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May 16th, 2008
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Panopticon (who is watching you now?)

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The Panopticon is a type of prison building designed by English philosopher Jeremy Bentham in 1785. The concept of the design is to allow an observer to observe (-opticon) all (pan-) prisoners without the prisoners being able to tell whether they are being watched, thereby conveying what one architect has called the "sentiment of an invisible omniscience." Bentham himself described the Panopticon as "a new mode of obtaining power of mind over mind, in a quantity hitherto without example"
Is the world becoming a Panopticon?

Do you behave differently when you know there is a camera around?

Anybody from the UK where cctv is omnipresent -- does the knowledge that you are under observation whenever you are out in 'the commons' affect how you behave?

If you thought that your neighbors (the police, members of your church, total strangers) might be watching you, would you behave differently?
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Re: Panopticon (who is watching you now?)

Click to Expand / Collapse  Quote originally posted by GrimJack ...
Is the world becoming a Panopticon?

Do you behave differently when you know there is a camera around?

Anybody from the UK where cctv is omnipresent -- does the knowledge that you are under observation whenever you are out in 'the commons' affect how you behave?

If you thought that your neighbors (the police, members of your church, total strangers) might be watching you, would you behave differently?
CCTV is all over the place here in California too, but frankly I don't think anyone is actually watching 95% of these cameras or if they're even recording. Plus most of them are cameras owned by a variety of private citizens. It's not like one entity (the government) is in charge of all of those cameras and is tracking every move. I have a friend who got in an accident on a busy street, there were conflicting stories, and he wanted to get the video footage from about five nearby cameras as evidence if there was ever a lawsuit, but he was told that none of the cameras (including the cameras mounted on the street by the Public Works department) actually had any footage. Whether that's true or whether he was just getting the runaround I don't know, but they sure didn't help him. I think we have way too many of them and they do more harm than good, but I pretty much ignore them. I don't think anyone's actually watching me.
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Re: Panopticon (who is watching you now?)

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Anybody from the UK where cctv is omnipresent -- does the knowledge that you are under observation whenever you are out in 'the commons' affect how you behave?
Not on the street, but at work theres loads of cameras everywhere (staff theft issues) and i dont like being monitored all the time, its kinda opressive.
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Re: Panopticon (who is watching you now?)

We have cameras at work too but I normally ignore them, just do my job. The cameras are there for customer theft, and they do work/record all the time.
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Re: Panopticon (who is watching you now?)

If I knew I was being watched all the time Id pick my bodily orifices more often.

Not a lot of cams at my work actually theres more in my house then at my work, ha thats kinda weird when i think about it.

I think its good to have more camera in public places. It do make me feel kind of uncomfortable, but its for the greater good.
Last edited by steven woodman; May 16th, 2008 at 9:40 am.
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Re: Panopticon (who is watching you now?)

>>Is the world becoming a Panopticon?

Maybe Europe or North America, but definitely not the world. The first step here would be to install functioning traffic lights. Cameras come after that.
Last edited by hammerhead; May 16th, 2008 at 10:39 am.
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Re: Panopticon (who is watching you now?)

Click to Expand / Collapse  Quote originally posted by hammerhead ...
>>Is the world becoming a Panopticon?

Maybe Europe or North America, but definitely not the world. The first step here would be to install functioning traffic lights. Cameras come after that.
You dont have traffic lights? Is there much traffic?
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Re: Panopticon (who is watching you now?)

Quote from wikipedia
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There are 55 lakh (5.5 million) registered vehicles in the city, which is highest in world among all cities (within municipal limits), while the Delhi metropolitan region (NCT Delhi) has 112 lakh (11.2 million) motor vehicles[1], again highest in the world among all metropolitan regions. This adds significantly to city's traffic and pollution woes. Delhi and NCR lose nearly 42 crore (420 million) man-hour every month while commuting between home and office through public transport, due to the traffic congestion.[2].
there are traffic lights in many places. But at times they do not work because of power failures or some other reason. There are many crossings where traffic lights are yet to be installed, but they are not major ones.

Oh and yes the traffic is hell. The worst I have encountered by car is travelling 3 kms (1.8 miles) in 3 hrs.
Last edited by hammerhead; May 16th, 2008 at 11:19 am.
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I would have left my car and walked.
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Re: Panopticon (who is watching you now?)

There will be a day when all the world will be recorded from satellites.
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