The watching or close observance of one or more people.

Surveillance is another type of privacy concern that can be much more serious than tracking. Without consent, surveillance can occur in a few ways, and this is illegal. Computer surveillance as well as network surveillance is the monitoring of both online information posted on the internet by its users or the monitoring of hardware devices. Unlike tracking, this monitoring is carried out with no consent and done covertly by companies, hackers or even governments. Thanks to Edward Snowden, a former employee of the NSA, we are all now aware that the government is capable of, and does, have the means to monitor what we do online. They may even have the capability to spy on us via our webcams. This intrusion of privacy is completely illegal. However, this activity is widespread and is known to occur regularly. With access to nearly all private information online, some of the most encrypted sites can still be monitored by authorities.