Surveillance Studies

Naked Security by Torin Monahan

Naked Security by guest editor Torin Monahan
(July 1, 2007)

Phoenix’s Sky Harbor Airport recently began testing an X-ray screening device that can peer underneath clothing. The so-called backscatter system uses low levels of radiation to scan travelers and give TSA agents a graphic representation of passengers’ bodies.

The stated goal of such a system is to detect concealed weapons or objects without subjecting travelers to more invasive pat-down searches by TSA screeners. Of course, many people are appalled at the prospect of strangers scrutinizing their naked, if software “blurred,” bodies and feel that this constitutes an invasion of privacy far greater than that of a routine search.

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2 Comments 3. July 2007 - 16:57

Follow-up: another two perspectives on surveillance

Maybe one should add another two perspectives on surveillance to the 21 proposed already.

• 22: Corporate/standardizing perspective: Coporate control over markets is achieved by standardizing products, concepts and ideas, going as far as the standardization of genetic codes.
• 23. auto-perspective: The inititiator of the surveillance practices is the object of any form of control, e.g. voluntary surveillance regimes initiatied by athletes to counter doping accusations.

Both perspectives raise a lot of questions as do the other 21, given that many are overlapping in form, technology, aim etc. But for the fun of it and the sake of scholarly progress, I believe this to be a good form to start a discussion.

1 Comment 26. June 2007 - 14:07

21 Perspektiven auf Überwachung

Andreas Albrechtslund hat eine informelle Taxonomie von 21 Perspektiven auf das Thema Surveillance zusammengestellt. Sicherlich ein interessanter Ausgangspunkt für Diskussionen:

1. The Big Brother perspective
   Surveillance is a scary way for the state to intrude on people’s privacy. Currently, we are on a slippery slope towards a surveillance society.
2. The control perspective
   Surveillance is a way to practice control over individuals or a group of individuals. Thus, it is a tool to exercise power.
3. The care perspective
   Surveillance is a way to provide care for individuals, e.g. when parents take care of their children.
4. The ethical perspective
   Surveillance changes the power and knowledge relations between people and, thus, the space for ethical action is changed.

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1 Comment 21. June 2007 - 07:32

Neue Ausgabe: Surveillance & Society

Die neueste Ausgabe von Surveillance & Society ist online: Surveillance and Criminal Justice Part 1.

Aus dem Inhalt:

• Torin Monahan and Tyler Wall: Somatic Surveillance: Corporeal Control through Information Networks
• Anthony Minnaar: The implementation and impact of crime prevention / crime control open street Closed-Circuit Television surveillance in South African Central Business District
• William Bloss: Escalating U.S. Police Surveillance after 9/11: an Examination of Causes and Effects
• Pete Fussey: An interrupted transmission? Processes of CCTV implementation and the impact of human agency
• Amber Marks: Drug Detection Dogs and the Growth of Olfactory Surveillance: Beyond the Rule of Law?

Adding comment 20. June 2007 - 14:28

Research Report: CCTV in Hamburg

A summary of the research report “CCTV in Hamburg” is now available in English. I hope that will make the study a bit more accessible for those people, who do not speak or read German that fluently.

best wishes
nilz

Adding comment 18. June 2007 - 08:57

Report: CCTV in Australien

The report Crime and CCTV in Australia: Understanding the Relationship will be publicly available 5th December 2006 as an e-publication.

Crime and CCTV in Australia: Understanding the Relationship (research methodology in brief).
The impact of CCTV on recorded crime in two Gold Coast suburbs (Surfers Paradise and Broadbeach) as well as selected QR Citytrain stations utilised police recorded crime in order to undertake time-series analysis to determine the effectiveness of CCTV. An observational study was undertaken in a Gold Coast control room to investigate the general control room operational practices, the monitoring strategies adopted, why monitoring was initiated, the types of incidents surveilled and the targets of surveillance. The survey research of QR commuters, Gold Coast residents and business traders was undertaken to ascertain the impact that CCTV has on the wider public and to gain information regarding people’s experiences with CCTV and their perceptions relating to privacy.

Adding comment 4. December 2006 - 23:29

Surveillance studies at ISA World Congress

On Tuesday and Wednesday the adhoc-session on Surveillance, Security and social sorting at the Sociology World Congress in Durban was being held. 12 papers were presented that had shown the wide range of surveillance studies and importance in many fields of the sciences and in society as such. Instead of dwelling on each individual paper I will try to give you an impression of the threads that ran through both of the sessions and highlight some aspects in particular.
The session was kicked off by David Lyon asking the speakers to watch out for commonalities throughout the papers - giving a working definition of surveillance that indeed the talks were able to follow

Surveillance should be seen as the routine and systematic attention/checking of personal data (through screening, recording etc.) for the purpose of control, management, entitlement, influence, access etc.

This is a loose quote of what he said - but something scholars of surveillance phenomena should debate and refine when discussing surveillance issues. Now to the papers…..
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2 Comments 27. July 2006 - 17:44

Yet more security in Durban

As the conference is moving forwards, we learned more about security issues in Durban. Two tours brought us to see the control rooms of the city’s own CCTV system and it cameras scattered all around town - and to that of the Suncoast casino’s… a highly efficient and very professional surveillance system that leaves little left to wish for… what I found a little disturbing though was the sign at the entrance to the casino.. not so much for the casino but for the general atmosphere in Durban or South Africa for that matter.

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1 Comment 27. July 2006 - 12:13

Doing surveillance in Durban

Even before the conference started I was doing some surveillance outside Durban - in Kwa Zulu Natal’s Hluhluwe Game Resort… Zebras, buffalos, wildebeests, warthogs, rhinos and other fantastic animals can be spotted there… here we watched some zebras and warthogs in the savannah….

Next will be about cameras and security in Durban…

Adding comment 24. July 2006 - 10:05