Surveillance has become a normal part of everyday existence. In Britain simply walking out the door, going to work, grabbing some groceries then picking up the kids from school can result in being captured on over 70 different cameras. (Standard, 2011), Everything you do, every step you take in modern society is monitored and documented.
Why do we really have so many cameras in our lives? Why do we think of this as normal? In the 1950’s people found the idea of pen-sized cameras terrifying, and unnecessary. Now there are Spytech stores in Canada selling microscopic cameras in virtually every household appliance imagineable.
Owner of “Spy-tech,” a store in downtown Toronto specializing in hidden cameras and other “peep-materials” says that ten years ago peoples response to a nanny cam were often that of shock and distaste.“Record the nanny? Wheres the trust!?” was a common thought pattern among clients. Evidently, just ten years later- trust is a thing of the past. Originally, most people figured that surveillance was only something the government did to monitor violent crime and provide evidence in robberies and murders and the like. So if surveillance is considered “only for safety measures” and “for the greater good” why are every day people purchasing hidden cameras and semen detection kits? In short, we just don’t trust anyone. Our neighbors may be ripping up our flower beds. Our kids might be sneaking out at night, and our spouses might be sleeping with other people at work. How do we come to know if any of those things are happening?
We peep into each others lives
We peep by setting up hidden cameras, checking in on each others e-mail, or remotely accessing the webcams of our spouses or children’s computers. The instructions for how to remotely access a laptop using a webcam is only one Google search away. Nothing on the internet is safe. Nothing you do outside the home is private and half of what you do even INSIDE your home is documented in one way or another with or without your knowledge.
Now, the government in the US tries to argue that 9/11 has played a huge role in the amount of surveillance currently being implemented in the country. It was estimated that by 2011, the security camera market would have reached 9 billion dollars, but according to IM research, the market already surpassed 9 billion by the beginning of 2010. IM has begun working on software that can identify items, and tags within security footage. Lost your MacBook? If you have this tag installed, security cameras will be able to digitally identify this tag and track your belongings. Facebook and up to date cell phones already have the technology to recognize faces for tagging, how long before security footage is able to do the same? Can it already? Should an era arise when everyone is constantly “tagged” in roughly 70 cameras a day with or without their consent, will we as a society to protest? Will there be any public outcry? The answer is no. Most likely not.
As warped as this is, the odds of anyone protesting or actively disagreeing with this advent of Big Brother are slim to none. In 2008, 63% of Canadians felt that increased security should trump personal freedom and privacy if it was for the greater good. (Niedzviecki, 2009) If facial recognition could catch a terrorist at an airport, what’s the harm in whoever is watching also knowing that I went to Tim Hortons this afternoon?
If we are posting every thought, every whim, every selfie and video to the internet anyway; why should it bother us if the government does the same?
People sit infront of webcams all the time just talking. Whether people are listening or not. More than people like to create, people like to watch. Jenna Marbles, the Vlog Brothers, Z-E Frank, and countless other internet celebrities have millions of people logging on to the internet just to listen to these people talk.
It’s entertaining. Whether what’s being said is funny, shocking, or just plain ludicrous, we find pleasure in just observing. Feeling like we are being a part.
Recording oneself can become a habit of proving existence and used as a form of power. Take Columbine for example, the gunmen recorded themselves endlessly before they committed the crime. They used video cameras to show everyone who they were. They used it to allow people a gateway into their minds. Many people use surveillance to feel powerful. They look upon video footage of the area they are monitoring and think, “no one knows I am looking at this one area. Anything could happen and I could be the only outsider with the knowledge of the event”. This sense of ‘peeping’ is also true in entertainment. We love to look into situations as an outsider and experience it without actually being involved.
We hold photography and videography on a high pedestal. Video is often though to be the be-all end-all of evidence. Trusted even higher than word of mouth; if there is footage, there is truth. This must be why we look upon these moving and still images to show us what is real and what is not. We examine our own lives and contrast, compare, with the footage we are exposed to daily. We take photos and post them to Facebook to confirm our existence during a certain experience. We record video footage of family vacations at landmarks- the Grand Canyon, the Eiffel Tower, to prove that we were there. We use surveillance to not only have a grasp on our realities but to confirm our own. Not only do we enjoy posting our own stories, we enjoy letting others know of what we do in our lives. We love to peep into others’ lives as well, seeing what they are posting, what they are saying. This peep culture has quickly consumed our lives. We now have a lust to know what others are up to. We also have a lust for telling others what WE’RE up to. It’s a vicious cycle and is there any kind of real truth within it? Do we not simply put a false representation of ourselves out there in order to impress others? We primp and pose for the camera so people look, but are they really seeing?
We’re not afraid of the surveillance state. Were afraid of the gaps in our culture of surveillance. We’re afraid of the dark spaces where our senses fail us. We fear the moments when, unobserved, unrecorded, and un-exhibited, we virtually disappear. It’s for this reason that we have become so enthusiastic about Peep culture.
In Peep we extend surveillance into our everyday lives. In doing so, we extend the camera’s capacity to stave off our existential terror. In a postmodern society that turns everything into an endless recording, absence is the ultimate nightmare. We aren’t bothered by surveillance, we are dependent on it. After all, the loss of freedom is a small price to pay to ensure our existence.
Corporate Conspiracies 