Spies Like Us
http://www.boingboing.net/2006/05/12/william-gibson-on-ns.html
http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/002651.html
http://www.foucault.info/documents/disciplineAndPunish/foucault.disciplineAndPunish.panOpticism.html
I want to give credit to Oleeb, who wrote a thought-provoking post about the Obama DOJ legal push for total immunity from public prosecution. There is the very real and continuing threat against all of us from the danger of unrestricted spying.
I have included these three links to relatively old articles (ancient for the internet) because they very much pertain to not only the political problem facing us, but the social problem that is far deeper. The problem is surveillance. Surveillance as entertainment, surveillance as punishment, surveillance as defense, and surveillance as offense. The crux of the problem is that total surveillance is inevitable (if not in fact already here) and that for every legal inroad we may make in order to protect our privacy from the court of law, there is corruption in the court of public opinion that is certainly as damning.
The other problem is that we are doing this to ourselves.
There is no polite way to put the truth. The combination of an imperial government and advancing technology have made total surveillance a fact of life. Nearly all of us have a digital camera and phone in our pockets at any time which can record details and publish them. We willingly publish personal information on public forums, especially social networking sites. Most businesses can cross pollinate your personal information in order to maintain a client record. What politicians said two years ago can be rebroadcast on a web site in order to catch them in a lie. The fact that there are so many benefits to surveillance is the reason why its rapid infiltration into our daily lives has been so thorough.
William Gibson makes a point that most of us have believed in total surveillance as a comforting fact for decades. The common theme in surveillance is that the government is listening to us anyhow. the other theme is that government is protecting its citizens from evil people OUT THERE, and unless you have something to hide, you shouldn't demand your privacy. But what blows my mind is that we the people have taken the tools of surveillance and applied them to one another and then given the telecommunications industry a blank check to handle this treasury of information. And we wonder why governmnet has colluded with the telcoms in order to get their preferred piece of pie.
First comes out enemies. We track suspected terrorists throughout the world, monitor any and all communication, and keep the dragnet perpetually fishing. We accept this because this keeps us safe. Surveillance allows us to live our lives in peace and not be troubled with the nigglesome details of WHY exactly these terrorists are trying so damned hard to attack us.
Next we apply the rules of surveillance to public figures. Politicians must watch what they say and do because joe and jane citizen can air their lies for all to see. Police officers must curtail their violence or risk being exposed. Celebrities mustn't flash their naughty bits, drive with their kids inappropriately secured, or heaven forbid walk into a speciality clinic. No one complains because they are kept in check and tongues can wag in delighted gossip.
Then we apply the rules of surveillance to one another. Photos we save in our phone can be used against a spouse in court. If someone disagrees with you online, you can google their info and publish it on your blog. Everything you have written online can be used against you in order to promote ridicule or rejection.
Then, maybe, we can begin to see the fruits of total surveillance. Desires fulfilled, justice dispensed, fear delivered, and control achieved. We are now engaged in the correction and discpline of one another every day. We are all prisoners and guards at the same time. Citizen and Spy.
So, when the Obama administration, and other administrations before him, continue to up the ante on powers of surveillance, please realize that it is a trend that begins and ends with Joe and Jane sixpack. Our government is a reflection of ourselves. Our desires, our fears, and our wisdom or foolishness. For every rational fear that the government is unaccountable, realize that citizens can be equally unaccountable, because everything we say and do is becoming public record.
By choice.
True we all are culpable, but without the technology, it would be a moot point. Kinda reminds me of this.
April 9, 2009 6:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
I wouldn't tell the victims of the inquisition that surveillance is a moot point without technology.
April 9, 2009 6:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sorry to be so snide... I appreciate you and your contributions, porcine as they may be.
I am only saying that technology enables human nature, for good or ill. Surveillance is most certainly one of the most effective means of social control... whether it is the threat of the all-seeing God, or the very real inquisition, with its informants and ornate punishments.
But now that we have the technology, we can watch everyone but the Watchers.
April 9, 2009 6:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Sorry to be so snide... I appreciate you and your contributions, porcine as they may be." LOL
April 9, 2009 7:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
BTW, I picked door number 3 when I wrote that word.
April 9, 2009 7:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
As I assumed you did. I just found your phrase "porcine as they may be", tacked on the end of, "I appreciate you and your contributions", preceded by, "Sorry to be so snide..." falling more into the door number 1 category, regardless of your original intent. BTW: Rec'd. :)
April 9, 2009 7:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
I stand convicted. I don't view porcine as a dysphememe, however, but as a compliment. I welcome you to my trough any day.
April 9, 2009 7:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
dysphemism...dammit. That's it, I quit.
April 9, 2009 7:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
Now that's funny!
April 9, 2009 7:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
Perhaps I should have added a little raw meat to this post and made it all about Obama... or maybe quoted an "expert" who recently pontificated on a cable news network. A leftist who is "disappointed" in the administration and sees a looming "crisis of democracy" if Obama can't hurry up and make all of his promised changes.
Perhaps I should have discussed how righties are out of touch and going crazier by the minute. They are frothing, racist, xenophobic bitter-enders.
I will do that from now on. I have to make sure that any opinions have to be delivered from the vantage point of "objective observer," whereby I and thou are not culpable in any crises or problems in government. We can treat politics like sports, with teams that we watch as spectators, and our vote is a ticket to watch the big game unfold.
Never mind that government is the people, and flaws in the government, flaws in the media, and all of the problems we face are brought about by our collective will and energy. Never mind that we are enforcing dubious moral standards on world behavior and reinforcing these moral standards through surveillance.
There is no room for that kind of discussion. Things must happen to us. We are just folks who experience the vicissitudes of powerful people. As long as we complain about bad things, it means we are in no way responsible for these bad things. The simple act of awareness and criticism is enough to remove the terrible yoke of responsibility from around our necks. And thank God for that. Can't have any messy realization that all of us somehow contribute to this status quo that is killing each other and shrinking the habitable world.
April 9, 2009 6:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Naw
No one likes to take responsibility for anything.
Obviously. It's a good post tho, Zip.
April 10, 2009 12:50 AM | Reply | Permalink
Naw
No one likes to take responsibility for anything.
Obviously. It's a good post tho, Zip.
April 10, 2009 12:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
Having trouble focusing on this.
"The other problem is that we are doing this to ourselves."
I like NCIS and I like Google Earth, and I like IPODs, and I like cameras in liquor stores, I guess.
We are just about there. Where every single action of every single human being will be recorded. And we will have the memory available to store all actions for all time.
The corporate world is probably doing 95% of all the surveillance. HA
Then individuals wish to find out how the dog gets into the refrigerator. So they post a camera and then post the video on their own. Along with the fourteen year old grabbing a coke.
ha
I do not know what the answer is. What is is.
April 10, 2009 1:18 AM | Reply | Permalink
Great thoughts, Zipper. I am actually a big fan of the trends in social and governmental transparency via information technology. I am convinced that at a certain point, information will become so ubiquitous that people will stop listening and what we do learn will help enforce the commonalities among us instead of the differences.
You bring up William Gibson, perhaps one of my favorite cyberpunk writers, who was visionary about a lot of the social ramifications of information technology. The rise of social networking that really shows just how mundane most of our lives are. We willing give out details that would have been sacrosanct just a few years ago.
To my way of thinking, I say no more secrets at all. Total Transparency. Data Overload. In that world, the secrets we do keep will be beyond the reach of the prying eyes that remain. As you point out, the People aren't the only ones in that scenario that have to toe the line. Our various "leaders" will be subject to new scrutiny as well, which can't help but lead to a better way of doing business.
Good questions all around.
April 10, 2009 8:14 AM | Reply | Permalink
I really admire your optimism... my only doubt is the moral code we enforce. Panopticism is a social control mechanism, but it does us no good if the social values are poor. It does us no good to slut-shame female celebrities but admire the playboy. It does us no good to have financial transparency for John and Jane Doe, but the FRB is immune from an external audit. It does us no good to claim state secrets to protect CIA/military interrogators, but use hearsay and distortion to generate political scandals for ratings. I don't necessarily mind a self-perpetuating moral/ethical code reinforced by surveillance provided that it is humanistic. Can you imagine a panopticism that enforces evangelical Christianity??
April 10, 2009 11:22 AM | Reply | Permalink
I guess I am a little more understanding of the transition period we have no choice but to go through in order to reach the other side.
I guess my optimism stems from the rapid evolution of communications and generational trends when it comes to a more refined sense of morality and less ready acceptance of situational ethics. I think we are just at the beginning so any bumps along the way are expected.
Kind of fun to be at the end of one era and the beginning of another though, no matter where you own personal beliefs lie.
April 10, 2009 3:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
Great post. I don't know how we best cull out the needed focus from the intrusive and scary lens of today's technological abilities.
I strongly oppose warrantless wiretapping and other like programs/processes. But, things like cameras at every intersection (figuratively and literally) is also an issue. (And what about the google map, et al.!)
The argument that 9/11 changed everything is valid - however, I believe in many instances this is just the rationale given for excessive and abusive 'oversight'.
Thanks for this 'Z', wish I had another answer than to just speak out and stand up, unite and protest at the voting booth and to current legislators.
April 10, 2009 12:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
I hope at least on my deathbed, they'll leave me alone.... ;)
April 10, 2009 1:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Zipperuppus,
Are you saying that the Panopticon is a not only a total spyglass but also a mirror? I think you are brilliant because in that way it at least implies responsibility for all of us, not the contrary.
I am pretty aware of how trying to control everything I cannot control has worked out. Sometimes we just clean up the mess. I just don’t know what to do about this – get off the grid? But then running away doesn’t help us either, unless the off-grid ones were watching the watchers. But how? The global panopticon doesn’t make me feel safe, it makes me paranoid. I wish FISA and the rest would END but it has really just begun. If we focus on those humanistic values at our end of the mirror and practice them and share them, maybe they will go viral one day.
Who will enforce the just social values? Who will decide? Don’t know…but here talking about it and thinking is more than I used to enjoy pre-computer, so I appreciate the upside of this technology and your blog. Mirrors for all! Thanks!
April 10, 2009 3:46 PM | Reply | Permalink