I currently live off-campus with three housemates. This is a picture of one of the many cameras that our landlord has set up around the outside of our house. These cameras are an example of panoptical surveillance, because our landlord had never told us whether or not these are actually working cameras, and if they are working, we do not know if he checks them. While he claims that they are there for our protection, if these cameras are actually working, they allow our landlord to monitor what we are doing, and whether or not we are complying with the terms of our lease (e.g. we are only allowed to have 12 people in our house at a time). Furthermore, even if the cameras do not work, we still operate under the assumption that they do. Therefore, our house resembles a carceral society, in which everyone polices himself or herself because it is impossible to know whether or not you are being watched.
Panoptical surveillance was originally used in prisons, but its use has clearly expanded. In another example of modern panoptical surveillance, signs informing the public that they are under 24-hour surveillance frequent store windows.
Questions:
Are these forms of surveillance a violation of privacy?
Are current forms of panoptical surveillance effective, or do people generally assume that they are not actually being watched?
