Do you enjoy being watched?
The author of a new article on surveillance in The Walrus thinks you do. Hal Niedzviecki says that while the thought of being monitored used to disturb us (think George Orwell and Nineteen Eighty-Four), cameras and other surveillance techniques are so prevalent today that we’ve stopped noticing them. And, he says, when we do notice we don’t really care (case in point: when it was announced that 10,000 cameras would be installed in Toronto’s subways, streetcars and buses, he asserts that citizens “shrugged and went about their business”).
What’s more, he points out that video cameras are only one means of surveillance – and that many people don’t realize this. Think of Air Miles programs that collect information on your shopping habits (and give you points in return) and social networking sites that let you update your “status”, enabling you to let people know what you are doing as often as you like. Because we enjoy these activities, and because some of them bring us pleasure, Niedzviecki makes the argument that we actually enjoy being watched.
He also contends that because we enjoy many of these activities, and because our current focus is more on protection against terrorism than on privacy and state totalitarianism, we either see surveillance as a good thing (protection) or we get so used to it that we don’t see it at all. He goes into detail about the implications of this.
And while some of the author’s concerns might be a bit of a stretch (he refers to Hitler’s actions as “the world’s first genocide by database”), it does make sense to think twice when you are revealing personal information online and when out in the real world doing seemingly simple things like buying milk. And if you have questions about how you are being watched you can always refer to OPC guidelines on video surveillance in the public sector and in the private sector.
3 Responses
3:07 pm
I’ve just begun the process of chnaging my name and giving up my heritage and history in order to gain as much privacy and personal safety as a ‘Jane Doe’.
I hope one day when Canadian and international laws are powerful enough to protect my personal safety and privacy with respect to location data (collected, aggregated and sold without my consent) so I can change my name back and reclaim my personal history.
Until then personal safety, personal privacy will continue to outweigh my wish to protect my unique heritage, background and history.
3:09 pm
I’ve just begun the process of chnaging my name and giving up my heritage and history in order to gain as much privacy and personal safety as a ‘Jane Doe’.
I hope one day when Canadian and international laws are powerful enough to protect my personal safety and privacy with respect to location data (collected, aggregated and sold without my consent) so I can change my name back and reclaim my personal history.
Until then, my personal safety, personal privacy will continue to outweigh my wish to protect or celebrate my unique heritage, background and history.
So much for diversity.
2:05 pm
Hi there,
NO I do not enjoy being watched. I think it’s frieghtening what is happening in democratic countries today.
We have situations very similar to what happened in the former East Germany with Citizen Informants spying on other citizens.
Coming from a community that is being spied on consistantly and harassed, I don’t enjoy it, but after appealing to governments, lawyers and others to help us do something about it, it looks like the stalking and monitoring is going to be here for some time.
If you want to know more about what I am refering to you can visit sites such as http://www.TheHiddenEvil.com or http://www.GangStalkingWorld.com
[quote]What is Gang Stalking?
Gang Stalking is experienced by Targeted Individuals as psychological attack, that is capable of immobilizing and destroying a target over time. The covert methods used often leave no evidence to incriminate the Civilian Spies.
It’s similar to workplace mobbing, but takes place outside in the community. It called Gang Stalking, because groups of community Spies/Snitches organise to stalk and monitor targets 24/7. [/quote]
It should also be noted that the watching, stalking and monitoring is just the same as what went on in the former East Germany, except for the fact that we are suppose to be a democratic country. Except we are doing the same things we frowned upon just about 2 decades ago.