The "panopticon" was an eighteenth century design for a prison building which allowed for total surveillance of all inmates at all times. Today, some people fear that computer networking is creating the digital architecture for a twenty-first century version of the panopticon, in which state and/or corporate power will be able to track our every move by monitoring the electronic traces we leave in so many everyday activities. This week we'll look at this debate, and at broader issues of privacy and anonymity in an electronic society.

Again, there is a bit of a gap in on this issue in the course text. So let's try David Lyon's, "From Big Brother to Electronic Panopticon"--Chapter 4 of his excellent book, The Electronic Eye: The Rise of Surveillance Society (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1994): 57-80.

Search for yourself on the Net, and find out the shadows and traces you leave by using Anonymizer and clicking on SNOOP. A good article on privacy issues is by Susan Stellin, "Privacy in the Digital Age: Part 1" and Part 2 . A useful article about panopticism is Alan Wexblatt, "How The N.I.I. Is Like A Prison." A major source about online privacy issues is the EPIC Online Guide to Privacy Resources, while The Center for Democracy and Technology has good pages on both "Privacy" and "Cryptography." Two useful articles about the complex issue of cryptography,both by Steven Levy,are : "Prophet of Privacy"(Wired 2.11) and "Crypto Rebels" (Wired 1.2).You may want to look at Electronic Frontier Canada , while the book by Anne Cavoukian and Don Tapscott, Who Knows: Safeguarding Your Privacy in a Networked World (Vintage Canada, 1995) is also handy.And don't forget to look at A DAY IN THE LIFE...OR HOW TO HELP BUILD YOUR SUPER FILE !