Soft Surveillance: The Growth of Mandatory Volunteerism in Collecting Personal Information “Hey Buddy Can You Spare a DNA?”

Le développement accéléré des technologies de communication, de saisie et de traitement de l’information durant les dernières années décennies ouvre la voie à de nouveaux moyens de contrôle social. Selon l’auteur Gary Marx ceux-ci sont de nature non coercitive et permettent à des acteurs privés ou publics d’obtenir des informations personnelles sur des individus sans que ceux-ci y consentent ou mêmes sans qu’ils en soient conscients. Ces moyens de contrôle social se fondent sur certaines valeurs sociales qui sont susceptibles de modifier le comportement des individus comme le patriotisme, la notion de bon citoyen ou le volontarisme. Tout comme les moyens coercitifs, elles amènent les individus à adopter certains comportements et à divulguer des informations précises. Toutefois, ces moyens se fondent soit sur le consentement des individus, consentement qui est souvent factice et imposée, soit l’absence de connaissance du processus de contrôle par les individus. Ainsi, l’auteur illustre comment des organisations privées et publiques obtiennent des informations privilégiées sur la population sans que celle-ci en soit réellement consciente. Les partisans de tels moyens soulignent leur importance pour la sécurité et le bien publique. Le discours qui justifie leur utilisation soutient qu’ils constituent des limites nécessaires et acceptables aux droits individuels. L’emploi de telles méthodes est justifié par le concept de l’intérêt public tout en minimisant leur impact sur les droits des individus. Ainsi, ces méthodes sont plus facilement acceptées et moins susceptibles d’être contestées. Toutefois, l’auteur souligne l’importance de reconnaître qu’une méthode de contrôle empiète toujours sur les droits des individus. Ces moyens de contrôle sont progressivement intégrés à la culture et aux modes de comportement. En conséquence, ils sont plus facilement justifiables et certains groupes en font même la promotion. Cette réalité rend encore plus difficile leur encadrement afin de protéger les droits individuels. L’auteur conclut en soulignant l’important décalage moral derrière l’emploi de ces méthodes non-coercitives de contrôle social et soutient que seul le consentement éclairé des individus peut justifier leur utilisation. À ce sujet, il fait certaines propositions afin d’encadrer et de rendre plus transparente l’utilisation de ces moyens de contrôle social.The accelerated development of communication technologies let private and public actors obtain private information on individuals without their consent, or even without their actual knowledge. These methods of social control are based on certain social values that are susceptible of influencing individual behavior, such as patriotism, voluntarism or the notion good citizenship. Just like coercive methods, ‘soft’ methods influence individuals into adopting certain behaviors and revealing precise in formations. However, these methods are based upon the false or forced acceptance of the subject. Alternatively, soft methods of social control can also work without the knowledge of the subject that the process is taking place. The author thus illustrates how private or public organizations can obtain personal information on the population without its knowledge or consent. Supporters of such methods emphasize their importance through the need for security and the public good. The current discourse justifying the use of such methods states that they represent necessary and acceptable limits to individual liberties. Their use is justified by the concept of public good while minimizing their impact on individual rights. As such, these methods are easily accepted by the population and are for less susceptible to be legally contested. However, the author holds that any methods of social control always impedes individual rights and must be recognized as such. Soft methods of social control are being progressively integrated into popular culture and in current norms of behavior. Consequently, they are more easily justified and even actually promoted by certain groups. This situation limits any possibilities of establishing an effective control of soft methods to protect individual rights. The author concludes by emphasizing the significant moral aspect of the use of soft methods of social control and holds that, ultimately, they can only be justified by the enlightened consent of the individuals. Finally, he proposes certain mechanisms to outline the use of any methods of social control and increase their transparency

Mots et mondes de surveillance : Contrôle et contre-contrôle à l’ère informatique

On a jusqu’ici peu étudié la surveillance en tant que phénomène sociologique, c’est-à-dire en portant attention aux dynamiques d’action et de réaction dans lesquelles s’engagent ses acteurs. On a également beaucoup trop simplifié les catégories conventionnelles des objectifs, des cibles, des acteurs et des méthodes de surveillance. Ce texte offre un certain nombre de solutions visant à éliminer ces problèmes. L’auteur y montre également à quel point les pronostics alarmistes dénonçant la surveillance excessive, aussi bien que l’insuffisance de surveillance, sont dépourvus des assises empiriques nécessaires.So far, the study of surveillance as a sociological phenomenon has suffered from a number of shortcomings mostly due to oversimplified categories of objectives, targets, agents and methods, as well as a lack of attention paid to the dynamics of surveillance and counter-surveillance activities. This paper offers suggestions which may be helpful to alleviate both types of problems. It also shows why more empirical observation is required before claims of impending doom, either from insufficient or from excessive surveillance, is to be considered

The effect of organic management on soil quality indicators

This report was presented at the UK Organic Research 2002 Conference. A range of physical, biological and chemical parameters were measured in organic soil that had been managed in different ways and in a conventional control. Factors were identified that could be used to construct an index of soil quality

The Law\u27s Secrets

A Review of Legal Secrets: Equality and Efficiency in the Common Law by Kim Lane Scheppel

The Schizoid Dialectic Theses on winning the Union back

Bringing together Anderson's work as a cultural activist in performance (the Institute for the Art and Practice of Dissent at Home (www.twoaddthree.org)) and his role as Branch Chair of his institution's union for teaching staff (University and College Union), this performative paper will argue that a dialectical, agonistic blurring of boundaries across the borders of conflicting identities and interests is not only productive and desirable, but also liberatory and could constitute a small act of social justice. From lived experience the paper stages a series of arguments - in dialogue form - between Gary the anarchist art-activist and Gary the reformist trade unionist branch chair. Whilst both would agree that social justice is the 'bottom line' neither would agree that the task of institutional transformation is in part to recognise the dialectical flux inherent in their (Gary's) conflicting identities. Yet, this is what emerges when these identities are juxtaposed to engage in agonistic debate. The dialogues focus on the institutional context of higher education in particular, and suggests that agonistically robust debate produces not a winner and a loser, but a dialectical schizoid (Deleuze and Guattari, 2004 Deleuze, Gilles, and Félix Guattari (2004) A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and schizophrenia, London: Continuum Impacts. [Google Scholar]) who occupies both positions, more or less, simultaneously. The dialogues deploys two texts: Karl Marx's Theses on Feuerbach (1845) - of which the union chair is enamoured - and the rewritten Theses on Winning the Union Back - which the art-activist performance artist has vandalised. The paper contains the full text of the rewritten Theses on Winning the Union Back