Super Panopticon

The notion of the super panopticon refers to a building such as a prison that is arranged so that all parts of the interior are visible from a single point or a tower. Thus, the super panopticon is based on the idea that if a prison had a tower in the middle and the prisoners were told that they were being watched by guards who patrolled in that tower, the prisoners would behave better because they thought they were being watched. This aspect translates into todays' society as citizens are told that their actions and online presence are being monitored, so they are likely to act in a certain way in order to avoid trouble. However, no one really knows if they are being watched and/or by whom, but the idea that we are being watched often has a large impact on how people act. For instance, in work places especially, employees are more likely to avoid accessing their personal email or Facebook accounts because they may fear that their boss can monitor their internet use and see that they are being unproductive, which may lead to them losing their job. Hence, I think it is the consequence of what might happen when people are under surveillance that many people have the problem with, which translates into skepticism about privacy policies because people are no longer feel 'free' to do what they want. Collectively, I think surveillance is a good thing because many harmful situations can be avoided when they are caught early, but I wonder where the line is drawn when it comes to what agencies do with the data that is not considered threatening (ex. sell it, 'destroy it').