Penny Lane- Foucault Late

Foucault asserts that our culture is one of ceaseless inspection. Surveillance has expanded exponential in the last twenty year, eerily paralleling the George Orwell’s premonitions in 1984. Cameras are everywhere in the public sphere. Even when we are not being monitored in the physical sense, we still continue to leave an electronic paper trial. Wherever we travel, spend money, or work, data is left behind telling a mini-story of our life choices. In fact, satellites can even track any cell phone location in off mode, as long as the battery is in place. The patriot act also permits wiretapping with any reasonable cause in order to monitor any illegal activity. Many believe this is related only to terrorism, but it is simply not the case. Anyone and everyone is subject to this invasion and it goes largely unnoticed. “We are neither in the amphitheatre nor on the stage, but in the panoptic machine, invested by its effects of power, which we bring to ourselves since we are part of its mechanism.” Even though these invasive tactics impact us all, we often dismiss the overstepping of boundaries as a means to a protective end. If the bad guys are getting caught, then we should be satisfied, right? Wrong. Basic civil liberties are falling to the wayside, and it seems these measures may only get more severe in the future. Big Brother is watching.