[-empyre-] end of netopticon

[christina.spiesel at yale.edu]

Dear All,

Without going into the whys and wherefores, my entire inbox was destroyed in an
accident last week. I haven't had your thoughtful texts to respond to and
knowing how fallible memory is, I didn't want to wing it.  So I am feeling
deprived as the netopticon closes.  I've written to Simon asking for the link
to the archive but it is too late, with a lively new topic coming on, for me to
offer any further contribution to January's conversation.

In preparation for a large symposium, I have been reading the newly published
(and very thick) book by Resnik and Curtis, Representing Justice. The book
traces the iconography of the visual figure of Justice from the ancient middle
east to modern times, using it as a way to discuss the history of adjudication
and its central role in democracy. Anyway, they discuss a different aspect of
Bentham -- yes, the Bentham of the panopticon and Foucaultian disciplines and
punishments, but also the Bentham of open government and democratic
participation. As you all no doubt understand, the difference with the
netopticon is that participation is traceable. Just as demonstrators can use
social media to organize, so can governments watch. And demonstrators can lose
themselves in a crowd only to find that pictures taken of them there may lead
to their identification. We have a very long way to go to figure out how to use
the benefits and protect against harms in the networked world.

With all the best wishes,

Christina