Surveillance and Panopticism in the Digital Age

Abstract

With the advancement in technology over the past few decades, there has been a rapid increase in state of the art surveillance tools and techniques. Surveillance is becoming a global issue in the digital age. The world is compelled to understand the dynamics of surveillance in the contemporary world. Surveillance has changed from being physical and spatial to being networked and it relies heavily on modern technology. So, it is indispensable to recognise the ever-changing forms of surveillance. The capacity of surveillance has dramatically increased with new digital technology. It has become an important issue in surveillance studies and we need to understand its intangible risks and complexities in the digital age. The revisitation of the ideas of Jeremy Bentham, Michel Foucault, Karl Marx as well as those of contemporary social theorists like David Lyon, Zygmunt Bauman, Felix Guattari, Gilles Deleuze and others plays a vital role in the development and understanding of new theoretical approaches in surveillance studies. With the rise in surveillance tools and techniques there has also been a change in power dynamics in the society. So, surveillance studies not only provide a helping hand to understand the complexities of new and different forms of surveillance but also help to understand the changing power dynamics in the society. Living in a 'Surveillance Society' has led to new, different and extreme forms of power and control. The misuse of surveillance technologies leads to exploitation of the masses, discloses their intimate lives as well as becomes a threat to privacy and freedom of expression and liberty. The world should be made conscious of the repercussions associated with surveillance in the digital world.