The soft cage : surveillance in America from slavery to the war on terror / Christian Parenti.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Parenti, Christian.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Social control--United States--History.

Social control.

Electronic surveillance--Social aspects--United States.

Electronic surveillance.

Political culture--United States.

Political culture.

Electronic surveillance--Social aspects.

History.

United States.

Privacy, Right of--United States.

Privacy, Right of.

War on Terrorism, 2001-2009.

Physical Description:

xii, 273 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Basic Books, [2003]

Summary:

On a typical day, you might make a call on a cell phone, withdraw money at an ATM, visit the mall, and make a purchase with a credit card. Each of these routine transactions leaves a digital trail, logging your movements, schedules, habits and political beliefs for government agencies and businesses to access. As cutting-edge historian and journalist Christian Parenti points out in this urgent and timely book, these everyday intrusions on privacy, while harmless in themselves, are part of a relentless expansion of routine surveillance in American life over the last two centuries. Vivid and chilling, The Soft Cage explores the hidden history of surveillance -- from controlling slaves in the old South to implementing early criminal justice, tracking immigrants, and closely monitoring the poor as part of modern social work. It also explores the role computers play in creating a whole new world of seemingly benign technologies -- such as credit cards, website "cookies," electronic toll collection, "data mining," and iris scanners at airports. With fears of personal and national security at an all-time high, this ever-growing infrastructure of high-tech voyeurism is shifting the balance of power between individuals and the state in groundbreaking -- and very dangerous -- ways. From closed-circuit television cameras to the Department of Homeland Security, The Soft Cage offers a compelling, vitally important history lesson for every American concerned about the expansion of surveillance into our public and private lives.

Contents:

Chapter 1 Life in the Glass Box 1

Chapter 2 Antebellum ID: Genealogies of Identification and Registration 13

Chapter 3 The Accumulation of Bodies, Part I: Identification and Photography 33

Chapter 4 The Accumulation of Bodies, Part II: Early Biometrics 43

Chapter 5 Cruel Gam Saan: Surveillance and Chinese Exclusion 61

Chapter 6 Of Ones and Zeros: Digital Surveillance Emerges 77

Chapter 7 Surveillance and the Sinews of Commerce 91

Chapter 8 Camera Land: Security Aesthetics and Public Space 109

Chapter 9 The Digital Leash: Mobility and Freedom 121

Chapter 10 The New Taylorism: Surveillance, Work, and Discipline 131

Chapter 11 The Benevolent Gaze: Dossiers and the Helping Professions 151

Chapter 12 The Eye of Justice 169

Chapter 13 Voyeurism and Security Culture 183

Chapter 14 Fear As Institution: 9/11 and Surveillance Triumphant 199.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 213-256) and index.

ISBN:

0465054846

OCLC:

52429761