Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior , activities, or other changing information for the purpose of influencing, managing, directing, or protecting people. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment (such as closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras) or interception of electronically transmitted information (such as Internet traffic or phone calls). It can also include simple no- or relatively low-technology methods such as human intelligence agents and postal interception . The word surveillance comes from a French phrase for "watching over" ( sur means "from above" and veiller means "to watch") and is in contrast to more recent developments such as sousveillance . Surveillance is used by governments for intelligence gathering, prevention of crime, the protection of a process, person, group or object, or the investigation of crime. It is also used by criminal organizations to plan and commit crimes