Privacy And Security Reflection: A Discussion

Singapore Government's Smart Sensor Network - From the visitor’s point of view

Discuss about the Privacy and Security Reflection.

From the point of view of a visitor I would like to state that I would be completely unaware of the placement of the sensors and the cameras. Hence, there would be two types of evaluation of the situation that would be made by me. Firstly, I would like to state the advantage of this situation. This setup would be a huge advantage for me as visitor. There are cameras and sensors installed in the hideous locations. Hence, this would create a sense of insecurity for the people who are thinking of committing any kind of crime. Any kind criminal activities that are conducted by the criminals and the mal practitioners would be monitored very efficiently by the government. Knowing this, I would be feeling very secure about roaming and performing my activities freely in the country. In addition to this, I would feel very secure in a foreign country and I would like to express that, this is a very good initiative on the part of the government of Singapore. The government and the authorities would be able to have strict monitoring system over the entire city.

On the other hand the negative aspect of this situation is that my privacy would be hampered in the city. There cameras and sensors that would be hidden in the city. As a foreigner I would be completely new to the city and would also be completely unaware about the placement of the cameras and the sensor in the city and this would allow the government and the instruments to record me without my consent.  There would be pictures of taken in awkward situations and also my voice would be recorded in the devices and this would be violating my rights over protection of my personal data from the foreign governments.

As a resident of the country I would be very happy with the initiative. As a resident in the city I would be feel that the safety of the city has increased considerably. The cameras and the sensors would be helping the government in keeping a strict vigilance over the entire city and would be able in tracking the population of the city. This would be reducing the crime rates in the city and also the general public of the city would be feeling more secure around the city and also the people of the city would become more disciplined in and around the city.  This would also enhance the maintenance of the city. The authorities would be able to look after the facilities of the city more efficiently and this would result in the mitigation of the inefficiencies that is prevalent in the city. This would also make me very happy as a resident of the city.

Singapore Government's Smart Sensor Network - From the resident’s point of view

In addition, to this as resident of the city I would have same concerns over the installation of the cameras and the sensors in the city that I would have as a foreigner. The cameras and the sensors would be hampering my privacy. There would records of my personal data in the files that would be stored by the governments. This would be affecting my rights as the citizen of the country as I would not like the government or the public to have access to my personal data without my consent. The government and the authorities would be able to track me whenever they want. The main concern arises if there some people with evil intention existing in the higher authority and has access to the system. This would be resulting in the misuse of my personal data and I would be vulnerable to facing strict consequences. Hence, this is a big drawback on the part of system and the general public would be vulnerable to the same consequences such as me.

From the visitor’s point of view

The installation of the WIFI network would be a great initiative by the government of Singapore. The network would allow the people to use the internet even in the most remote locations of the city. The network would allow the people to have access to the internet in the areas where there is no internet connectivity. As a visitor to the country I would like to state that this very excellent idea by the government of the country that would allow the people of the country to have access to the network at any time from any place. As a visitor this would be very helpful for me. As I would be roaming inside a new country I would be facing difficulties in adjusting with the network connections in the country. This would be helping me in getting connected with the network and having access to the internet from any location.  According to me this is a great step towards the implementation of the smart city in Singapore by the government. This would be efficient in a way because I would be able to get all the information I need in the new country and also I would be provided with information about the country via the internet. I would be able to stay online 24/7. This would be very beneficial for me. In addition to this, I would not have to bear the extra charges for the internet in the foreign country. This initiative by the government of Singapore would also aid in the implementation of the new Super WIFI network by the government. In addition to this, the network would also be able to use the technology to transmit the Smart Nation data. This would also allow me to have access to the online services that are provided by the government. The network would be providing a greater bandwidth for the users, but it would be provided with a low power requirement.

Effect of Singapore Government’s Smart Nation Plan is to deploy a series of sensor boxes - From a visitor's point of view

The installation of the sensors that would be providing wireless internet services to residents of the city. As a resident of the country this would be a great plan for the improvement of the country and work towards the development of the country from my point of view. The WIFI services would be enabling the residents of the city to have uninterrupted access to the internet and this would help them in great way. The WIFI setup in the network of the city would be allowing the authorities and the government to perform their activities more efficiently. The official work of the authorities would not be interrupted and they would be able to work on a fast paced internet connection and hence, the efficiency in the communication in between the officials and the government departments would very efficient. As a result, this would also affect the services that the government and the local authorities provide to us. Hence, as a resident of the country I would like to appreciate the overall improvement that would be taking place due to the implementation of the wireless technology in the network of the country. The WIFI sensors would also allow me to have access to the internet connection even if the broadband services are down in my region. These would also be very helpful in the extreme weather conditions when the network bandwidths are generally down and hence, the sensors would provide services in cases of emergencies. In addition to this, as a resident I would also be benefitted from the project in terms of expenses annually. As I would have uninterrupted services from the wireless internet services I would not have purchase expensive broadband plans and also the cost for my mobile data would be saved to a great extent. Hence, as a resident of the country would feel benefitted from this type of project. 

I would feel unsafe if I posses any kind of restricted content in my devices. However, there is no reason to for me to feel unsafe if I do not connect to the network. The network would only detect my identity if I connect to WIFI network. Hence, I would feel that the people contain important information on their devices should not be connecting the devices to the network. In addition to this, I would like to express that I would support the government on this initiative as this would be helpful for the country in tracking the mal practitioners and the criminals. This would also prevent form anybody misusing the network and also would help in identifying the person or the group who misuses the network. In addition to this, the network would also inform the government about who is coming inside the country and who is leaving. As a foreigner to the country this would be a disadvantage, but as a resident of the country would be feeling safe in the country and feel that the country is well protected form any kind of foreign intrusion and feel that the country is in safe hands.

Effect of Singapore Government’s Smart Nation Plan is to deploy a series of sensor boxes - From a resident's point of view

The smart nation plan has helped several sectors of the country and has helped the country to develop in various areas like the healthcare, energy, utilities, transportation and also safety and security of the whole country. In addition to this, there is various other aspect of the smart nation plan in which initiatives by the country for the development of the people. Singapore has a vision to become the first smart nation in the world. They are looking to implement various types of new technologies in their country and this would allow the citizens of the country to have various types of facilities and also the maintenance of the cities and the improvement of the certain areas can be made possible by this initiative. This would also help the authorities to operate more efficiently within the city. They would be able to monitor the city more efficiently and also they would be able to respond to critical situations more efficiently. The system would also allow the Internet of Things technology enabled into their systems and this would be allowing various types of internet devices to get connected to the network in the country. They people of the country would also be provided with the uninterrupted access to the internet services. Hence, they would be able to be online 24/7 on the network and also they would be able to call for any type of services any time they want. This initiative would not only increase the efficiency in the services that are provided to the people of the country, but also would increasing the employment of the people in different sectors of the smart nation. Although the main concern with the implementation of the smart nation initiatives in the country is that the privacy of the people of the country would be lost with the implementation of the internet of things in the network of the country. The implementation of the smart sensors in the cities would provide the details about any person residing in the country or moving in the country. In addition to this, the devices of the people are liable to intrusion and the data in the devices can be tracked easily and with the implementation of the newer technologies in the country detecting and tracking any person in the country.  Hence, the people should be aware of the consequence and look to it that they do not connect all their devices to the internet and try to keep the data away from the network. In addition to this, the people of the country face the risk of their data getting exposed in the network and can be misused by others if the data falls in the wrong hands. Hence the people need to be very careful with the type of data that they uploading online.

From the point of view of a person who poses restricted content

As a foreigner I would not like to expose my identity in front of the country. Hence there are a number of measures that could be suggested for ensuring that the private data is kept hidden from the network and also the privacy of the foreigners are maintained in the country. Firstly, the people have to aware about the Smart Nations Plan and the Internet od Things concept. In addition to this, the people have made efficient choices for selecting the type to data that they want to upload on the internet and also on the type of networks that they want to connect to. In addition to this, they need to make sure that they have proper security measures implemented on the devices that they are looking to connect to the network would allow the government to track those devices.

Firstly, the people need to be aware of the concept and have complete knowledge on the technology and need to know the pros and cons of the technology before getting engaged with the technology. The main advantage of this would be that they would be able to evaluate easily what is good and what is bad for them. And also they would be able to act accordingly to the situation and also know what to do for keeping their privacy safe. The main disadvantage is that it is very difficult for a non-technical person to understand the concept of Internet of things and the smart city implementation and hence they would be getting engaged with the system unknowingly.

Secondly, the people are required to know what to upload and which are the devices that they should connect to the network that is implemented in the nation. The people are required to keep their data offline stored in the offline devices. It is also advisable that they store their data in the external devices and not connect the device directly with the network. This would prevent the confidential data of the users from getting exposed and also this would protect the privacy of the users. The main disadvantage with this is that the users would not be able to take their data online in time of need and also they would be required to maintain a secondary storage device with them. In addition to this, the secondary data is always in risk of getting hampered.

The last option is to apply preventive measures in the devices that are being used by the users. They users should use proper locking system for their data in the devices that they are looking to connect to the network. This would be preventing the data of the users form getting expose to the externals and maintain the privacy of the users. With this the users can easily connect to any type of network they want to at any time they need to. Although there are no major disadvantage to this kind of  application, but the implementation of this kind of application are very rare and also the most of the time this kind of application is not fool proof and hence, the user needs to be careful about the use of these kind of technologies.

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