Dystopian Realities : Investigating the Perception of and Interaction with Surveillance Practices

This article seeks to sketch out how the field of surveillance studies has conceptualized surveillance practices, and how cultural and technological shifts have prompted scholars to re-imagine these theoretical frameworks. The article investigates the interplay of (dystopian) popular cultural representations of surveillance cultures and the perception of and attitude towards contemporary surveillance practices, as well as how individuals react to and interact with them. The article also outlines a study regarding the aforementioned issues that was conducted among a sample of 150 university students, which focused especially on each participant’s subjective ability to distinguish between fictional scenarios and real-life surveillance practices

The Gaza Strip as Panopticon and Pansprectron: The Disciplining and Punishing of a Society\ud

This paper explores the different yet complementary aspects of the panopticon and the panspectron using the case study of the Israeli controlled Palestinian territory, the Gaza Strip. Beginning with a brief theoretical discussion of the concept of panopticon and panspectron expanding on the existing literature, the paper moves on to discuss the implementation of panoptical and panspectral technologies and practices in the Gaza Strip and situates these within a larger framework of control of the Palestinian population under Israeli occupation, and discusses seepage of these surveillance technologies into Israeli society proper and\ud beyond into the international arena.\u

Cyborgs in the panopticon

O uso generalizado e incessante de smartphones pelos adolescentes criou uma geração de ciborgues, como se eles tivessem adquirido um novo órgão ou apêndice de sentido, e mudou radicalmente para eles o que significa ser humano. Sua conexão constante com o ciberespaço facilita o que Foucault chamou de "os meios de treinamento correto": observação hierárquica, julgamento normalizador, e exame. A eficácia destes métodos de controlo social tem aumentado exponencialmente à medida que a observação é agora tanto hierárquica quanto horizontal, o julgamento normalizador é alcançado eficientemente através das redes sociais, e o exame é um processo contínuo que ocorre online. O panóptico de Jeremy Bentham não é mais um edifício arquitetônico imaginário, mas sim uma mente-colméia online, com cada smartphone atuando como um nó móvel em um sistema de vigilância. A presciente série de ficção científica, Star Trek, previu esses desenvolvimentos em seu retrato do Borg, um coletivo de drones humanóides interligados com a intenção de assimilar todas as outras raças do universo através da adição de realces cibernéticos. Estamos nos tornando drones ciborgues presos em uma rede online de adição e consumo, subtilmente vigiados, certamente manipulados e talvez até mesmo controlados por nossos valiosos apêndices de panóptico? Ou usaremos nossa conectividade tecnológica para revolucionar a forma como vivemos na Terra e criar um futuro sustentável?The pervasive and incessant use of smartphones by adolescents has created a generation of cyborgs, as if they have acquired a new sense organ or appendage, and has radically changed for them what it means to be human. Their constant connection to cyberspace facilitates what Foucault called “the means of correct training”: hierarchical observation, normalizing judgement, and the examination. The effectiveness of these methods of social control has been exponentially increased as observation is now both hierarchical and horizontal, normalizing judgement is accomplished efficiently through social media, and the examination is a continuous process occurring online. Jeremy Bentham’s panopticon is no longer an imaginary architectural edifice, but instead an online hive-mind with each smartphone acting as a mobile node in a surveillance system. The prescient science fiction series, Star Trek, foresaw these developments in their portrayal of the Borg, a collective of interlinked humanoid drones intent on assimilating all the other races in the universe through the addition of cybernetic enhancements. Are we becoming cyborg drones trapped in an online web of addiction and consumption, subtly surveilled, certainly manipulated, and perhaps even controlled by our prized panopticon appendages? Or will we use our technological connectivity to revolutionize the way we live on Earth and create a sustainable future?El uso generalizado e incesante de los teléfonos inteligentes por parte de los adolescentes ha creado una generación de cyborgs, como si hubieran adquirido un nuevo órgano sensorial o apéndice, y ha cambiado radicalmente para ellos lo que significa ser humano. Su conexión constante con el ciberespacio facilita lo que Foucault llamó "Los medios del entrenamiento correcto": observación jerárquica, juicio normalizador y examen. La efectividad de estos métodos de control social se ha incrementado exponencialmente ya que la observación ahora es tanto jerárquica como horizontal, la normalización del juicio se logra de manera eficiente a través de las redes sociales, y el examen es un proceso continuo que ocurre en línea. El Panóptico de Jeremy Bentham ya no es un edificio arquitectónico imaginario, sino una mente colmena en línea con cada teléfono inteligente actuando como un nodo móvil en un sistema de vigilancia. La serie de ciencia ficción profética, Star Trek, previó estos desarrollos en su representación de los Borg, un colectivo de drones humanoides interconectados que intentan asimilar a todas las otras razas en el universo mediante la adición de mejoras cibernéticas. ¿Nos estamos convirtiendo en drones ciborgs atrapados en una red en línea de adicción y consumo, sutilmente vigilados, ciertamente manipulados y quizás incluso controlados por nuestros preciados apéndices de panopticon? ¿O usaremos nuestra conectividad tecnológica para revolucionar la forma en que vivimos en la Tierra y crear un futuro sostenible?O uso generalizado e incessante de smartphones pelos adolescentes criou uma geração de ciborgues, como se eles tivessem adquirido um novo órgão ou apêndice de sentido, e mudou radicalmente para eles o que significa ser humano. Sua conexão constante com o ciberespaço facilita o que Foucault chamou de "os meios de treinamento correto": observação hierárquica, julgamento normalizador, e exame. A eficácia destes métodos de controlo social tem aumentado exponencialmente à medida que a observação é agora tanto hierárquica quanto horizontal, o julgamento normalizador é alcançado eficientemente através das redes sociais, e o exame é um processo contínuo que ocorre online. O panóptico de Jeremy Bentham não é mais um edifício arquitetônico imaginário, mas sim uma mente-colméia online, com cada smartphone atuando como um nó móvel em um sistema de vigilância. A presciente série de ficção científica, Star Trek, previu esses desenvolvimentos em seu retrato do Borg, um coletivo de drones humanóides interligados com a intenção de assimilar todas as outras raças do universo através da adição de realces cibernéticos. Estamos nos tornando drones ciborgues presos em uma rede online de adição e consumo, subtilmente vigiados, certamente manipulados e talvez até mesmo controlados por nossos valiosos apêndices de panóptico? Ou usaremos nossa conectividade tecnológica para revolucionar a forma como vivemos na Terra e criar um futuro sustentável

Surveillance consciousness: Examining subjective understandings of mobile technology surveillance

This thesis explores subjective understandings of mobile technology surveillance, as it seeks to answer an overarching research question: how is surveillance from mobile technologies understood by those who are surveilled? Using Ewick and Silbey’s (1998) socio-legal conception of legal consciousness, this thesis constructs a similar concept within surveillance studies called surveillance consciousness. Surveillance consciousness of drones and Stingrays is explored through comments below the line (see Graham & Wright, 2015) and social media discourse in the post-Snowden era. The findings of this thesis expound on the complexities of subjective understandings of mobile technology surveillance. Such complexities contribute to surveillance studies by addressing whether current theoretical models can be sufficiently used to analyze the current surveillance society. Finally, this thesis shows how two sub-disciplines, surveillance and socio-legal studies, benefit from greater dialogue and cross-fertilization

The political philosophy of surveillance : from historical roots to COVID-19

Many theorists have argued that surveillance has become the dominant organizing method of social activities in late modernity. Given the increased prevalence and employment of surveillance systems around the world, this thesis seeks to trace and contextualize the developments in surveillance, both theoretically and practically, that have led to its current extent and nature. We begin by analyzing the philosophical theories that provide the normative frameworks which condone, recommend, limit and make it meaningful. This comprises Jeremy Bentham’s “Panopticon,” Michel Foucault’s “Disciplinary Societies” and “Panopticism,” Fredrick Winslow Taylor’s “Scientific Management,” and Gilles Deleuze’s “Societies of Control.” Next, we describe the difference that digital technologies make to surveillance systems, namely that the former greatly enhance the latter’s ubiquity. As we shall see, COVID-19 is an important subject of analysis regarding surveillance since it has triggered an acceleration of technological development and influence. This second chapter will hence examine surveillance on three levels, describing the contexts in which surveillance has developed in each level, and how it is developing as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The first concerns surveillance on a National Level, with a focus on government surveillance. The second involves surveillance on a City Level, including smart city operations and workplace surveillance, and the third assesses surveillance on a Personal Level, covering social media surveillance and smart home technology. In the final chapter, we underscore certain aspects of modern surveillance practices where either Bentham, Foucault, Taylor, or Deleuze’s principles are implicit. For social media surveillance, we also draw from Shoshana Zuboff’s concept of “surveillance capitalism”. Lastly, the inherent differences and impact of surveillance operations for the current geopolitical and social order are highlighted, drawing from accounts that shed light on Autocracy’s empowerment with such technology, on Democracy’s increased potential for misuse, and on the likely repercussions of politically and socially employing surveillance systems. The conclusion then argues that surveillance, as it stands, has major potential to inherently and permanently alter the global political and social landscape

Surveillance, Knowledge and Inequality: Understanding Power Through Foucault and Beyond.

Understanding a concept as complex as power, in the social sciences, can often be a daunting task. In order to fully comprehend power, it is therefore necessary to examine it through the lens of other issues and theoretical devices. In this paper, power is approached through an examination of surveillance and associated technologies. Utilizing the theoretical work of Michel Foucault, and stepping beyond this basic groundwork, we explore the contentions surrounding the study of power within sociology, the ways in which surveillance constitutes and even threatens structures of power. The paper concludes with an analysis of inequality, welfare and the state, in order to demonstrate the benefits of applying power through the lens of surveillance, and in this way helping to enrich our understanding of the role that power plays in our social world

War Machine: Media and Technology during Operation Allied Force

One significant aspect of military interventions is that violence in binary geographies, which have an implied colonial discourse (such as Serbia), often involve the dialectics of construction and erasure, meaning that absence and presence of destruction and violence run side by side. This paper investigates the ways that technology and media were instrumentalised in miniaturising evidence and reducing the visibility of destruction during NATO’s Operation Allied Force in Serbia and Kosovo. While the dominant NATO rhetoric behind the intervention was “humanitarian” with the Operation being deployed in the name of Western values and civilisation, this text puts forward an alternative argument. The 1999 intervention was a war machine where the military-industrial-media-entertainment network restricted the public gaze and the control of information as well as made it nearly impossible to distinguish information from disinformation, and fact from fiction. Its value was predicated on expressing and showing less of the violence in order to set up a clear representation of a perpetrator and a victim. Thus, the reconceptualisation of borders in relation to 1999 was contingent on the deployment of the infrastructure of satellites and unmanned drones in an attempt to, firstly, miniaturise the weapon and, secondly, de-familiarise the military frame with spectacular speed