MDST*1010 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Facial Recognition System, Countersurveillance, Sousveillance
“The Surveillance Society” By: Anabel Quan-Haase +
“Why the KGB Wants You to Join Facebook” By Evgeny Morozov
Defining and Understanding Surveillance
-The term “surveillance” has French roots meaning “watching over.”
-Analysts link the term to the use of observation as a tool for exerting power and
control, as often occurs in totalitarian regimes.
Automatization of Power
-Bentham’s model of the Panopticon: the visibility of power + the unverifiability of
power.
-This creates a new process of control known as the automatization of power.
Foucault on the Panopticon (1995):
-“[T]he surveillance is permanent in its effect, even if it is discontinuous in its
action; that the perfection of power should tend to render its actual exercise
unnecessary; that this architectural apparatus should be a machine for creating
and sustaining a power relation independent of the person who exercises it; in
short, that the inmates should be caught up in a power situation of which they are
themselves the bearers.”
Traditional Surveillance vs. New Surveillance
-Unlike traditional surveillance, new surveillance is not limited to single individuals
or suspects, and physical distance does not restrict one’s ability to observe.
-Gary T. Marx suggests that new surveillance can be defined as “the use of
technical means to extract or create personal data” (p. 85).
-While traditional forms of surveillance would often include informants or
wiretapping of telephone lines, new types of surveillance include hidden cameras
in banks or stores, keystroke monitoring by employees, and audio scanners that
pick up cellular phone frequencies.
Why Should We Be Concerned About Digital Privacy Threats?
-Digital content can easily be copied and forwarded online.
-persistence + searchability of content allows access to strangers who have no
connection to author.
-Info taken out of context can be interpreted in differ. ways, leading to potential
misunderstandings.
-Often a clash of cultures, understandings, values, and norms when personal
information is moved from one setting to another.
-Law enforcement often unjustifiably targets political dissidents, the poor, and
minority groups.
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Document Summary
Why the kgb wants you to join facebook by evgeny morozov. The term surveillance has french roots meaning watching over. Analysts link the term to the use of observation as a tool for exerting power and control, as often occurs in totalitarian regimes. Bentham"s model of the panopticon: the visibility of power + the unverifiability of power. This creates a new process of control known as the automatization of power. Unlike traditional surveillance, new surveillance is not limited to single individuals or suspects, and physical distance does not restrict one"s ability to observe. Gary t. marx suggests that new surveillance can be defined as the use of technical means to extract or create personal data (p. 85). While traditional forms of surveillance would often include informants or wiretapping of telephone lines, new types of surveillance include hidden cameras in banks or stores, keystroke monitoring by employees, and audio scanners that pick up cellular phone frequencies.
