The work of watching one another: Lateral surveillance, risk, and governance

Combining theory with contemporary examples such as Google searches, online verification services and DIY investigative tools, Andrejevic introduces the concept of “lateral surveillance,” or peer monitoring, where individuals employ the same strategies used by police or marketers in order to gather information on the various people in their lives. He shows how fear and suspicion are employed to normalize and encourage peer-based surveillance: “In an age in which everyone is to be considered potentially suspect, all are simultaneously urged to become spies—for our own good (494)” While Andrejevic does not explicitly make the link between SNS and lateral surveillance, Andrejevic does use the early SNS Friendster as an example (although, interestingly, he frames it as a dating site—which is technically true—rather than an SNS. This speaks to how relatively new the mass adoption of the concept of SNS is). Friendster, Andrejevic argues, uses peer referrals and connections to “side-step the self-presentation of prospective dates” to find out the “truth” 490). In essence, Friendster is peer-enabled surveillance. The notion of lateral or peer surveillance is later picked up and further developed to describe and understand activities on SNS, such as by Albrechtslund (2005), and has become an useful way of thinking about surveillance and privacy on SNS.

Bibliographic information:

Andrejevic, M. (2005). The work of watching one another: Lateral surveillance, risk, and   governance. Surveillance & Society, 2(4), 479-497. Retrieved from          http://www.surveillance- and-society.org/articles2(4)/lateral.pdf

If you’re interested in downloading Kate Raynes-Goldie’s full annotated bibliography about Digitally mediated surveillance, privacy and social network sites, click here.

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