Social Engineering Task #1

My task was to take a picture of a stranger without their knowledge.  Below is a picture of the person behind me at the grocery store.  I approached the task by taking my phone out while waiting in line and texting a friend.  I then turned sideways, leaned against my grocery cart and, under the pretense that I was still texting, took this picture.  While I was in the store I observed many people talking, texting, or in some way using their phone.  It would have been easy at any time for some to take a picture of someone else without their knowledge.  When someone is using their phone the immediate assumption is they are texting or on social media or looking up information.  I don’t think the first thought is that they are using the camera because the primary function of a phone is communication.  Because we have this assumption, people are less concerned with what they are doing around those with phones as opposed to a camera.  By simply looking absorbed in the phone, which is not out of the ordinary these days, it is easy to take pictures of people without them knowing.  This can then be used to gain information about their habits, preferences, and daily activities.   In this case, I can see what this person eats.  If I had lingered in the store I could have watched to see how he paid for his groceries. I also could have followed him to his car.  I might have learned more about him from bumper stickers or his license plate.  I could have even followed him home then looked up his address to get his name and phone number.  I could then call him pretending to be a representative of the supermarket and claim something was wrong with one of the items he bought and that I needed his credit card to reimburse him.

Photography is an art form and candid photos of people doing everyday things could be an example of the subject matter.  To make this activity morally right, one would then need to disclose the photo to the person after taking it and request permission to use it.   I think taking a picture of someone for personal gain or shaming is unethical as was the case with the women who took the photo of the other woman in the gym locker room.   If I was disrobing in a locker room and someone had a camera pointing at me I would stop and confront them.  But if someone was using their phone, and people always are, I wouldn’t give it a second thought…that is until now.