The Panopticon, as proposed by Jeremy Bentham, is an effective prison model and neighborhood control that reinforces social control. In essence, it works by forming the belief that one is under constant inspection at any given time. Bentham’s theory is applied in journal article “The New Panopticon,” to make the argument that the panopticon is inherently similar to the Internet; however, a defining difference is that the Internet has no physical structure or permanent location. The article further argues that the Internet is used as a tool for governing bodies, such as corporations, to capture information of users. The flow of information online has led to the opportunity for corporations to collect details on consumers and maximize their profits.
Until recently, many network users were unaware of the tracking and surveillance of their information and location by network providers and corporations. There have been a number of lawsuits against corporations that claim tracking users information violates one’s privacy. This idea of violation of privacy by the panopticon model of the Internet to collect user data is also mentioned in the article. In recent news, Google faces a $50 million lawsuit over its Android location tracking. Clearly, many people were unhappy to discover that their information was being collected and used without them being aware of it. I would like to make my own argument that the difference with the Internet panopticon model is that it does not truly exist if the user is unaware of their tracking. It would be more accurate to apply a panopticon model, one where a user monitors his/her behavior because of the belief they are being watched, to the Verizon’s tracking model. Verizon’s plan to put location tracking warning stickers on their phones I argue follows a more traditional method of applying the panopticon model since the users are aware of their surveillance. Either way, it can be said that our privacy will decrease in the interactive digital word.
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