Video surveillance for the rest of us: proliferation, privacy, and ethics education

The ethics of video surveillance has focused on policy and professional issues. But more individuals will use and encounter remote video surveillance technology as these devices become cheaper and easier to use. We propose an educational approach to the ethics of the emerging practice of non-professional remote video surveillance. Extending the approach to ethics and technology used in our Robot Ethics Lab, we first sketch an abstract model to explain some of the value issues surveillance technology generates. Second, using widely available robotic toys and networking software, we show how working within a technologically and ethically rich environment can move us from a crude remote surveillance prototype towards a more acceptable social contract covering this technology.