The Awareness of Surveillance on Social Order

Every moment of everyday we are being monitored. We go through our day-to-day routines not seeing the constant surveillance all around us. When most people hear the word “surveillance” they usually think of being observed by simple, relatively low technology methods such as being spied on from a distance through binoculars or being recorded on store surveillance camera. However, surveillance extends to a much broader extent. Surveillance is observing the actions of people or groups from a position of higher authority. For 24-hours I recorded of all the times I was being electronically surveilled. I learned that everyday we are observed and monitored in more ways than most think. WE GO THROUGH OUR DAILY LIVES UNDER CONSTANT SURVEILLANCE NEVER KNOWING WHEN WE ARE BEING WATCHED OR WHERE WE ARE BEING WATCHED FROM.

Upon waking on Tuesday, February 13, 2007 I picked up my cell phone and called one of my classmates for us to meet up before our 9:30 AM lecture. Even though the call only lasted 23 seconds, all of my personal information instantly became public. People no longer have to ‘bug’ phone lines, they can legally snatch your cell phone calls right out of the air.

Privacy is a thing of the past, you can be getting spied on and never even know it. After class I went onto my computer and checked my email account. I decided to download a spyware tracking program to scan my computer and sure enough I found over 40 infected documents. Spyware documents were unknowingly embedded in my computer and were collecting and transmitting my personal information.

My next class was in Kane Hall. On my way to class I walked through Red Square and noticed that streaming video was being taken of me and broadcasted on the internet. Students at the University of Washington have a streaming video feed of Red Square on their MyUW home page. I walk through Red Square everyday and never realized that I was being watched. After class I stopped by the ATM to get some cash, while I was doing so I noticed the built-in camera on the ATM staring back at me. Later that night I made my way to the IMA for a quick workout, I swiped my Husky Card to gain access to the facility. For the first time I realized that every time I swipe my card I am contributing to the University of Washington’s electronic data records. Each time I swipe my card I go into the electronic database and get sorted based on gender and graduation year. Every time you make a phone call, withdraw money from an ATM, or swipe you’re a card you are generating an electronic record.

In the 24-hour period I recorded 11 instances of electronic surveillance. Including such instances regarding traffic cameras and home security systems. Realizing all the surveillance surrounding my daily life made me hesitant to behave normally in public. Surveillance is a powerful psychological tool, as English legal philosopher Jeremy Bentham discovered with the invention of the panopticon prison. In this prison guards could observe prisoners without the prisoners being able to see them. Prisoners would therefore behave themselves because they didn't’ know if they were being monitored or not. Bentham calls this the “Inspection Principle” which is prevalent in our society today, for instance, many stores have fake surveillance cameras that do a good job in scaring off criminals. In my 24-hour period I too experienced Bentham’s Principle, once I realized that I could be under surveillance at any point in my day, my behavior instinctively changed. Surveillance is a tool of control that serves both good and bad. According to Foucault, America has evolved into a “Carceral Society”, a society run entirely on the basis of discipline by means of surveillance.