Surveillance Theory and Its Implications for Law

Tjerk Timan, Maša Galič & Bert-Jaap Koops (2017), ‘Surveillance Theory and Its Implications for Law’, in: R. Brownsword, E. Scotford & K. Yeung (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Law, Regulation, and Technology, Oxford: Oxford UP, p. 731-753

17 Pages Posted: 24 Jan 2018

See all articles by Tjerk Timan

Tjerk Timan

Tilburg University - Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology, and Society (TILT)

Maša Galič

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Department Criminal Law and Criminology

Bert-Jaap Koops

Tilburg University - Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology, and Society (TILT)

Date Written: December 1, 2017

Abstract

This chapter provides an overview of key surveillance theories and their implications for law and regulation. It presents three stages of theories that characterize changes in thinking about surveillance in society and the disciplining, controlling, and entertaining functions of surveillance. Beginning with Bentham’s Panopticons and Foucault’s panopticism to discipline surveillees, surveillance theory then develops accounts of surveillant assemblages and networked surveillance that control consumers and their data doubles, to finally branch out to theorizing current modes of surveillance, such as sousveillance and participatory surveillance. Next, surveillance technologies and practices associated with these stages are discussed. The chapter concludes by highlighting the implications for regulators and lawmakers who face the challenge of regulating converging, hybrid surveillant infrastructures and assemblages, both in their context-dependent specificity and in their cumulative effect on citizens/consumers.

Keywords: surveillance theories, law, regulation, Panopticon, discipline, control, surveillant assemblage, sousveillance, participatory surveillance, surveillance technologies

Suggested Citation

Timan, Tjerk and Galič, Maša and Koops, Bert-Jaap, Surveillance Theory and Its Implications for Law (December 1, 2017). Tjerk Timan, Maša Galič & Bert-Jaap Koops (2017), ‘Surveillance Theory and Its Implications for Law’, in: R. Brownsword, E. Scotford & K. Yeung (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Law, Regulation, and Technology, Oxford: Oxford UP, p. 731-753, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3098182

Tjerk Timan

Tilburg University - Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology, and Society (TILT) ( email )

P.O.Box 90153
Prof. Cobbenhagenlaan 221
Tilburg, 5037
Netherlands

Maša Galič (Contact Author)

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Department Criminal Law and Criminology ( email )

De Boelelaan 1105
1081 HV Amsterdam
Netherlands

Bert-Jaap Koops

Tilburg University - Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology, and Society (TILT) ( email )

P.O.Box 90153
Prof. Cobbenhagenlaan 221
Tilburg, 5037
Netherlands

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