Customer Reviews

The Culture of Surveillance (Contemporary Social Issues)

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Mr. Staples addresses the issues arising from surveillance of society. He warns that an Orwellian Big Brother isn't really the problem- that a series of Little Brothers pose the greatest threat to personal liberties. Not many think before giving personal information to banks, the government or a varity of corporations (store credit cards, even Amazon.com asks for personal information). Consider the number of surveillence cameras that monitor your moves at street intersections in some locals, at banks, department store, drive thru lanes, government buildings etc.

A sociologist at the University of Kansas, Staples addresses the way new surveillence technology affects society. He notes that as surveillance increases the public increasingly accepts being watched. He examines the development of surveillance techniques from each one's beginning to where we are today. He includes police/prison tactics, body analysis (DNA, drug test etc.), consumer society and the media among others.

This book is a great primer for the budding paranoid type, or those who never really thought about how much info on you is floating out there. More developed paranoids get a book they may quote without sounding like a crazy eyed conspericy theorist. This book is not the be all end all on the subject by any means. But I find myself quoting the book more often than I thought I would- I guess that says something.