``Sousveillance'' and ``Coveillance''
If we want something other than a surveillance-only state
(i.e. a police state), we need some new concepts.
To properly explain these new concepts, and
in order to situate surveillance within a broader context,
it has been necessary to coin two new words:
- ``Sousveillance'',
from the French words for
``sous'' (below) and ``veiller''
(to watch).
Sousveillance is
inverse surveillance, and serves as a
counterbalance
to the organizational top-down hierarchical surveillance that is
so commonly imposed upon us by various authorities.
Sousveillance forms a kind of inverse panopticon
adding some balance to Bentham's one-sided vision.
(Perhaps we could regard sousveillance as a
deconstruction of
the writings of French philosopher Foucault.)
Sometimes those who have not been exposed to the French language
pronounce sousveillance incorrectly, so I was going to
deliberately spell it incorrectly as
souveillance (i.e. as a phonetic spelling), but
I decided to stay with the correct spelling even though people continue
to sometimes pronounce it wrong.
- ``Côtéveillance'' (often abbreviated
``Coveillance'',
which also serves to eliminate the need for the special non-ascii
characters ô and é), from the French word ``côté''
(as in ``à côté de'' meaning
``next to'') and ``veiller'' (to watch). Coveillance is like what
happens in a small town: the next-door neighbours watch what you're up to.
Coveillance (such as neighbourhood watch) is preferable to surveillance
(police cameras on every lamp post), but coveillance is no
substitute for sousveillance.
--S. Mann, 2002
For more background, etc., see
http://wearcam.org/sousveillance.pdf.
There's more to Veillance than Servitude
and saying ``Yes Sir!''.
(Surveillance is Servitude: Serveillance and saying Yes-Sirveillance!)