Simon Cole's UC Irvine Surveillance Course

This course will explore the accelerating development and deployment of surveillance technologies in contemporary society. We will discuss technologies including, but not limited to, surveillance cameras, eavesdropping devices, computer surveillance, government and corporate databases, remote sensing, and biometrics. Our focus will be on the social and legal impact of surveillance technologies, in such areas as crime control, privacy, trust, community, democracy, and the war on terror. The course will introduce a variety of theoretical perspectives on surveillance, and will ask whether surveillance poses a threat to liberty and privacy or in fact protects it. The course will conclude with a discussion of whether our view of surveillance should change in light of the events of September 11, 2001.

The link address is: http://eee.uci.edu/04w/50410/