CryptoP
CryptoP
Nov 5 · 4 min read

As more advance our society becomes, undoubtedly there is need for proper control to mitigate against abuse. in this light, there also arises the need for one’s privacy as it is solely one of important rights attributable or due to everyone. indeed, privacy is a general issue that needs attention all around the world where government exists, and the case differs from one territory to another. One major tool used by virtually every government to know what is happening from afar is the use of surveillance (especially in developed countries such as the U.S, Asia countries, others)which is possible with the help of advanced and sophisticated technologies through complex written programs.

What Is Government Surveillance?

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This an approach or methodology adopted by the government using tough technologies to gather information about people while or from afar without having to physically enter into private spaces usually secluded. Governments usually carry out three different types of surveillance thus:

i. Physical surveillance
A way of observing physical activities of people in a real-time.

ii. Communications surveillance
A way of intercepting communications in real-time.

iii. Transaction surveillance
A clever way of accessing past and present record of information of financial activities, communication and other transactions. This is point of emphasis of this article.
Today, government interception of oral and written communication is made possible through computer-hacking techniques, bugging, wiretapping and many more. Sometime, government issue a directive order to the operators to release sensitive information about the platform or specific user. This however does not only put the users at risk but also a question of the credibility of the platform.

The craving government’s eagerness to take advantage of sophisticated surveillance technology to curb the activities of ordinary criminals including those who represent only an insignificant threat to the safety of the public had aggravated to combination of dangerous surveillance and non-surveillance recipe for mass surveillance. While surveillance can serve as valuable tool for enforcing the law, it poses a serious threat to the privacy of law-abiding citizens unable to express their feelings, believes an autonomy.

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In developing countries like Nigeria, recently, the deployment of new technologies by the business and government has been on the rise for purposes such as for delivery, security purpose and financial surveillance. Over time, several news in videos of SARS assaulting the youths especially the boys have increased tremendously. While on claiming to nab yahoo boys, the Special Anti-Robbery Squad have severally succeeded in accessing their victims/prey’s sensitive information: encrypted and password chats; messages and transactions using software only known to then. Most time, they do not need to force owner to unlock their phone or chats or transaction log as they already have the software to do this.

This would have been mild if they stop here but the motive isn’t to catch the bad guys but to access owner’s account, chats or transaction log to view their cash or assets worth and they determine his bill. Sadly, very few of the yahoo boys get into their hands as the victims are mostly the innocent ones. A friend of friend who is a crypto trader had once been in their net. His wallet was accessed after several humiliation but he refused to allow them access password to his chats but a huge surprise it was when they would not bother him anymore and easily access his chats. All of his personal chats even that with his client involving lump sum transaction was visible to them and they assumed he is worth more than that at that very time. They made away huge sum from him meant for his business.

He was of the conclusion that WhatsApp encrypted messaging is insecure if they could access his chats so easily. I
How I wish there has been or aware of such app as Stegos’s -an incredibly easy and secure way to send payments and messages, powerful and immune to surveillance through harnessing the potential of blockchain technology. With Stegos, transaction record are not visible as they are removed through use of stealth addresses.

In conclusion, however government surveillance is important, it is vital to consider the adverse effects it launches on individual’s privacy. Governments of places seem not to see from the innocents’ end hence there is need for complete decentralized way of protecting privacy at all cost.

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