I'm looking for journal articles about the social implications of electronic surveillance in public spaces.

March 31, 2004 1:40 PM

I’m looking for journal articles about the social implications of electronic surveillance in public spaces. [mi]

I'm doing my own research on the subject, but my guess is that some MeFites already know far more about it than I do. Can anyone point me to some particularly good journal articles, or even just journals that publish a lot of relevant articles? No random web resources, please, unless they're extraordinarily good.

posted by Hegemonic to Society & Culture (8 answers total)

I did a paper about privacy rights awhile ago. If you're interested, I have physical copies of some fantastic philosophical work in the field, which is often much more concerned with the fundamental underlying significance rather than the shallower depths addressed by political talking heads and the like.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure if it's available online, but if you want I'll post the names of the authors and whatever information I have on the books it appeared in (most of the material I have was photocopied for a contemporary philosophy course I took).
posted by The God Complex at 3:04 PM on March 31, 2004

Seriously, ask a librarian. This is their field of expertise.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 3:13 PM on March 31, 2004

Have you considered searching slashdot? (joking!)

Actually, I was going to suggest IEEE. They have a journal for everything, including Technology and Society. If anywhere there are authoritative articles, there are some at IEEE.

I'd also recommend
James Willis and Susan S. Silbey, "Self, Surveillance and Society," The Sociological Quarterly , Volume 43. No. 3 pp.439-445.

And, for some different focuses:

Barry Schwartz, "The Social Psychology of Privacy" American Journal of Sociology, 73, 741-752, 1968 (old school!)

Robert Ellis Smith, "Ben Franklin’s Web Site: Privacy and Curiosity from Plymouth Rock to the Internet" Privacy Journal, 2000.

This is a really big topic, but these are at least a start, and their bibliographies will give some new material. I second the librarian comment.
posted by whatzit at 3:16 PM on March 31, 2004

Here are a couple until I can find a list of some of the others (the one by Reiman is really good):

"Protecting Privacy in an Information Age: the Porblem of Privacy in Public." Law and Philosophy. Vol 17. 1998. 559-596.

Reiman, Jeffrey H. "Privacy, Intimacy, and Personhood." Philosophical Dimensions of Privacy. Cambridge Unviersity Press. 1984. 300-315.
posted by The God Complex at 3:33 PM on March 31, 2004

Obviously that should say problem and not porblem.
posted by The God Complex at 3:34 PM on March 31, 2004

You can't have a paper on this topic without at least mentioning Foucault's "Panopticon" (a chapter in Discipline & Punish).
posted by Quartermass at 6:17 PM on March 31, 2004

Response by poster: Thanks for the excellent suggestions. Yes, I'm talking to librarians; you don't have to sell me on that idea. This is just to augment their knowledge.
posted by Hegemonic at 7:19 PM on March 31, 2004

You might dig around in kairosnews, searching by category.
posted by mecran01 at 9:23 PM on March 31, 2004