State Surveillance Essay

Many would argue we are living in a total surveillance society. Understandable, if we take into consideration the explosion of the development of information and communication technologies. This technology is collecting, analysing and intercepting data on an increasingly mass scale whilst government policies such as the controversial 2016 ‘Investigatory Powers Bill’ (Snoopers charter, see: https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/lbill/2016-2017/0066/17066.pdf) allows the expansion of state surveillance to unprecedented levels.

Surveillance is omnipotent and unavoidable; participation in social life would be impossible without tech that keeps mass surveillance viable in both the private and the public sphere. A prime example is the proliferation of the Internet of Things (or IOT) in which ordinary, everyday items are connected online to improve efficiency and ultimately population health (seehttps://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/may/06/what-is-the-internet-of-things-google). However, the proliferation of such technologies raises issues surrounding privacy, democratic values and the unintended consequences of surveillance technologies. Gilchrist (2017) relays the lack of industry regulations and standards protecting consumers who use IoT devices. The verification of an IoT device as fit for purpose is a fluid and unpredictable

Consequently, surveillance practises have primarily been used to monitor the suspect, the criminal, the abnormal or even those seen as a threat to those in power. Marx (2002) argues traditional definitions of surveillance (such as the above) are not appropriate to define ‘new’ surveillance, indicating this is due to the rapid change in which surveillance has undergone, facilitated through technological developments. Accordingly, I will identify how contemporary surveillance techniques differ from previous