UC Merced Undergraduate Research Journal

Surveillance has taken many forms over the course of its history; human operatives, listening devices (bugs), and more recently, observation over electronic devices such as mobile phones and computers. Surveillance is justified by its proponents with a variety of reasons; preventing terrorism, ensuring national security, tracking down criminals, etc. With the increase of the ease of surveillance, it would be easy to assume that society has advanced from previous states of law enforcement and benefitted accordingly. However, the advancements made in electronic surveillance technology have in fact caused society to regress. Society has normalized and complied to the authority of surveillance technology, entirely at the mercy of those who watch.