Surveillance and responsibilization

Surveillance and responsibilization

Surveillance is expanding and spreading to new directions, and is accompanied by new practices which resemble surveillance. Consequently, the concept of surveillance is evading solid definition and turning into a power race between the authorities and the public. In the presentation, I will discuss new tendencies which support, extend, undermine and replace old forms of surveillance. As since the origins of surveillance, the authorities aim to gain power over the citizens by controlling them with technical equipment. Traditional surveillance is accompanied by counter-surveillance practices in which the public is turning the gaze against the authorities. The public is able to play with surveillance turning it into performance, social watching and amateur monitoring. People have been ‘hijacking’ surveillance. However, the main focus of mine is on how the authorities ‘hit back’. There is an increasing tendency for responsibilization of the public and the authorities encouraging the public to participate in ‘controlwork’. They endeavour to harness of private observers to serve the purposes of the powerful, to take part in crime prevention and control. This has become apparent in the proliferation of interactive Internet sites with surveillance functions. Thus far there is no clear picture of the directions to which this responsibilization expands, but location of the first sites range from international borders, such as the border between the US and Mexico (blueservo.net), to the interiors of local shops (interneteyes.co.uk). Neoliberalism has adjusted people to this mode in many other fields – it is easy to accept the call for responsibilization.