title: Everyday Surveillance: Vigilance and Visibility in Postmodern Life
author:  William G. Staples 
description: <span><span>This insightful and wonderfully accessible book shows how surveillance has radically transformed just about every aspect of social life. Whether at home, school, work, or in online worlds, surveillance defines and mediates our experiences. This completely revised edition of </span><span style="font-style:italic;">Everyday Surveillance</span><span> is the perfect guide for making sense of these changes and their consequences.</span></span> (Torin Monahan, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)<br /><br /><span><span>George Orwell was wrong. The modern problem of surveillance isnt Big Brother but the thousands upon thousands of Tiny Brothers that record and track our daily existence. William Staples offers a compelling account of the rise of private surveillance  complementing but also complicating the watchful eye of the State  and the equanimity with which this has been greeted by the public.</span></span> (Simon Chesterman, Dean, National University of Singapore Faculty of Law)<br /><br /><span><span>William Staples blends sophisticated social theorizing with a keen eye for the minute ways that surveillance touches our day-to-day lives. In the process he brings to light the often otherwise invisible powers of contemporary monitoring practices.</span></span> (Kevin D. Haggerty, University of Alberta)<br /><br /><span><span>William Staples offers an engaging, succinct, contemporary introduction to the micro-management of ever more areas of daily life through surveillance technology. While attuned to the depths of change, he does not lose sight of what remains unchanged. Ideal for a range of beginning social science courses!</span></span> (Gary T. Marx, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; author of <i>Windows Into the Soul: Surveillance and Society in an Age of High Technology<i>)<br /><br /><span><span>Through incisive analysis, </span><span style="font-style:italic;">Everyday Surveillance</span><span> charts the various ways that surveillance shapes the postmodern moment: from the routinized gathering of data by smart technologies when we shop, work, travel, or protest, to new categories of punishment that blur the line between incarceration and freedom  where those under house arrest are subject to participatory monitoring with the expectation that they come to supervise themselves. Through interviews and observations, Staples offers a sociology of the postmodern that is a wide-ranging, historically grounded, and theoretically informed engagement with the techniques of surveillance and social control.</span></span> (Simone Browne, University of Texas at Austin)<br /><br /><span><span>The first edition of William Staples' </span><span style="font-style:italic;">Everyday Surveillance</span><span> was an instant classic which played a significant part in establishing the field of Surveillance Studies. So it is a delight to see the publication of this almost entirely updated second edition, which not only deals with the transformations that have taken place since 9/11 but also with the increasing ubiquity of surveillance in everyday life through social practices, culture and technology. This is absolutely essential reading for anyone who wonders exactly how it is that surveillance came to be everywhere in our lives.</span></span> (David Murakami Wood, Queen's University, Canada; Editor-in-Chief, Surveillance &amp; Society)<br /><br /><span><span>The beauty of this book? It's true to its title. Surveillance is demystified. It's not an occasional or remote occurrence but an intrinsic aspect of all our everyday lives. We are challenged to understand and come to terms with a culture of surveillance in which "Big Brother is us." Staples guides us between the multi-faceted vigilance of digital systems and the enhanced visibility of our mundane life-paths, noting subtle shifts from modern to postmodern practices. This book deftly draws attention to the key questions that we discount to our detriment.</span></span> (David Lyon, Queens University, Canada)<br /><br /><span><span>William G. Staples has authored an impressive, well-written, and exhaustive historical analysis of what he terms societys ever-increasing culture of surveillance and postmodern surveillance practices. While extremely readable and eye opening, </span><span style="font-style:italic;">Everyday Surveillance</span><span> . . . is a wide-ranging historical overview of the progression of surveillance and control tactics beginning in the 1700s and continuing all the way to the controversial surveillance tactics employed by government agencies today. . . .Ultimately, this book clearly and effectively challenges the reader to consider how technology has benefited or damaged society. Staples does not pass judgment or offer personal opinion on the techniques described throughout the book; however, he challenges the reader in the hope of creating public discourse regarding concepts of justice, transparency, societal control, and voyeurism. . . .This book should be viewed as an advanced sociological, historical, analytical, and at times philosophical discourse on a topic relevant to all security practitioners and society as a whole.</span></span> (<i>Security Management</i>)
  						    	
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zlib_text: # Left Behind
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
    
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  #### by
  
  
  # Vi Keeland and Dylan Scott
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
    
  
  
  
  
  
  Copyright © 2014 by Vi Keeland and Dylan Scott
  
  
  
  
  
  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
  distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including
  photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without
  the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief
  quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses
  permitted by copyright law.
  
  
  
  
  
  This book is a work of fiction. All names, characters, locations and incidents
  are products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons,
  living or dead, locales or events is entirely coincidental.
  
  
  
  
  
  **Left Behind**
  
  
  
  
  
  Edited by: Caitlin Alexander
  
  
  
  
  
  Cover model: Siselee Maughan
  
  
  
  
  
  Photographer: Christie Q. Photography
  
  
  
  
  
  Cover designer: Sommer Stein, Perfect Pear Creative
  
  
  # Table of Contents
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  [Chapter 1](../Text/08.xhtml)