This is the first comprehensive text to cover this fascinating field from origins to present-day practices. Secret agents are no longer the only people using spycams, radio beacons, and tiny audio listening devices called 'bugs.' Spy devices are now an important part of almost every investigation, office environment, phone system, traffic advisory, and newscast, and are being incorporated into consumer devices in almost every home in the developed world. Never before has it been so important to learn about these technologiges and understand how they can affect your life, your government, your children, and your work.
This book is designed to be modular so you can read it in any order. Select the chapters that interest you, and follow the corss-references to find out more about related topics. Learn how one-meter-resolution satellites can see into your back yard, or the industrial yard down the street; find out how search and rescue professionals find lost hikers and victims of natural disasters. Learn how forensic experts solve cases using chemicals, microscopes, and minute traces of fibers and blood. Discover the history and progress of DNA research and how a simple cheek swab can identify an adoptee's biological relatives or establish a deadbeat parent's financial responsibilities.
This text is an excellent introduction for beginning surveillance professionals, including surveillance consultants, forensic investigators, law enforcement agents, and military recruits. It can also serve as a text for political science, sociology, and graduate business courses, laying a foundation for further study and professional development.
The text is extensively illustrated with more than seven hundred photos, diagrams, and charts to clarify the concepts, illustrate how the technologies are used, and provide examples of actual surveillance devices. Coverage includes over 900 pages organized into 18 chapters that include
- Acoustic Surveillance
Audio, Infrasound, Ultrasound, and Sonar Surveillance
- Electomagnetic Surveillance
Radio, Radar, Infrared, Visual, Aerial, Ultraviolet, and X-Ray Surveillance
- Chemical/Biological Surveillance
- Biometrics, Animal, and Genetic (DNA) Surveillance
- Magnetic Surveillance
- Cryptologic Surveillance
- Computer Surveillance
In addition to practical information on products and applications, this book provides extensive histories and information on legal debates and political decisions related to surveillance, privacy, and the protection of individual freedoms.
Understanding Surveillance Technologies includes references for further study in each chapter, including carefully annotated lists of books, articles, journals, Web sites, and films. Each chapter has a glossary of common terms related to that specific subject area. For the emerging field of surveillance, professionals are predicting this reference will be the industry standard introductory text.
