The Surveillance Consensus

Abstract

A B S T R A C TThis article is inspired by Haggerty and Ericson's notion of the 'surveillant assemblage', which draws on philosophical concepts of Deleuze and Guattari in order to analyse the dynamics of contemporary increasingly extensive and intensifying surveillance. The surveillant assemblage has a twofold character. On the one hand it aims to increase visibility and on the other hand it works invisibly, 'beyond our normal range of perception'. The surveillant assemblage offers a surveillance consensus. To disentangle this consensus this article focuses particularly on CCTV as a technology that is still visible. We analyse three aspects of the surveillance consensus, namely, correlating with the aesthetical concept of consensus, what we call (after Luhmann) (1) the illusion of total inclusion, which is hardened by (2) media arrangements and eventually by (3) regulation. We will refer to these three aspects empirically along with examples from the development of CCTV in the UK, France and Germany. K E Y W O R D SCCTV / France / Germany / Politics of Surveillance / UK.Our cameras are here today providing your right to be seen and heard. (Promotion at the Security and Prosperity Partnership summit in Montebello.

CCTV: A Technology Under the Radar?

“…[503][504] argument is apparent -'the hand-mill gives you society with the feudal lord; the steam-mill the society with the industrialist capitalist'. 34 Some argue that under the umbrella of technological determinism, there exist hard and soft forms. For example, Smith and Marx write that hard technological determinism denotes technology as the driving force shaping society:…”

“…Instead of treating 'technology' per se as the locus of historical agency, the soft determinists locate it in a far more complex social, economic, political and cultural matrix. 36 Although technology is no longer seen as being autonomous under a soft determinism perspective, it is still viewed as a major stimulus to the creation, direction and definition of society.…”

“…Those who take this stance see efficiency and technique as the overriding factors leading to a 34 Marx, K. (1936) The Poverty of Philosophy Martin Lawrence; London 35 Smith, M. R. and Marx, L. (1994) Does Technology Drive History? MIT Press; Cambridge p.xii 36 Ibid. p.xiii technological society.…”

Using Sensor Networks for Pedestrian Detection

“…Infrastructure-mounted cameras are extensively used for video surveillance [20] but are only placed at busy or dangerous intersections, near schools and on blind curves due to their high cost. An approach based on sensor networks therefore seems to be a good alternative as typical applications of sensor networks include large-scale monitoring and tracking at very low cost.…”

Images of Surveillance: The Contested and Embedded Visual Language of Anti-Surveillance Protests

“…For an overview of this debate see Haggerty & Ericson (2000), Lyon (2001), and Garland (2002). For the European context, ever more important due to the European Union's increasing legislative and executive rights, see Hempel and Töpfer (2009). 2 The central role of artistic contributions in surveillance-critical debates has led to the creation of new concepts such as "artveillance" (Brighenti, 2008).…”