Sousveillance - inverse surveillance

Sousveillance (pronounced /suːˈveɪləns/, French pronunciation: [suvɛjɑ̃s]) as well as inverse surveillance are terms coined by Steve Mann to describe the recording of an activity from the perspective of a participant in the activity, typically by way of small portable or wearable recording devices that often stream continuous live video to the Internet.

Inverse surveillance is a proper subset of sousveillance with a particular emphasis on the "watchful vigilance from underneath" and a form of surveillance inquiry or legal protection involving the recording, monitoring, study, or analysis of surveillance systems, proponents of surveillance, and possibly also recordings of authority figures and their actions. Inverse surveillance is typically an activity undertaken by those who are generally the subject of surveillance, an analysis of the surveilled from the perspective of a participant in a society under surveillance.

Sousveillance typically involves community-based recording from first person perspectives, without necessarily involving any specific political agenda, whereas inverse-surveillance is a form of sousveillance that is typically directed at, or used to collect data to analyze or study, surveillance or its proponents.

Read the Wiki Entry.

With the advent of Cell Phone cameras that can record video and wearable computers, and augmented reality gear, this is eventually going to become ubiquitous  leveling the playing field.


Some what related:



We Live in Public (2009)

The new film We Live in Public focuses on Josh, whom the film calls “the greatest internet pioneer you’ve never heard of.”  *cough* The film offers a window into Josh’s psyche, and the impacts of living in a digital, recorded age. The director  talks about this web entrepreneur’s fascination with privacy, and with recording life’s every moment. This includes  a six-month stint living under 24-hour live surveillance online which led him to mental collapse.