Surveillance
The term surveillance comes from an entity watching from above. It means to be visible, to be
watched over, to supervise, to control, to spy, to track, to monitor. Surveillance can be visual in
regards of CCTV cameras, it can be in terms of dataveillance, or conducting watching people through
data. For example, state hacking can be a form of surveillance. David Lyon is seen as the father or
creator of a lot of what has to do with surveillance and gave a definition of the notion.
Three stages of surveillance theory:
1) Jeremy Bentham’s designs for prisons in the UK; the panopticons and this taken as a
metaphor by Foucault, saying that the panopticon is a way of discipline and to create
2) Thinking about surveillance moves beyond the idea of panopticons
3) Moving beyond post-panoptic theories and moving into something else, where there are
many more -opticons, such as the synopticon. There is a variety of these things that describe
and watch humans and watching over, or sous-veillance; looking from underneath. The
variation in these types and the participation through using Facebook is giving data to have
surveillance over us.
I. Stage 1: Panopticon and panopticism.
There are a few guards who can see all prisoners in the cells. The prisoners don’t have to be
watched always, but there is the possibility. Therefore, people will behave differently and
improve by not behaving in an anti-social way anymore. The idea is that prisoners will be
trained and reform their behaviour. The state or some entity can watch and modify the
behaviour that they’re (potentially) watching. Watching over surveillance has to do with
power relations between entities and state citizens/state offenders etc. It has a lot do with
disciplining the body and disciplining and modifying our behaviour. It’s been used as a
metaphor often. A panopticon can’t serve as a replacement for surveillance but it’s much
broader.
II. Stage 2: Post-panoptical theories
It is tied to varies ideas about capitalism and globalization, consumers and with the data
double, or a ‘dividual’. It’s also still about control. Various pieces of data are collected about
you to create some picture of you that may not be entirely correct but begins to look more
you as they collect more data about you. We’re moving to a society where we participate by
putting all our data in Facebook and sharing with Google. They are watching you, can see
which videos we watch on YouTube, which websites we browse, your online agenda etc.
They know many other sensitive things which can be useful to a variety of stakeholders.
III. Stage 3: Contemporary theories and concepts
In this stage, they´re looking at the continuous changing of technology. Also, technologies of
watching and analysis are changing, so the things that we do with the data are changing.
Moreover, they impact the power relation between of those watching and those who are
being watched. Whitaker states that we participate in surveillance by being consumers, by
giving information about ourselves by consuming products and services. We also have this
idea of many -veillances and sousveillances where we watch from below to have oversight or
control of the behaviour that entities have over us.
Various authors have made a distinction is made between reciprocal and non-reciprocal surveillance.
In reciprocal surveillance, multiple entities are in the situation to watch each other so there is a check
The term surveillance comes from an entity watching from above. It means to be visible, to be
watched over, to supervise, to control, to spy, to track, to monitor. Surveillance can be visual in
regards of CCTV cameras, it can be in terms of dataveillance, or conducting watching people through
data. For example, state hacking can be a form of surveillance. David Lyon is seen as the father or
creator of a lot of what has to do with surveillance and gave a definition of the notion.
Three stages of surveillance theory:
1) Jeremy Bentham’s designs for prisons in the UK; the panopticons and this taken as a
metaphor by Foucault, saying that the panopticon is a way of discipline and to create
2) Thinking about surveillance moves beyond the idea of panopticons
3) Moving beyond post-panoptic theories and moving into something else, where there are
many more -opticons, such as the synopticon. There is a variety of these things that describe
and watch humans and watching over, or sous-veillance; looking from underneath. The
variation in these types and the participation through using Facebook is giving data to have
surveillance over us.
I. Stage 1: Panopticon and panopticism.
There are a few guards who can see all prisoners in the cells. The prisoners don’t have to be
watched always, but there is the possibility. Therefore, people will behave differently and
improve by not behaving in an anti-social way anymore. The idea is that prisoners will be
trained and reform their behaviour. The state or some entity can watch and modify the
behaviour that they’re (potentially) watching. Watching over surveillance has to do with
power relations between entities and state citizens/state offenders etc. It has a lot do with
disciplining the body and disciplining and modifying our behaviour. It’s been used as a
metaphor often. A panopticon can’t serve as a replacement for surveillance but it’s much
broader.
II. Stage 2: Post-panoptical theories
It is tied to varies ideas about capitalism and globalization, consumers and with the data
double, or a ‘dividual’. It’s also still about control. Various pieces of data are collected about
you to create some picture of you that may not be entirely correct but begins to look more
you as they collect more data about you. We’re moving to a society where we participate by
putting all our data in Facebook and sharing with Google. They are watching you, can see
which videos we watch on YouTube, which websites we browse, your online agenda etc.
They know many other sensitive things which can be useful to a variety of stakeholders.
III. Stage 3: Contemporary theories and concepts
In this stage, they´re looking at the continuous changing of technology. Also, technologies of
watching and analysis are changing, so the things that we do with the data are changing.
Moreover, they impact the power relation between of those watching and those who are
being watched. Whitaker states that we participate in surveillance by being consumers, by
giving information about ourselves by consuming products and services. We also have this
idea of many -veillances and sousveillances where we watch from below to have oversight or
control of the behaviour that entities have over us.
Various authors have made a distinction is made between reciprocal and non-reciprocal surveillance.
In reciprocal surveillance, multiple entities are in the situation to watch each other so there is a check
