2. Introduc5on
By
myriad
forms
of
agencies,
commercial
and
government
organiza9ons,
people’s
everyday
life
is
being
checked,
watched,
recorded
and
analyzed,
so
much
so
that
we
o?en
take
for
granted
the
fact
that
we
leave
trails
and
traces
wherever
we
are
and
whatever
we
do.
Surveillance
contributes
increasingly
to
the
reproduc9on
and
reinforcing
of
social
divisions.
3. Introduc5on
Surveillance
does
also
raise
ques9ons
about
power,
ci9zenship
and
technological
development,
and
about
informa9on
policy,
regula9on
and
resistance.
It
is
seen
here
as
a
response
to
the
‘disappearing
body’
from
integra9ve
social
rela9onships,
enabled
by
modern
means
of
communica9on
and
informa9on-‐handling.
The
rise
of
invisible
informa9on
infrastructures
that
facilitate
the
classifica9on
and
processing
of
personal
data
and
the
increasing
porousness
of
their
storage
containers
generate
dis9nc9ve
ques9ons
about
everyday
surveillance.
4. Surveillance Became So Central
For
most
of
human
history,
most
social
interac9on
has
been
face-‐to-‐
face.
Today,
communica9on
that
do
not
involve
co-‐presence
and
that
are
stretched
over
space.
It
is
a
key
feature
of
modernity
that
using
new
media
of
communica9on
people
can
interact
and
even
remain
in
rela9onships
that
are
integrated
with
others
despite
being
divided
by
distance.
5. Surveillance Became So Central
It
is
striking,
for
example,
that
neither
the
telephone
nor
the
Internet
were
conceived
as
means
of
helping
ordinary
people
to
chat
with
each
other
but
that
is
just
how
they
have
come
to
be
used.
Author
suggests
that
as
new
technologies
enabled
more
and
more
to
be
done
at
a
distance,
some
compensa9ons
are
sought
for
the
fading
face,
the
disappearing
body.
In
earlier
9mes,
suitable
compensa9ons
included
a
signature
or
a
seal
on
a
leLer
to
authen9cate
its
personal
origin.
But
in
the
increasingly
complex
social
seMngs
of
modernity,
other
tokens
of
trust
were
sought.
6. Surveillance Became So Central
Documentary
evidence
were
required
for
administra9ve
and
commercial
purposes:
iden9fica9on
at
school,
the
workplace
or
to
police
for
admission
to
certain
sites
to
obtain
cash
from
a
bank
or
to
pay
for
purchases
tokens
of
trust,
worthiness
and
authen9ca9on
Today
our
wallets
and
purses
are
stuffed
with
credit
cards,
membership
numbers,
phone
cards,
social
insurance
cards,
driver’s
licences,
library
cards,
health
cards
and
loyalty
club
cards
that
can
either
be
used
when
no
other
body
is
present
for
the
transac9on
The
body
has
disappeared
from
these
rela9ons
but
communica9on
con9nues
7. The view of the other way
Personal
data
may
be
released
–
wiMngly
or
unwiMngly
–
by
those
to
whom
they
refer
and
communicated
to
others
(the
bank,
the
airline)
who
have
some
interest
in
them.
What
happens
to
those
data
as
they
are
processed
is
largely
unknown
by
data
subjects,
although
some
of
it
may
be
guessed
when
the
road-‐
toll
invoice,
personalized
adver9sing
or
spam
(electronic
junk
mail)
appears
in
the
mailbox
or
on
the
screen.
8. Paradox
Privacy
produces
surveillance
that,
it
is
said,
threatens
privacy.
As
the
more
anonymous
arrangements
of
the
modern
‘society
of
strangers’
emerged,
and
privacy
was
more
valued,
so
the
reciprocal
need
for
tokens
of
trust
grew
as
a
means
of
maintaining
the
integrity
of
rela9ons
between
those
strangers.
As
the
locally-‐known,
embodied
person
slid
from
view
in
the
web
of
social
rela9ons,
so
the
importance
of
creden9als,
iden9fica9on
and
other
documentary
evidence
was
amplified.
9. The view of the other way
But
not
only
privacy.
As
surveillance
became
a
central,
cons9tu9ve
component
of
modernity,
so
it
became
increasingly
a
social
ordering
device
on
a
greater
scale.
Surveillance
depends
on
informa9on
infrastructures,
invisible
frameworks
that
order
the
data
according
to
certain
criteria,
purposes
and
interests.
The
kinds
of
interests
behind
social
classifica9ons
expanded
to
include
not
only
government
departments
and
policing
or
security
services,
but
also
a
mul9tude
of
commercial
organiza9ons
as
well
To
take
just
one
example,
there
is
plenty
of
evidence
that
insurance
companies
contribute
strongly
to
police
work
in
Canada.
10. The view of the other way
Informa9on
infrastructures
allow
for
plug-‐ins
from
other
sorts
of
technological
devices
video
and
closed
circuit
television
(CCTV)
biometrics
and
gene9c
surveillance
Without
the
assistance
of
complex
and
sophis9cated
data
processing
power,
these
new
technologies
would
remain
rela9vely
weak
as
means
of
surveillance.
unques9oning
acceptance
of
informa9on
and
communica9on
technologies
is
far
higher
than
that
of
ethical
and
poli9cal
cri9que
and
assessment
11. The view of the other way
Given
the
immense
value
placed
on
personal
data,
both
for
commercial
exploita9on
and
for
risk
management,
huge
pressure
is
placed
on
these
containers
to
yield
their
secrets
in
shareable
ways.
Government
departments
seek
ways
of
assis9ng
each
other
in
obtaining
compliance,
but
commercial
organiza9ons
also
exchange
and
trade
categorized
personal
data
in
an
effort
to
market
their
wares
more
effec9vely.
But
personal
data
on
airline
passengers
may
also
be
exchanged
for
security
purposes,
par9cularly
a?er
the
terrorist
aLacks
of
11
September
2001
12. The view of the other way
In
2000
a
defunct
company
called
ToySmart.com
tried
to
sell
its
personal
data
they
were
challenged,
and
obliged
to
sell
only
the
en9re
website,
and
only
to
a
related
company.
13. Surveillance Society
Dominant
groups
determine
how
and
in
what
interests
the
material
infrastructure
operates
‘CCTV
has
been
implemented
not
as
one
pervasive
system
but
as
a
series
of
discrete,
localized
systems
run
by
a
myriad
of
different
organiza9ons
rather
than
a
single
state
monolith’
“It
is
augmented
not
only
within
hierarchical
organiza9ons
of
the
sort
that
depict
Big
Brother
overseeing
all
from
the
apex
or
the
panop9con
inspector
gazing
out
from
the
tower,
but
also,
more
frequently,
within
networks
that
spread
horizontally,
reaching
out
here,
contrac9ng
there,
but
always
finding
more
ways
of
seeking
and
processing
personal
data
with
a
view
to
management
and
influence”
14. Surveillance Society
Only
personal
fears
about
privacy
distracts
us
from
the
public
issues
surrounding
surveillance
Through
social
conven9on
and
custom
people
accept
their
place
within
the
hierarchy
or
learn
to
see
themselves
in
rela9on
to
the
status
of
others.
15. Surveillance Society
Only
personal
fears
about
privacy
distracts
us
from
the
public
issues
surrounding
surveillance
Through
social
conven9on
and
custom
people
accept
their
place
within
the
hierarchy
or
learn
to
see
themselves
in
rela9on
to
the
status
of
others.
16. Surveillance Society
The
author
is
not
sugges9ng
that
classifica9on
and
surveillance
are
socially
nega9ve
processes.
They
are
necessary
aspects
of
all
social
situa9ons
and
serve
social
purposes,
from
the
vital
to
the
vicious.
The
point
is
that
as
powerful
means
of
governance,
of
social
ordering,
they
are
also
increasingly
invisible
and
easily
taken-‐for
granted.
Ethical
inspec9on
is
required.
Internet
users
claim
to
care
about
online
privacy,
it
turns
out,
paradoxically,
that
the
very
same
persons
key-‐in
PINs
and
credit
card
numbers
online!
17. Mobilizing Responses
ALempts
to
create
an
electronic
‘Australia
Card’
for
all
ci9zens
in
the
mid-‐1980s
spawned
a
social
movement
that
successfully
turned
down
the
proposal,
as
did
similar,
later
aLempts
in
South
Korea.
The
use
of
the
Internet
to
mobilize
resistance
is
an
important
part
of
the
process.
Physical
barriers
and
constraint
within
places
maLer
less
today
Genuine
benefits
gleaned
from
having
surveillance
systems
in
place
tend
to
deflect
aLen9on
away
from
the
inequi9es
associated
with
many
discriminatory
dimensions
of
surveillance
18. Mobilizing Responses
The
law,
at
best,
can
only
help
to
create
a
culture
of
carefulness
about
the
processing
of
personal
data,
it
cannot
possibly
speak
to
all
issues,
let
alone
keep
up
with
each
development
in
data
mining,
pro.
ling,
database
targe9ng
and
marke9ng,
loca9onal
tracking
of
vehicles
or
cellphones,
and
so
on.
Focused
ethical
aLen9on,
along
with
serious
proposals
for
democra9c
accountability,
and
educa9onal
and
awareness-‐raising
ini9a9ves,
are
needed
if
everyday
surveillance
is
properly
to
be
understood,
and
when
necessary,
confronted
and
challenged.
19. Discussion Points
1. How
could
it
be
possible
for
people
both
making
use
of
surveillance
systems
and
protect
their
privacy?
Is
it
possible?
2. How
should
mobilizing
responses
be
formed
against
surveillance
power
of
(especially
commercial)
organiza9ons?
