crime including street crime in Hong Kong has been increased, the government is concerned
about addressing the crime in the city. In order to reduce the rate of crime, the government is
going to implement a proposed plan of a network of smart sensors as well as cameras at the
traffic lights, bus stops, rubbish bins, etc. It will help the government to monitor the behavior of
the people. The movement of the people will be monitor and control by the government in order
to identify the doubtful activities of the people. The government officials will be keeping a close
eye on the people with doubtful activities. But the matter of concern is that whether this
approach is ethical from the privacy of the citizen point of view. Monitoring every action,
activities, and behavior of the people with the help of cameras at the traffic lights, bus stops,
rubbish bins, etc. will affect almost all categories of the people.
According to my point of view, it is against the right of privacy of the people because, with the
help of Smart Sensor Network, the government can monitor the activities of all the people. The
government can monitor the action and activities of the people as they will step outside their
door. If an individual is committing the crime or simply walking across all the activities will be

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Privacy and Security Reflection
under surveillance. However, monitoring the action and activities of the people may significantly
control and reduce the rate of crime in the city.
Personal and Ethical Implication for the Privacy of Monitoring the
Activities of the People
Privacy can be defined as the condition of the life of the individuals characterized by exclusion
from publicity. Privacy implies that if an individual does not reveal that to who he or she is
meeting, communicating, what he or she is doing, where he or she is going, the time of departure
and arrival, it should be hidden and confidential. The revelation of such information should be
based on the will of the individual. If anyone is trying to monitor the action and activities of the
individual in order to reveal such information, it is against the right of privacy of the individuals.
The first and foremost ethical concern of monitoring the behavior of the people is that without
taking informed consent of the people, their action and behavior will be under surveillance. The
main ethical impact is related to the accessibility or inaccessibility as well as the manipulation of
the information.
The people who will be affected by this proposal
Every individual will be affected by this approach of monitoring the activities of the people. It is
also believed that the criminals will find a new way to commit the crime and ultimately the
normal citizen of the country will suffer from this approach of the government of keeping a close
eye on the behavior of the people. For example, the criminals hacked the traffic light of New
York, in order to run away from the reach of police. In the same way, the criminals can also hack
the cameras at the traffic lights, bus stop, rubbish bins, etc. and accomplish their intention or

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Privacy and Security Reflection
goals. Although the criminals will also be affected and before committing any crime, they will
have to think twice because every doubtful activity will be tracked easily if they will not be able
to hack the cameras.
Changing behavior of the normal citizen
It would also significantly affect the day to day life of the normal people. The day to day life of
the normal people will be affected because monitoring the activities of the people will affect the
attitude and perception of the people. They will think that if they commit a little mistake at the
public place they will be tracked by the police and they will have to spend time in jail. This kind
of perception will affect their behavior as well. They will neither talk to the strange people nor
will they help the strange people. The normal people will not spend more time in public places
due to the fear of being monitored. The joy from the life of the people will reduce significantly
because of the controlled out of house life.
Changes in the behavior of individual
Apart from this, the personal relationship of the people would also be affected by monitoring the
activities of the people. For example, most often the couple wants to meet outside the house and
have fun. The fear of being monitored will significantly affect their personal relationship. They
cannot enjoy more in such situation where their activities are being monitored by the government
agencies. One of the ethical concerns is that the government officials will monitor every second
of the individuals’ life but who will monitor their activities. It is also possible that some of the
government officials commit the crime under the name of monitoring the activities of the people
or in the name of identifying criminal activities of the people. They can easily monitor if the
couple is making love and can easily leak the video. They can also blackmail the couple for
money or for something else.

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Privacy and Security Reflection
Personal and Ethical Implication of Smart Wi-Fi Network
If the government provides smart Wi-Fi network throughout the state, it will help the individuals
to access the internet readily in order to search the required information. But here the matter of
concern is that whether the smart Wi-Fi network is totally beneficial for the people of the state or
if there is ethical consideration of it as well. According to my point of view, there are both the
sides positive as well as negative of the smart Wi-Fi network. Providing smart Wi-Fi network, on
the one hand, help the people to access the internet easily and on the other hand, it will provide
access to the internet to all the individuals and some of them may use it for the wrong intention.
The people who will be affected by this proposal
The youth of the state (the students) will be highly benefited by it if they use it for their study
purpose as well as other extra curriculum related to their study. Instead of investing their time in
study, if they will invest their time on the social platform such as Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter,
Snap chat, etc. playing games, and doing other activities will impact their study significantly.
The working class people, the retired people, the housewives, etc. will be affected by this
proposal.
Behavioral changes
Providing smart Wi-Fi network would affect mostly the students of the state and the working
class of the state. It would also affect the children significantly. Most of the people will start
investing their time on the internet, and hence the interpersonal relationship would not be the
priority for the people. The distance between the relationships will increase which will create
tense among the people. The working class people will also use it in their work which is
beneficial for them. But some of them might use it for other purposes than their work which will

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Privacy and Security Reflection
hamper their work significantly. Providing smart Wi-Fi network may also lead the people to
watch unethical content on their mobile phones such as pornography, etc. The children will be
more involved in games and other activities and will devote less time to their study and sports.
Playing sports is essential for the children for their physical as well as mental growth. And if the
children will be highly involved in playing games on their mobile phone instead of playing
games in the playground, their physical and mental growth will be significantly affected.
Changes in the behavior of the individual
The people will start responding to the social issues through the social media instead of dealing
with the social issues physically or directly. It may also lead to spreading rumors in the society
regarding any particular things. It will work to whitewash the brain of the youth and use them for
the wrong purposes. The sensitive information will be public within a fraction of second and
people may come out of their houses to protest either legally or illegally. It is also possible that
the administration would not be able to control the crowd and the crowd may damage the public
property.
Implication of the proposal
One of the significant issues of providing smart Wi-Fi network is that some of the people can
steal or damage the information from the mobile devices as the mobile device will be connected
to the public domain. Therefore, it is very dangerous for the people who have sensitive
information on their mobile phone. The hackers may steal the sensitive information if the people
connect their mobile devices to the provided Wi-Fi. Therefore, if I have sensitive information on
my mobile device, I would avoid the use of the Wi-Fi network.

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Privacy and Security Reflection
So, it can be concluded that providing smart Wi-Fi network throughout the state would be
beneficial as well as harmful for the people. The people can be benefited if they will use it for
their study, work, and sometimes for entertainment purposes. It would be harmful to the people if
it is not regulated by the government officials regularly.
Digital Identity and Privacy
The digital identity can be defined as the set of information about the organization, the people, or
the electronic devices which exist on the online platform. With the help of used pattern as well as
unique identifiers, it is possible to detect the people as well as their electronic devices. Such
information is generally used by the owners of the websites, marketers, advertisers, etc. in order
to track the users for customization as well as to serve them targeted advertising and content.
It is very vulnerable for the individuals to exist on the online platform because it has the potential
to make the private information of the individual accessible by others for wrong purposes. If the
individual has not followed the standard protection measures in order to protect their private
information, the hackers can steal or damage the private information. The hackers can easily
enter into the account of the individuals and steal the private information. Therefore, it is very
important to follow the standard protection measures in order to protect the private information
of the hackers.
Digital identity can also put the people at the risk of stealing or damaging the private information
or the risk of identity theft. But digital identity also has the potential to maintain the privacy. The
state has decided to use digital identity in order to ensure that the citizen will be correctly
identified and access services provided by the state both electronically as well as physically.
Therefore, the digital identity would assist in maintaining the privacy of the individuals because

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it would be regulated by the government officials and any illegal activities can be easily
identified. It is the responsibility of the government officials to protect the private information of
the people while they use the online platform provided by the government.
So, the government officials would follow the standard protection measures in order to protect
the private information of the people. They will guide the people to make the strong password in
order to avoid illegal access to their account. If anyone will try to steal or damage the private
information of the people or will try to enter into the account of the people illegally, they will be
easily identified, and the government will take appropriate measures to deal with such people.
The government can also take the further step to strengthen the privacy concern in order to
protect the right of the people.
The privacy can be ensured by providing the people with greater control over their own
information as well as how, when, and with whom the data is shared and the purpose of sharing
the data. Transparency reporting of the data disclosure is also ensured by the government
officials in order to protect the private information of the users.
Ensuring the Privacy and Security of the Digital Identity
It is essential to ensure the security and privacy of the digital identity in order to protect the
private information. Nowadays with the advancement in technology and emergence of social
platform, the private information of the people can be easily accessed by the people, which is a
major threat to the security and privacy of the individuals. There are various measures which can
be taken in order to ensure the privacy as well as the security of the digital identity. The
following steps can be taken for the same purpose;

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Privacy and Security Reflection
In order to ensure security as well as the privacy of the digital identity, I would not fill out my
social media profile. If I filled more information on my social media profile, it would be easier
for someone to get it. Therefore, sharing information on the social media ever may lead to the
risk of identity theft or other security and privacy concern. The advantage of this step is that my
information would be confidential. I can provide such information to the people I trust. But with
the lack of information on my social media, even those who know me cannot find me on the
social media.
The next step that I would take in order to ensure security and privacy of digital identity is that I
would not share my security number with anyone, even the last four digits or first four digits.
Some of the organizations can ask for my security numbers such as the bank, authorized
companies, or a credit bureau. Such organizations are authorized, and an individual can trust
these organizations. But apart from these organizations, anyone is asking for a security number, I
would think twice before sharing the number. And I will feel doubt I would not share it. It would
also help me to protect my valuable private information from the frauds. The disadvantage is that
if I would not share my security number to some of the organization such as banks which is
needed to verify my account; I can enjoy the benefits of the services of such organization.
I would set a password in order to lock my mobile device so that no one can use my mobile
device other than me. Setting the password would help me to protect the mobile device from
other people who can use my mobile device to steal the private information. The benefit of
setting the password is that it will avoid illegal use of my mobile device and thus protect my
private and sensitive information. The disadvantage of setting the password is that if I forgot the
password, it would be difficult for me to open my mobile device.

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Privacy and Security Reflection
I would also use two-factor authentication in order to lock down my social media sites such as
Facebook, Google, Dropbox, Twitter and other sites. Two-factor authentication is one of the
essential features to protect the digital identity. In two-factor authentication an individual need to
enter a special code apart from the password which is received on the mobile device. The benefit
of using two-factor authentication is that it is highly secure and personalized. The disadvantage
of two-factor authentication is that I cannot open my account until and unless I receive the
special code. The delay in receiving the special code may result in the delay in opening the
account.
Apart from all these, I will also keep my social activities private in order to protect the
confidential and sensitive information confidential. I would ensure that the information shared by
me can be viewed only by my friends and other than my friend no one can access my
information. Apart from this, I would also ensure that only known persons will be my friend on
social media. In this way, I can avoid the misuse of my shared information. There is also the
disadvantage of it such as if I share a relevant topic related to social issues on my social media
profile, it would not be visible to the people other than my friends.
While enabling the protection, some of the websites ask common questions such as in which city
do you live? or what is your mother’s maiden name? If I provide right answers to such questions,
anyone can find out the answer with the little search. Therefore, while providing answers to such
a question, I would lie. So, no one can find the right answer to enter into my account. But the
disadvantage of it is that if I forget the right answers, I would also face trouble to open my
account.