Introduction to Surveillance Studies

Introduction

KEY CONCEPTS

• emergence of surveillance devices

• use and abuse of spy devices

• public controversy and accountability

Introduction

There was a time when surveillance meant little more than spying from behind a bush. When humankind learned to fabricate metal and glass, it became possible to observe objects farther away, or smaller than the unaided eye could see, and surveillance entered the technological realm.

Spy tools were originally luxuries, available only to nobility and the wealthiest merchants. They spread to navigation and trade and, by the 1800s, to the middle class. Since the mid‑2000s, however, there has been a significant increase in the availability and sale of surveillance devices and the consumer market has ...