Thursday, April 19, 2007

Watching what the watchers are watching

If the act of watching others is called "surveillance", and that of watching the watchers "sousveillance", what could we call it when we watch the watchers watching us, as if over their shoulders—in other words, when we watch what the watchers are watching?

As we become surveilled in more and more moments of our lives, the typical absence of such transparency around surveillance is becoming a huge issue for society. However, I am not aware of a word that describes overseeing what the watchers are watching about us.

How about co-opting "supersurveillance" from its current usage as a mere superlative of surveillance?

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