Digital surveillance.  Whether you have thought about it or not, we all know we’re being watched by society and marketing agency.  The part that tends to freak us out is the impact the information gathered society and marketers have on our day-to-day lives.

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Mark Andrejevic  states “companies are able to track our movements, transactions, and communications without our permission or, in many cases, knowledge” (4); a concept that blends together digital enclosure and interactivity.  Michel Foucault similarly believes without us even being aware of what is happening we’re being disciplined .. disciplined to believe whatever society and marketers want us to believe.  “The disciplinary society is a social formation in which we become both jailor and the jailed” (Athique 212).

During the past week online, my online activities consisted of Instagram searching of a new hairstylist, Facebook and Pinterest searching of a new hair style for the spring/summer season as well as a new color.  For the purpose of this blogpost, it’s important to note that these searches were conducted on my iPhone.  A few days into my iPhone searches, I found whenever I found myself googling something on my laptop there was an AD for different NYC hair colorists and hair salons.  At first, I found this strangely useful because the marketing agencies that Apple shared their algorithms with are successfully reaching consumers.  But as I thought about it more in the context of what is actually happening, I was being digitally surveilled.

I realized the only way my laptop was able to capture what I was searching on my phone was the fact I have my Apple ID and iMessage enabled on all my Apple devices so data is constantly being synced from one device to another which constitutes my permission.  In this particular case, I found it acceptable that my “consumer profile” was collated and stored for future use by third parties.  However, if the algorithms gave more of my personal information such as the mileage I was willing to travel, my mode of transportation, or access to my bank records to estimate the price I would be willing to pay for a hair appointment, it won’t be acceptable.

In the above situation, the technique of disciplinary power that applies is the observation of consumer behaviors for commercial advantage.  This technique applies to me and most likely many of you on a day-to-day basis without you even thinking about it.  When you’re online shopping for example and you add items into the shopping cart but don’t actually purchase the item, you might find on Facebook and throughout your internet browsing ADs pertaining to that particular store.  Marketing agencies use this technique to get you, the consumer, to go back to their website and purchase the items in the shopping cart; the ultimate goal of making a profit.

But how do marketers get access to this information in the first place?  The answer can best be explained as an “electronic panopticon.”  It’s obvious that there’s either some algorithm or spyware-like layer in our devices that allow marketers to do this but are we always aware of this?  It depends on what you’re doing on your device at the moment.  I believe depending on the act, your mind triggers this knowledge on so you second guess yourself–second guess yourself as to whether what you’re doing is illegal or legal, right or wrong, and even acceptable or not.  For example, I’ve had multiple experiences when I was younger where I would download music from a music website that promised free downloads and during the download, the website would ask for personal information such as my name and a credit card information.  When this occurred, I had enough knowledge at the time to realize what I was doing was illegal and wrong.

• Do you believe we are entitled to privacy from all websites and/or devices?
• With the knowledge we have now, do you see yourself changing your online activities?