Just Finished Reading: Surveillance – A Very Short Introduction by David Lyon (FP: 2024) [127pp] 

Until very recently if a company wanted to spy on someone it would have to hire a private detective to physically keep an eye on them and follow them around to see what they did and who they met with. For governments around the world it was, of course, much easier using their much greater resources of police forces and the Secret Services, the reading of mail and the tapping of phonelines. But still it was both expensive and time consuming. If the object was a group of people the cost ballooned spectacularly. The idea of monitoring whole groups or, most ridiculously, the WHOLE population was a fantasy even within the most authoritarian governments. But then, as with much else, technology solved everything. Computers became powerful enough and sophisticated enough to monitor multiple phonelines simultaneously. Physical mail became electronic and MUCH easier to monitor. Websites logged exactly what people were doing and where they went next. Then came mobile phones and social media. Suddenly surveillance was everywhere and everyone began to feel that someone somewhere was keeping tabs on them – and they were right. 

Surveillance does certainly SEEM all pervasive these days, partially because it's at least partially true even in so-called free countries. CCTV cameras are ubiquitous and obvious (when you look for them) but they are not only ‘old tech’ but the very tip of the iceberg. Of course, the irony of today’s pervasive surveillance environment is that we do much of the work ourselves. Not only do we give copious amounts of personal data to companies for free – which they then sell on to others for a tidy profit – but many of us carry tracking devices (AKA our phones) around in our pockets and think nothing of it. On top of this we keep track of others – friends, celebrities – and even ourselves with fitness/health apps (which we then upload or share and the data is harvested and sold back to us). Our surveillance society didn’t just appear overnight and it wasn’t (mostly) imposed on us by evil others. WE built this and we choose to live here. 

Despite being rather dry and academic at times this was still an interesting and informative look at the surveillance world we have created in the last 30 years or so. I actually liked the fact that the author looked beyond the usual idea of governments spying on us (which they do of course) to show how companies (not just Facebook) do the same or more and especially how WE, that is everyone, is at least partially complicit in that surveillance. Although little here was a revelation, I think it did help me to partially reset or reframe some of my thinking on the subject. More to come on the subject and more VSI books too...