Week Five: Überveillance. Orwell's 2013.

Image From: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/BigBrother.jpg 

Who would have thought that back in 1949, with the creation of the superficial icon of Big Brother, in George Orwell’s 1984, that today’s society would reflect the many aspects that make people shudder every time the word Oceania is heard.

In the 1940s, when social media was beyond existence, the concept of Überveillance is most likely to have been looked upon as science fantasy. There was no way that people would be willing to be under constant surveillance, especially when connected with the negative connotations produced by Orwell (Orwell, G; 1949)

However, with the trending modern technology, GPS tracking, social media tagging, mobile data networks etc, it seems that people are almost choosing to have their daily movements constantly tracked and surveyed, as having been micro chipped at the vet.

But what is Überveillance exactly?

According to M.G Michael, and K. Michael, Überveillance is ‘real time location tracking and conditioning monitoring.’ (M.G. Michael and K. Michael 2010) It is a concept that attempts to answer the questions of who/where/when? in the attempt to predict ‘a person’s expected behaviour, traits, likes, or dislikes’ Etc (M.G. Michael and K. Michael 2010).

Already by using social media, take Facebook for example; we are constantly showered with options to share our thoughts, likes, and locations with the online world. But what is the difference between this and Überveillance? Well instead of choosing to share your locations here and there, and the occasional like of a photo; Überveillance technology, such as ‘microchip implants’, provides constant flows of information about where and who you are, without the extra effort of checking in, or similar activity.

‘Think of Big Brother looking out.’ (M.G. Michael and K. Michael 2010) Instead of Big brother watching your every move from the outside, with the use of video and sound recording; Überveillance is the tracking of ones behaviour through their eyes, rather than the eyes of someone else.

In terms of the future, despite Orwell’s chilling warnings, we have continued to digress towards continual the continual surveillance of society. Who’s to say this won’t continue to intensify in the future...  

References:

M.G. Michael and K. Michael 2010 ‘Towards a State of Überveillance’ IEEE Technology and Society Magazine 29.2 (2010): 9-16. [Available at: HYPERLINK "http://works.bepress.com/kmichael/187" http://works.bepress.com/kmichael/187 ]

Orwell, George (1949). Nineteen Eighty-Four. A novel. London: Secker & Warburg.