Surveillance and Media Technology

Excerpts from the Paper

Surveillance and Media Technology
1.Distinguish between “hard” and “soft” surveillance, using specific institutions and technologies in your answer. Use this distinction to describe another form, genre or type of surveillance discussed in readings.
Hard surveillance includes “traditional” police methods, such as “an arrest, a custodial interrogation, a search, a subpoena or traffic stop” (Marx, 2006). Hard surveillance, therefore, involves the physical interdiction by law enforcement officials in an individual’s personal life. It does not require permission, but is subject to legal constraints (such as the Fourth, Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution) that requirewarrants and place limits on the extent to which officers may...

.....ing we do today is private is largely untrue, particularly when it comes to corporate marketing. More so than the NSA, corporate marketers have seized upon social media technologies to discern individual buying habits, trending patterns and to push their own products. So, to be sure, unless one is willing to live a Unabomber-like existence, you are being watched. By everyone.
Reference
Marx, G. T. (2006). Soft surveillance: the growth of mandatory volunteerism in collecting personal information—"Hey buddy can you spare a DNA?" In T. Monahan (ed.), Surveillance and Security: Technological Politics and Power in Everyday Life. New York: Routledge.
Gitelman, L. & Pingree, G. B. (eds). (20003). New media, 1740-1915. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.