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Counter-surveillance as Political Intervention? 

Author: Torin Monahan a
Affiliation:   a Arizona State University, School of Justice & Social Inquiry, USA
DOI: 10.1080/10350330601019769
Publication Frequency: 4 issues per year
Published in: journal Social Semiotics, Volume 16, Issue 4 December 2006 , pages 515 - 534
Formats available: HTML (English) : PDF (English)
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Abstract

This paper analyzes practices of counter-surveillance—particularly against closed-circuit television systems in urban areas—and theorizes their political implications. Counter-surveillance is defined as intentional, tactical uses, or disruptions of surveillance technologies to challenge institutional power asymmetries. Such activities can include disabling or destroying surveillance cameras, mapping paths of least surveillance and disseminating that information over the Internet, employing video cameras to monitor sanctioned surveillance systems and their personnel, or staging public plays to draw attention to the prevalence of surveillance in society. The main argument is that current modes of activism tend to individualize surveillance problems and methods of resistance, leaving the institutions, policies, and cultural assumptions that support public surveillance relatively insulated from attack.
Keywords: Surveillance; resistance; activism; art; social movements; social control; globalization
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