Prominent among the quests for post-9/11 security are developments in surveillance, especially at national borders. These developments are not new, but many of them have been extended and intensified. The result? More and more people and populations are counted as “suspicious” and, at the same time, surveillance techniques become increasingly opaque and secretive. Lyon argues that in the aftermath of 9/11 there have been qualitative changes in the security climate: diverse databases containing personal information are being integrated; biometric identifiers, such as iris scans, are becoming more popular; consumer data are merged with those obtained for policing and intelligence, both nationally and across borders. This all contributes to the creation of ever-widening webs of surveillance. But these systems also sort people into categories for differential treatment, the most obvious case being that of racial profiling. This book assesses the consequences of these trends. Lyon argues that while extraordinary legal measures and high-tech systems are being adopted, promises made on their behalf - that terrorism can be prevented - are hard to justify. Furthermore, intensifying surveillance will have social consequences whose effects could be far-reaching: the undermining of social trust and of democratic participation.
About the Author
Professor of Sociology, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
Features
a timely work on a topic that is constantly in the news;
considers fundamental questions about the wisdom of reliance on new technologies, the willingness to trample civil liberties in a quest for security, and the ways that simple social virtues such as trust and care can be corroded;
based on ongoing research by an academic who has worked in the field for over a decade;
addresses ethical and political questions that are in danger of being left to politicians or high-tech companies to discuss;
presents issues that all of us encounter on a daily basis and hence has a relevance to everyone.
