A Rebuke to Constant Surveillance

In the town I grew up in, and still live next door to, where my parents still live, and where we as a family travel through often, there has been a distinct uptick in constant surveillance systems put in place throughout the town. I am specifically referring here to speed and red light cameras that issue tickets based on infractions captured through radar and cameras as well as flock cameras that utilize 24/7 passive recording, stores the recorded info for a period of time (supposedly to assist police in solving crimes though police have also abused the system). This is not just an issue that has arisen in Milford, CT, but across the state and with flock cameras across the country. I know some foreign countries have much more surveillance than we do, but there is currently an uproar against these cameras and people are fighting back to get them removed. But I want to look at this from a more philosophical perspective in order to show how they may not work the way they were intended in perpetuity. Here I want to reference the panopticon first envisioned by Jeremy Bentham in the 18th century and later referenced by Michel Foucault to explain how modern power operates through self-discipline and constant observation. Its kind of like having an Elf on the Shelf for adults, yet at least for now, we know where the Elf is being placed.

The panopticon in its original form was a designed prison where there was a central watch tower around which the prison was situated in a circular fashion and each cell was open facing the watch tower. The effect was that the guards in the watch tower could theoretically be observing any prisoner at any time and the prisoner would not know when they were under surveillance. This is exactly like the concept of the Elf on the Shelf that is supposed to get children to behave for Santa. The problem arises in that the children never know where the Elf will turn up and they aren’t being good for goodness sake as the phrase goes, they are being good because they know they are being watched by the Elf who can turn up anywhere and report any misdeeds to Santa. Flash forward to adult hood and now we have speed cameras with radar placed periodically on roads, normally in areas that are prone to speeding or around schools. While these cameras may cause an increase in revenue for the town at the outset, once people know where they are, they slow down only in those areas because they know they are being watched and aren’t slowing down for the sake of being safe and courteous to other drivers and pedestrians, but merely to avoid getting a ticket. Its like a giant Elf on the Shelf for adults that we know where he resides at all times. The same goes with the flock cameras, although those are used a little differently. Since they are constantly recording, and while their intended purpose isn’t to punish everyone, they are used to track down people, purportedly just for crimes, but theoretically, they could be used to track down anyone for any reason. The Elf is constantly watching, he just doesn’t know when he will have to report someone to the authorities, he just records it all just in case.

If police and local governments want to effect true change, they need to get back out there and educate people, not just punish after the fact or set up cameras that they think will do the work for them. With the speed cameras, there are signs that notify when they are coming so a person can slow down just for that half mile of driving, then speed back up once they are past the cameras. What good is that if everyone starts doing that to only not get a ticket. The constant surveillance does nothing except to con people into behaving better, or for those who commit crimes, to avoid flock cameras since there are maps of where they are all placed. The more surveillance there is, the less chance we have of knowing where all of it is. We as a society are reverting back to a time when those in power think we need constant surveillance to keep us in check. Or maybe we have just progressed to this point by not doing things properly before, not educating the young enough about the proper way to behave, not spending the time to coach and guide them to where we are now playing catchup and recording everyone. We shall see where this goes, but its a slippery slope, its already been abused before, and I fear with AI and technology progressing these days, it’ll get worse before it gets better.