Dissertation Research: The Watchers and The Watched: Experience of Video Surveillance Technologies

New York University, New York NY

Investigators

Abstract

Over the past ten years, the use of video surveillance technologies has become widespread. These technologies are increasingly used by government and corporate institutions to monitor individuals in public or quasi-public spaces with a view to enhancing personal and property security, productivity, efficiency, and peace of mind. The interaction between video surveillance technologies and human actors raises complex questions. An in-depth inquiry into the driving forces behind the use of these technologies and their implications on personal autonomy, human agency and privacy in general would lead to a better understanding of the interaction between technology and the social landscape. This dissertation research project will explore theoretical aspects of the video surveillance-privacy nexus, and by means of qualitative inquiry will investigate the lived, contextual experiences of (a) "the watchers"-- those who own, operate, install, and use video surveillance systems focusing on social control issues, and (b)"the watched"--those who are subject to video surveillance systems with specific attention to issues of personal autonomy and human agency. Funding is provided to conduct a series of interviews with people who are using video surveillance techniques, and to analyze these transcripts in order to see how questions of privacy, power and the benefits of the technology are being conceptualized. By investigating how and why the particular configurations of video surveillance have emerged, the proposed research will contribute to the literature on the centrality of visual technologies to social control mechanisms, and the understanding of privacy in terms of its philosophical dimensions.