History
Surveillance Technologies
Surveillance technologies refer to the tools and methods used to monitor and gather information about individuals or groups. Throughout history, these technologies have evolved from simple observation to sophisticated electronic systems, such as closed-circuit television (CCTV), drones, and facial recognition software. The use of surveillance technologies has raised ethical and privacy concerns, prompting ongoing debates about their regulation and impact on society.
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9 Key excerpts on "Surveillance Technologies"
eBook - ePubHistories of Surveillance from Antiquity to the Digital Era
The Eyes and Ears of Power
- Andreas Marklund, Laura Skouvig, Andreas Marklund, Laura Skouvig(Authors)
- 2021(Publication Date)
- Taylor & Francis(Publisher)
9 The historical ubiquity of surveillance 1 Toni Weller As a category of historical enquiry, surveillance holds a rather unique position. It is, at the same time, both a profoundly ancient social phenomenon and also a profoundly modern one. Some scholars have argued that “spying and surveillance are at least as old as civilization itself” or that “in the surveillance of private communication almost everything is history”. 2 Indeed, the idea of surveillance is so fundamentally entrenched within human history that some have explored it in terms of the “eye of God” or as God being the “original surveillance camera”. 3 And yet, surveillance also forms an intrinsically fundamental part of our modern society, impacting upon our politics, legislation, economics, culture, and personal lives, interwoven throughout our modern society. There are no teleological progressions at work here, but there are links that can be made between past and present; moreover this chapter argues that surveillance is historically ubiquitous. Taking the long view allows us to situate the idea of surveillance in the past and, in so doing, better contextualise our modern relationship with surveillance. Even more so, in relaxing the concept of surveillance from the modern, one can see that surveillance is historically present not just in technology or statecraft, but also in society and culture. In this chapter, “culture” is understood in more aesthetic terms of a reading of cultural products rather than the more anthropological understanding of scholars such as David Lyon. 4 By choosing to use this more aesthetic distinction of culture, one can argue for a more anthropological understanding of the social drivers of surveillance which follow in this chapter
eBook - PDF- Bünyamin Ayhan(Author)
- 2018(Publication Date)
- Peter Lang Group(Publisher)
Res. Assist. Tuba Livberber Göçmen*1 The Transformative Power of Information Technologies in Surveillance Societies Introduction Surveillance is an ancient fact. Yet, it is feasible to say that this concept gained importance in the modern era and started to be used then. Surveillance, which is one of the most important apparatus of power has been more concrete with the emergence of nation-states. Following that, it has become more visible and common with the development of technology within the direction of globaliza- tion. According to Bauman (1998: 8), globalization is a trend whose effects can be observed in nearly all areas, including economy, politics, culture, and social integration. The borders of surveillance have expanded globally. Gilliom and Monahan (2013: 1) ask the question: who should wonder whether we are under surveillance or not? Do you have a mobile phone, a credit card or an identity card? Do you use Google, Gmail or Facebook and do you go to school, do you have a job, or do you drive a car? If you answered ‘yes’ to one of these ques- tions, yes, you are under surveillance, as 21 st century societies depend on a complex communication and information technologies network. The communication net- work itself cannot be seen, but it supports all kinds of surveillance, including video, satellite, and biometric surveillance. Therefore, communication networks are the infrastructure of information (Lyon, 2006: 59) and Surveillance Technologies are reproduced, multiplied and cloned. Day by day, security cameras, barcodes, personal ID numbers and passwords have entered our lives as never before (Lyon, 2006: 257). Societies dependent on communication technologies are all observed societies (Lyon, 2006: 11). In other words, all nation-states are information societies and all information societies are surveillance societies (Lyon, 2006: 63, 71).
eBook - PDFPeripheral Vision
Politics, Technology, and Surveillance
- Catarina Frois(Author)
- 2013(Publication Date)
- Berghahn Books(Publisher)
Due to the transformations in security politics and technol-ogy usage resulting from the 9/11 terrorist attacks, it has drawn increasing attention worldwide. There has been a boom in the interest of social scien-tists in surveillance in its various expressions, ranging from the widespread Introduction ◆ 9 use of video surveillance monitoring systems to surveillance practices in the workplace or even commercial uses. This attention is easily confirmed by reviewing the vast academic production in recent years in connection with, for example: technology (Monahan 2006); technology’s relation with democracy (Haggerty and Samatas 2010); commercial and consumer prac-tices (Lace 2005); the notion of the panopticon (Lyon 2006); the use of identity cards (Bennett and Lyon 2008; Lyon 2009); or global surveillance and security (Zureik and Salter 2005). Furthermore, the appearance of a specific journal ( Surveillance & Society from 2002) and of international and multidisciplinary working groups (such as Surveillance Studies Network or COST [European Cooperation in Science and Technology] Action Living in Surveillance Societies 2009–2013) can be noted. These debates were the basis of this research, and their case studies definitely enhanced the importance of studying surveillance practices Portugal. The debate opened by the scholars in this field, and the way in which their interrogations and hypotheses have sought to explain and problematize a whole range of events, can be described as pioneering in the sense that they have clearly identified shifts in paradigm over the past decades in terms of security policies (global and internal) and their impact on everyday life.
- Annette Kern-Stähler, Nicole Nyffenegger(Authors)
- 2020(Publication Date)
- Narr Francke Attempto Verlag(Publisher)
Surveillance/History Sylvia Tomasch In 2005, Kirstie Ball and Kevin Haggerty posed a challenge to make studies of surveillance more multidimensional. This essay sets out to do just that. Its five theses argue that making connections between histori-cal and Surveillance Studies can promote thinking and discovery beyond traditional disciplinary boundaries. This essay illustrates how concepts familiar to surveillance scholars can be brought to bear on times and places beyond the contemporary West. In so doing, Surveillance Studies specialists may be encouraged to temper presentist and technological bi-ases, while early period researchers may be stimulated to consider possibilities raised by studies of surveillance today. By examining intelli-gence gathering in newly conquered England (11th c.), social sorting by the medieval Church (13th c.), systematic monitoring of a female English mystic (15th c.), security concerns in revolutionary France (18th c.), and cartographic surveillance in occupied Ireland (19th c.), this essay suggests how utopian movements across centuries may employ similar surveillant modalities, particularly to identify and combat “enemies,” whether religious or political. In addition, by historicising the word “surveillance” this essay helps to reveal connections between the history of surveillance and surveillance in history. Secrecy and Surveillance in Medieval England. SPELL: Swiss Papers in English Language and Literature 37. Ed. Annette Kern-Stähler and Nicole Nyffenegger. Tübingen: Narr, 2019. 21-41. Sylvia Tomasch 22 My title, “Surveillance/History,” is not meant to suggest that “surveil-lance” and “history” are synonyms but rather that the two, inevitably, go hand in hand. 1 There is no history that does not contain surveillance; there is no surveillance that occurs outside of history. Yet this intimate connection has not, for the most part, been explored.
- Kevin Haggerty, Richard Ericson(Authors)
- 2019(Publication Date)
- University of Toronto Press(Publisher)
Even when a particular technology is deemed to be ineffective, the matter seldom ends there. Instead, surveillance advocates often then return to their workshops, redoubling their efforts to ensure that their surveillance tool meets the new standard of effectiveness. The irony is that in order to meet the new criteria for 'effectiveness' the systems often have to become even more intrusive. Technolog`y Soon after 9/11 the Bush administration proposed the ill-fated 'Opera-tion TIPS' program which would have transformed thousands of government employees into de facto state informants. Russia is re-establishing a network of neighbourhood spies akin to the system used extensively by the KGB during the Soviet era (MacKinon 2003). These developments remind us that surveillance need not involve advanced technologies. Nevertheless, some of the most distinctive attributes of contemporary surveillance derive from their technological abilities to see more, at greater distances and in real time. 14 The New Politics of Surveillance and Visibility As commodities, surveillance devices are often supported by highly motivated companies that stand to reap a financial windfall if they are adopted. As a result many surveillance devices often resemble solu-tions in search of a problem. Individual and institutional consumers can also be seduced by the commodity form of surveillance products (Haggerty 2003). Technologi-cal solutions have a strong cultural allure in Western societies and high technology has emerged as an important marker of progress and orga-nizational reputation. Institutions can, therefore, be tempted to em-brace technological solutions to address problems that might be better served through more mundane initiatives (Levy 2001). The recurrent embrace of a technological fix ignores how larger power structures tend to shape the actual content and application of technologies such that the liberatory potential of new technologies is regularly blunted or under-mined.
eBook - PDFCrime, Deviance and Society
An Introduction to Sociological Criminology
- Ana Rodas, Melanie Simpson, Paddy Rawlinson, Ronald Kramer, Emma Ryan, Emmeline Taylor, Reece Walters, Alan Beckley, Chris Cunneen, Ashlee Gore, Amanda Porter, Scott Poynting, Emma Russell(Authors)
- 2020(Publication Date)
- Cambridge University Press(Publisher)
The surveillance society and social control Emmeline Taylor 10 LEARNING OUTCOMES After reading this chapter, you should be able to: • define surveillance • understand the ambiguities and complexities of surveillance • appreciate some of the major theories used in surveillance studies and explain the ‘dispersal of discipline’ thesis • identify and understand the application of different types of surveillance such as CCTV, police body-worn cameras and the electronic monitoring of offenders. 236 Crime, Deviance and Society INTRODUCTION Surveillance has played a part in social organisation and regulation as long as human existence. However, routine surveillance, as we might think of it in contemporary terms, was necessitated by the creation of nation states as a means of monitoring and tracking citizens. Many things we take for granted as part of everyday living – democratic voting systems, the distribution of welfare and taxes, international travel and the maintenance of a criminal justice system – would arguably not be possible without some means of organising and overseeing the population. However, although societies have historically collected information about citizens and used it to inform decisions relating to governance – conducting a census, for example – it is certainly the case that the last 30 years have witnessed an extraordinary upsurge in ‘everyday’ technology-enabled surveillance activities. Political and economic developments, as well as transformative advances in technology, have propelled the reach and scope of surveillance practices to unprecedented levels. There are many factors that have contributed towards the recent intensification of the surveillance society, some of which can be found at the national level, while others are international, even global.
eBook - PDFEthics in an Age of Surveillance
Personal Information and Virtual Identities
- Adam Henschke(Author)
- 2017(Publication Date)
- Cambridge University Press(Publisher)
Whether it is the drive to photograph and broadcast our meals, the role played by Twitter in the social uprisings in the Middle East in 2011 (Lotan et al., 2011), 3 the push to have police officers wear body cameras while on patrol (Belluck, 2009; Pearl, 2015) or the live webcasting of brain surgery (Belluck, 2009), we use ICTs to communicate a wealth of Personal Information. Underneath the ubiquity of ICTs is the huge range of different information technology types, connected through their capacity to produce, collect, store and communicate information. As David Lyon notes, the evolution of our social practices runs hand in hand with the development of surveil- lance technologies: Although as a set of practices it is as old as history itself, systematic surveillance became a routine and inescapable part of everyday life in modern times and is now, more often than not, dependent on information and communication technologies (ICTs). Indeed, it now makes some sense to talk of ‘surveillance societies’, so pervasive is organizational monitoring of many kinds. (Lyon, 2009) Combine the near invisible presence of ICTs in our lives with their informational capacities and we have the age of surveillance: a social epoch marked by infor- mational technologies which endorse, encourage and enable us to live lives under constant surveillance. What marks this age as one of surveillance is our own role in this – it is not simply that there are these new information technologies that target us for observation. We are complicit in this observation – we are often the willing sources of this information, happily uploading selfies, buying wearable Surveillance Technologies, actively publicising vast amounts of Personal Information like no other time in history. These ICTs are not just invasive; they are changing our very behaviours. What’s so unique is that ICTs afford the ability to make ourselves the subject of observation.
eBook - PDFWalling Out the Insiders
Controlling Access to Improve Organizational Security
- Michael Erbschloe(Author)
- 2017(Publication Date)
- Auerbach Publications(Publisher)
241 12 U SING S URVEILLANCE T ECHNOLOGIES AND T ECHNIQUES Surveillance technology and its use in conjunction with ID manage- ment systems and physical access control systems is a common prac- tice in many organizations, especially in those facilities or buildings that require high levels of security. Although surveillance of facilities is a very good way to detect and prevent security breaches, the tech- nology and the process can be expensive as well as problematic. This chapter covers the basics of managing surveillance systems to prevent insiders from inappropriately accessing secure parts of facilities. It is important to note that many states in the United States have passed laws or are discussing laws that pertain to video surveillance. Much of the debate about surveillance technology revolves around privacy and the latest antisocial tendency of sexual predators to prac- tice video voyeurism. Many of these laws are well intentioned and are designed to protect individual privacy and safety. Lawmakers and law enforcement officials recognize that it has become an expected norm that a person has “a reasonable expectation of privacy when a reasonable person would believe that he or she could fully disrobe in privacy, without being concerned that the person’s undressing was being viewed, recorded, or broadcasted by another, including, but not limited to, the interior of a residential dwelling, bathroom, changing room, fitting room, dressing room, or tanning booth.” 87 The privacy debate and the use of Surveillance Technologies is mov- ing rather quickly and is expected to continue to evolve. Given the dynamics, it is advisable that all organizations currently using or plan- ning to use video surveillance should consult with their attorneys and keep current on local and state laws that impact their facilities.
eBook - ePubTerrorism Awareness
Understanding the Threat and How You Can Protect Yourself
- Robert H. Deatherage, Jr.(Authors)
- 2023(Publication Date)
- CRC Press(Publisher)
VISIBLE hand of the threat as they start planning operations against their intended victims. The threat needs to get outside their controlled environment to gather information that they need to plan a successful attack against their intended victims. So, now they can be seen and detected; this is an opportunity that can be a warning to you that you are now considered a target. There are numerous stories of how potential victims have discouraged an attack by being unpredictable in the daily lives, making them more difficult to target. Your ability to understand what surveillance is, how it is conducted, and what type of information the threat needs is essential to knowing how to detect any type of criminal or terrorist surveillance. You must remember, except in very few cases of being in the wrong place at the wrong time and becoming a victim, every criminal and terrorist operation or attack is preceded by some type of surveillance.Define Surveillance
So, what is surveillance? It is basically the monitoring of behavior. As a matter of fact, the word surveillance is French and means to “watching over.” Another definition of surveillance is the “continuous or periodic act of observing, usually by surreptitious means, a person, a place, or an object for the purpose of obtaining information otherwise unavailable or impractical to obtain.” But with all of this, you can just basically say that surveillance is spying or stalking.Surveillance Techniques
There are many techniques used by the threat, all are similar; after all, there are only so many ways to spy on or stalk someone. Many techniques that are used, especially when they are new are pioneered by law enforcement or the military, are then copied by the threat for their own purposes. Let’s talk about some common tactics.Most attacks or incidents take place where the victim is the MOST PREDICTABLE
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