Lisa Campbell, Relational Surveillance: Aboriginal experience, scopaethesia and nanotechnology

Comment by: Annie Anton

PLSC 2009

Workshop draft abstract:

This article will examine privacy as a collective right, and consider the relevance of anonymity in the public sphere.

It will explore the work of biologists who have done research on the sense of being watched, and in particular experiments that have shown that group behavior is modified when surveillance mechanisms are put in place.

Using the example of Aboriginal groups in Canada, the article will consider who the collection and use of personal information is affecting this population.

The article will analyze developments in technology that are altering the divide between public and private spheres, and focus on two in particular: 1) increasing access to the www via interactive handheld devices, and 2) data collection and creation via molecular computing.