The Panopticon – Newsletter 1-15

MyEthics.net Newsletter 1-15, 11/23/25

As of 2018, by some estimates, China already had over 200 million CCTV cameras. Today it’s probably close to 700 million.

The West has legal barriers to prevent some privacy invasions. But your data is regularly “aggregated” where many sources are cross-referenced to paint a richly detailed portrait of your interests and activities. Marketing departments and governments are deeply interested.

For example, imagine the aggregate story that could be told about your day in a city by combining facial and gait recognition from CCTV cameras, your social media activity, a dozen financial transactions, the location history from your phone, and that unfortunate conversation with your AI therapist.

Conceived by philosopher Jeremy Bentham in the 1780’s, the Panopticon arranges prison cells around the perimeter of a circular building, allowing a single guard in the center to observe all inmates simultaneously (see image above). It’s an environment where individuals never know when they are being watched, which supposedly compels them to behave better.

These days, “Panoptic surveillance technologies” (yes, it’s a thing) use data integration strategies to track individuals in a similar way. The argument goes, “if you have nothing to hide then you have nothing to worry about.” But of course, that’s not true.

There’s a fundamental conflict between the use of surveillance for increased control & security vs. its infringements on privacy & freedom. Bentham saw the Panopticon as a tool for creating a more compliant society through discipline and self-reform. Critics like Michel Foucault argue it leads to psychological harm, oppressive control, and the promotion of a docile population, replacing creativity with self-censoring.

Washington, D.C. has implemented an extensive network of traffic cameras to enforce speeding, red-light, and stop-sign violations. Managed by the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) and the Metropolitan Police Department, the automated system captures violations and mails citations to offenders.

The program has reduced serious crashes by targeting high-risk corridors and improving driver compliance with traffic laws. However, critics argue that it disproportionately affects lower-income drivers.

Honestly, there’s only so much you can do, like always saying no to optional cookies. Here’s a list of actions you can take:

• Don’t use AI as a therapist!
• Say no to optional cookies
• Be selective about the apps and services you use, granting only necessary permissions and disabling location sharing whenever possible.
• Remember that internet email is never 100% secure
• Be cautious about sharing personal information online, especially on social media.
• Carefully configure your social media privacy settings.
• On public WiFi, connect to the internet through a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to encrypt your activity.
• Regularly clear cookies and use incognito browser tabs to hide your activity from aggregators.
• Practice strong password hygiene and enable two-factor authentication to prevent unauthorized access to your accounts.
• Use end-to-end encrypted messaging apps like Signal to protect your communications from interception.
• Regularly update device software and applications to patch security vulnerabilities that could be exploited for surveillance.
• Utilize privacy-focused browsers and search engines and enablead and tracking blockers to minimize data collection.
• Limit the use of internet-connected cameras and smart devices or regularly review and adjust their privacy settings.
• Log out of accounts when not in use and clear cookies and browsing data regularly to reduce your digital footprint.

• A Smarter App Is Watching Your Wallet by Paul Bischoff in the NY Times, and Surveillance camera statistics: which are the most surveilled cities? by his company, Comparitech
• Panopticon from Wikipedia
• How Cookies Work, and How to Conduct a Cookie Audit by Matt Davis for Osano